ChetlovesMer Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 So, my beautiful bride requested another piece of furniture for my son's room. ... A Chifferobe! ... Not an Armoire, not a dresser, but a Chifferobe. A piece of furniture so rare here in the US that Microsoft office spell checker doesn't even know what it is. She asked me how long it would take me to make one and I told her I'm really not sure. Which gave me an idea. I thought not only would I use this project for a topic in the Project Journal section of the forum. But I'd also figure out how many hours it takes me to complete this project by setting an hourly alarm in my phone that reminds me to take a photo of my progress every hour. So, here's the project after 1 hour. As you can see, I've got some plywood cut up into pieces on the table saw and the first bits stuck together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Love the idea of setting the alarm. Looking forward to the updates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Now I've got to break the news to my wife that she does not have the Armoire that she loves but that she has a Chifferobe. She's going to be heart broken Good luck Chet and keep the pics acomin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Okay, so hour number 2: I finished assembling the basic carcass, and added the drawer slides. I was finishing putting the back on when the alarm went off and so I took this picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Darn, I'd still be sharpening my pencil and scratching my butt and wondering what I was going to have for lunch. (not that the last two should be used in the same sentence). You sure both of these two pics were taken the same day? Great progress. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Yeah no kidding, Coop...Chet's gotten more done in two hours than I'd have done in two days. Too many distractions in my shop I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Okay, Here's hour number 3: It doesn't look like much. All I did in this hour was to mill material to get the hard maple all straight and usable. When the alarm went off, I was working on the legs so here's a picture of the legs sitting on the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Unbelievable progress Chet. I've been working on built in bookcases for a couple of weeks now and I don't even have the carcasses fully assembled yet. Do you work full time and just have the day off today? Or do you work from home? Retired? I'd kill to be in my shop right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Melton Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Color me impressed. From a hobbyist's perspective it's hard to imagine one person getting that much done that fast. I wouldn't let your wife see this post... it might increase her furniture request volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 She'll be stuffin the drawers full of socks and hanging clothes in that sucker before diner time (and I'm still wondering what's for lunch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Hour number 4: Shaped the legs. Ran each leg down the table saw then adjusted the fence, ran them down the saw again to make a rabbet. Then cut off the bottom corner at the bandsaw, had to do that on two sides as well. Then cleaned up the lower part of the leg with my trusty 4-1/2 (The greatest handplane ever made by the way... okay that's my opinion and not the focus of this thread.) The alarm went off and I clicked this picture. By the way, I've always said I'm a cabinet maker trying to become a fine woodworker. Basically up to this point the Chifferobe is just a cabinet. My shop is very well set up to cut up plywood. I can run full sized sheets through my table saw without any pre-cuts. I've been making cabinets for 25 years... that's a lot of plywood boxes. For those of you who are impressed with my progress, just wait until I make the door and drawers.... This thing will slow to a crawl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Is that the plane that goes to the winner of the Christmas ornaments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Man, that is a pretty bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hour number 5: Okay, hour number 5 is sort of a split up hour... let me explain. So I put the legs on and the top and bottom side rails. Then I went to go get something to eat. My timer was only at about 51 minutes. After dinner I came back and took the clamps off, I figured that probably took the last 9 minutes of the hour, so I clicked this picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Ken, you certainly can put your $100 gift card toward an LV #4-1/2. Actually, I would consider that to be a very smart move. I really do love that plane. I just find that the LV's "fit" my hands so much better than the LN's. But again, that's another post for another thread. ... One which has been done many times actually. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Thanks C Shaffer. I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 By the way, BGreenB, I do work full time, but my hours are somewhat flexible. Today I took the whole day off. I spent most of the afternoon in the shop. I'll be back doing my "real" job tomorrow, so you can expect far less progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 This looks great, Chet. If my wife ever finds out that projects can be done this quickly, I'm in trouble! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Probably a stupid question, but how are the side rails joined to the legs? Looks awesome so far btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 We don't have to wait until the end to find out what a chifferobe is do we? When I saw it I thought you said chuffin robe an anglosaxon expletivehttp://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Chuffing That aside it is looking good so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hour Number 6: Okay, hour number 6 was from 4AM until 5AM this morning. ... Hey, we all have to get in the shop when we can. The only thing I did during that hour was to finish trimming out the fronts of the plywood dividers and to put the top (crown molding?) on. The answer to the question of How the rails joined to the legs is a simple one. ... they aren't. They are both joined to the plywood. I'm using cabinet grade maple ply (Cabinet grade rocks => No voids, truly 3/4" thick and it's a 1/2" bigger in length and width.) Even with the high quality ply the rails are esthetic to hide the ends of the plywood. The rails are long-edge glued to the crown pieces however and each crown piece has 2 screws driven down into each leg with a 3/8" diameter maple dowel glued into the hole then sawn off flush to hide the screws. So in a way, they are all connected, but even if they weren't I would have no doubt that the piece will last 50 to 100 years before that glue fails. As you can see in this photo the cabinet is done. Needs some finish sanding, but for now its on to the drawers and door. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firehawk Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hi, Just curious, did you have plans or did you design this yourself? If you did the design, how many hours do you have in the design? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2014 Hey Mark, Okay, basically way back in late 2001 I built these 2 Armoires. I built them pretty much following the plans in Wood Magazine issue number 137 - Nov 6, 2001. Since that time I've built every Armoire and most dressers by using basically the exact same techniques outlined in that article. This chifferobe also follows those techniques. I have, over the years, streamlined a few things and incorporated some of my cabinet building experience into the designs but for the most part if I build an armoire; these are the techniques I use. (Not always the style, but definitely the techniques.) As far as the design of THIS Chifferobe goes. Basically my wife went onto Pottery Barn's webpage and said "I want one about this size with a door like this one, and this many drawers and shelves." Usually, I'll do a sketch-up for her. But in this case it was a napkin sketch and then off to the shop. I'm not sure how long that took, but I guess you can say I've been working on the design since 2001... Okay, not really, but I do tend to fall back on the techniques I know and that have been successful for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Hour number 7: Hour number 7 was from 4-5AM yesterday. The only thing I was able to do during this hour was to plane and joint the wood for the door and drawer fronts. The timer went off while I was setting up the table saw for the cutting of the drawer boxes. So, I turned around and clicked this picture and restarted the timer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Hour Number 8: Hour number 8 was from 5-6AM yesterday. During this hour I was able to cut and make the dados in all the pieces for the drawer boxes. I'm making the drawer boxes out of pine. I use pine a lot for drawer boxes and frankly I'm surprised more people don't. I believe it works really well for drawer boxes. Especially with Baltic birch plywood bottoms. In my opinion the best drawer joint for Pine drawers is the box joint. It seems like the pine just soaks up the glue into the box joint fingers and really makes a nice drawer. Having said that in this case time is of the essence so no box joints instead I did a simple locking drawer joint. ... Admittedly not my favorite. But really fast to do. I made all the drawer box parts during hour number 8. Here's a picture of the drawer pieces ready to go, also a picture of a test fit of one of the drawer joints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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