minorhero Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Great work! Your speed is really amazing! I plan to show my girlfriend the final product but I also plan to not tell her how quickly you did it. My projection on my table build was literally double of your project :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 They already said it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Yeah not much I can add except great job and you work way, WAY faster than I do. Looks fantastic, Chet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Chet. Amazing piece and bravo on the timeframe. Can you take some pics of the trim that fits around the top of the casework? Curious as to how it's put together up there. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Man that looks nice! At 19 hours I would still be puzzling over which pieces to cut first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Thanks for all the compliments. I'm actually really happy with this piece. It's pretty straight forward but its a little different than the average armoire or dresser. Funny, I don't think I work that fast. Anyway, here's the chifferobe in it's natural environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Here's another picture just for fun. My son (for whom I built the chifferobe) came running up to see what I was doing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Vinny, I can grab some photos of the top. Not sure what would be the best way to show it off. If you look at hour 13 there's some shots of how it's put together. Basically it's done in cabinet maker's style. Think of it as a box with crown molding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Very nice! Thanks for documenting this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroDave Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 That's inspiring Chet! Just amazing and something to aspire...thanks for sharing your work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Hour 19 - still looking for the pencil I put down somewhere The speed and quality was awesome. Thanks for this Chet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkirby Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 Thats a seriously nice bit of furniture. Think i will try this hour thingy on my next build, might not last long as it will be too embarrassing lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted November 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 Thank you to everyone for the comments on this thread. It was fun to do the every hour thing. Here's some stuff that I learned: 1 - Apparently I can build a carcass really quickly. 2 - It takes me a lot longer to fit up drawer fronts than I thought. There are some things I'd do differently if I unlimited time on this project. The number one thing would have been box joints on the drawers rather than the simple drawer joint I did. I also may have dyed the maple just a bit before varnishing it. I may have done a more complex drawer front as well. However, I'm glad I didn't because I really like the over-all look of the piece as it is with the straight forward drawer fronts. Over-all the most important thing is that my son and my bride love it. We let my son "move into" it on his own and it's now fully operational. You can tell he moved into it because he only hung clothes on the bottom bar. The top one will most likely get some seasonal stuff. Either that or we'll put the other shelf in and have 2 shelves above the bottom bar and just use it for storage. That's the magic of a chifferobe; They are just so versatile. Thanks again for all the support and comments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 Looks great Chet and very quickly done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 Super nice job Chet! I'm sure it will last for many many years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Chet - I've been scratching my head on the rabbets you mentioned on the legs/corner trim. Is it essentially a long rabbet that runs the length of the trim, with equal thickness on each side of the "L"? Thanks - seems like a good solution for the corners of casework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted November 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Vinny, Basically what I did is to take 4 pieces of hard maple milled to 1-1/2" x 4-1/2" x something longer than 65" Then I cut a 3/4" x 3-3/4" rabbet the entire length of the piece. What you have remaining looks like the cut-off part below... except a lot longer. (BTW - the 3/4" dimension should be a little smaller if you aren't using true 3/4" plywood, basically you want it the thickness of your ply.) Then I glue back in a 3/4" x 3-3/4" x 5" in piece at the end of each rabbet. You cannot use the part you just removed as the saw kerf will make it about an 1/8" too small in both dimensions, so you'll need a fresh piece of maple. The length of the piece you glue in will define the length of the chifferobe's legs. Once that dries I clean it up and then cut the simple leg shape, removing saw marks with my number 4-1/2. You can kind of tell that in this picture. Okay, so at this point you have 4 legs. Now you have 2 options. Option 1: You can glue the legs to your plywood sides. This is the way I did it for years. It is also the way that Wood magazine has you build just about every case for an armoire or wardrobe or chest of drawers. Once you glue the sides on, you can add any decorative cross members you like and trim the top of the legs to fit the sides. .... tada => You now have the sides of your case. Option 2: I started doing this a few years back because I found it a much faster method FOR ME. You can try both and decide for yourself. What I do is build the case. Then cut the legs to length and add them AFTER the carcass is formed. That's what I did here. I find this method to be much faster. I also find it much easier to add the dados for the internal shelves and what not. The only risk is if you cut the legs too short or too long you can end up with a gap in the top of your case... as I did. I was able to fix it and tons of people have now seen the chifferobe and nobody has noticed it. Sometimes they don't notice it even when I point it out. If you are looking for more information try to get a copy of Wood Magazine Issue 137, November 2001. There's an armoire in there which pretty much illustrates the technique I've been using to build Armoires, chests of drawers, wardrobes, and now chifferobes for like 13 years now. Like I've mentioned many times I've made cabinets for like 25 years so I apply a lot of what I've learned in cabinet making to the projects I make now. Let me know if this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Wow - thanks for the detailed response. Ok, so the rabbeted bits fit over the corners of the casework, and only the bottom of the trim that you then 'un-rabbeted', are then shaped to make the feet/legs? ..and the glue up 'un-rabbeting' is necessary because you can't cleanly (safely) stop a rabbet/dado of this size at 90 degrees on the table saw, right? Appreciate the help man, I like this concept a lot, and am about 99% there with the understanding (if I'm on point, above). I'll grab that issue of Wood too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted November 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 You've got it brother. I guess there may be a way to stop the rabbet on the table saw, but with that big of a piece I'm sure the clean up alone would be a big old pain in the kiester. The un-rabbeting is really easy and if you match grain at all it will be invisible. Especially since it ends up being the inside of the bottom of the legs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 That's pretty much the method I use as well Say What Good job Chet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 You the man, Chet. This project journal was as good as watching a full blown build video. Thanks for the post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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