Like many of my projects, this one came up on a whim. And has woven in with some other projects including some shop upgrades and a couple of projects with my daughter.
It is unique to me, in that for the first time ever in my life I am following a set of plans. This came about due to one reason: volume. I needed to build 4x of everything. I was perusing the internet a while back looking at different 'small' projects. I ran across a variety of jewelry boxes that I liked, which many were of the same conceptual designs of a center column of drawers and a door on each side. Some of these builds are masterpieces, and I may get to that some day. But then I stumbled onto the 'Wood Whisperer' (via youtube recommended for me link I believe, for those that wonder just how all this big data tracking motivates us to buy stuff). He had a set of plans all ready to go. For $70. Yikes. There was some emotional block for me to build off set plans, let alone pay $70 for them.
But its late October and Xmas is not that far away which means for me, anything that is going to be finished by xmas needed to be started last July... or earlier. So after a few days of 'thinking' about designs and drawing some up on cad, getting all the proportions right, tweaking everything around and generating component 2d drawings of them... I just paid up and downloaded his plans. Step #1 complete: Commitment to the project.
I tend to hoard wood. Which means I have various pieces laying around, including some handed down to me from some elders that passed away, and a nice stack of cherry I picked up on CL for almost nothing. When this started I thought I would just use what I could dig out of my stash and it would have a sentimental aspect to it. My wife in particular likes those type of ideas (and my daughters would have something made by me, from wood from Grandpa Herk that although I have no idea where came from, could have easily come from a tree he cut down and milled off his property). My workbench is this (a tree he milled) and as such, makes it more satisfying to own/use.
So some nice old walnut that had been in the barn for a few decades, and a stack of cherry. And some hard maple I had. Should be able to put something together out of that. But when I dug them out (pita the way I have all my lumber stacked), it turned out some of what I thought was walnut was really cherry, just quite old and thus darkened. But I 'thought' I had enough walnut and could mix/match some of the other woods to serve the purpose.
The plan calls for a plain grained carcass with some drawer fronts, and side panels in figured wood. Really this worked well for me. In fact, everything about the plan was well thought out. I am not one to sit through hours of videos (just dont like this new way of learning, prefer written and find written instruction much faster for me to use), but all the drawings are there and although in the past I have always heavily modified any plans/concepts I see, for this one I did not feel compelled to do so. The design approach and concepts resonated with me. No need to reinvent.
All the while I am eyeing a piece of lacewood I had picked up cheap from many years ago. Quite a small section, about 6" wide and 2' long. And wondering if I could get thin laminations out of it enough to veneer the drawer fronts and side panels. I have never done veneer. And so it began.