Companion Bedside Cabinets

[John TenEyck]

You may remember there two large white oak dressers I posted several weeks ago.

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I built them last year. A couple of days ago I finished the companion bedside cabinets to go with them.

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They are built very much like the dressers with a few exceptions. I didn't have enough rift sawn white oak to make the sides out of solid stock so they are veneered with shop sawn veneer just like the tops. It took a lot longer to do that but the benefit, besides conserving material, was that I could attach the top to the sides without having to accommodate any seasonal wood movement issues. I used a different dovetail for the drawers because it was easier.

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It looks more factory made but I'm fine with that. I also put a chamfer on the top edges of the drawers and instead of finishing them with wiped on shellac, like I did with the dressers, I made the bottoms removable and then sprayed everything with a coat of shellac and then two coats of the GF Enduro Clear Poly that I used on the cabinets. As you can see, I also added a little sliding tray in the top drawer. The drawers ride on Blum Tandem with BluMotion slides just like with the dressers.

Another thing I did differently with these cabinets was to add leveling feet in all four corners. I had to add some large shims under some corners of the dressers to level them and I didn't want to have to do that again. I used internal levelers at the front, that press up into the sides. There's a little hex wrench that raises/lowers the leveler. Here's a shot of how it's accessed on the inside of the side at the front of the cabinet.

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I used a different style leveler at the rear that is accessed through the inside of the cabinet.

Thanks for looking.

John

[Yonak Hawkins]

This furniture is just so well conceived and executed. It's very attractive. I'm sure your client is well impressed and pleased.

Those leveling devices are just the bees knees. Can you tell more about them ? Did you design and make them ? Do the pads extend at an angle ?

[John TenEyck]

Thanks Yonak. Yes, my client really liked the two dressers so I think they will like the bedside cabinets as well. They certainly are as perfect a match in every way that I am capable of making, except for the drawer modification I mentioned. The levelers are commercial units by Peter Meier. Here is a link: http://ahturf.com/store/index.php?ro...66_22369_22370 I used the 12 mm dia. x 2" long ones. As you can see, the pads extend straight down. I used them a few years ago on a lab bench that held almost 1000 lbs and they were perfect for leveling the bench even under load. I don't know why the picture shows the drill bit coming in at an angle because the hex key fits in at 90 deg. to the leveler shaft. I made a little wooden guide for drilling the holes in the sides. They just press into the hole and are held by friction. Very nice little units and they don't cost much either.

John