FWW / Epic Woodworking Shaker Chest of Drawers

[mdbuilder]

I've been working on the shaker chest of drawers by Tom McLaughlin that was in a recent Fine Wood Working for a couple of weeks now, perhaps 3 weeks :). Nearing completion of the basic box, next step is the base and then of course the 5 drawers with dozens of dovetails. This series of posts will go fast, then it'll slow down.

First up was the obligatory trip to the local sawmill to pick up material. Followed by some machine work, panel glue up and sanding on my newly acquired Jet 22/44 sander. New project, new machine! 

[mdbuilder]

I started with the tails on the main box panels. Tails were cut on the table saw with a blade ground to a 7 degree top angle. For the pin / half blind side  I sawed to the line then removed some waste with the drill press and picked up the chisels. That went fine for a couple of corners, when I got to corner3 I ran into some wild grain diving towards the outside of the case so  I resorted to the router with a straight bit and a guide bushing after chopping out the first 3/16 of depth. 

 

 

[Chet]

Looks like you are of to a good start.

[gee-dub]

Thanks for the tag-a-long.  I enjoy a good build journal.

[mdbuilder]

Thanks, after the the half blinds came  the sliding dovetails for the rails. 

[Coop]

I’m liking this! 

[mdbuilder]

Time for glue up. 15 minutes of sheer terror, racing the glues open time to get it all applied and assembled. The last two corners took some persuasion to seat

[mdbuilder]

So, when it came time to fill the case with internal parts I needed my tenon cutting jig. I own one of those classic Delta cast iron things that fits in the miter slot on the table saw. Somewhere! Can't find it though -grrr!

What's a guy to do? Well, I do own 3 radial arm saws :). So I used one for cross cutting to length, one for tenon cuts and on with a stop block to make the cheek cuts. The blue saws are 196x Era, the green one is a 1957 MBF.

[mdbuilder]

I've got all the internal slidy parts installed. There are some dust panels the slide in the grooves still to fab, I may start on the milling for those this weekend. Other than that, the main box is done - on to the base before tackling the drawers.

[mdbuilder]

Couple more

[wtnhighlander]

Coming along nicely!

From the photos, your work space seems to be a bit larger than a typical 1-stall garage. How did you manage to fit 3 (three!?!?) radial arm saws in there???  Is there a Tardis-like quality to your shop?

[mdbuilder]

LoL

 

The shop is appr. 600 square feet in the basement, 9 foot to the bottom of the joists. Admittedly 3 RAS's is excessive, by 1 I'd say. Can't go wrong with 2 as then you can set one up for dado's leaving the other for the odd cross cut.

 

Anyway, the dark blue one is my main machine. The little mbf was the first one I got, lovely machine but underpowered at only a 1/2 hp. It sits in the corner, doesn't take up much space and only rarely used.

 

The light blue one came after the other two, the motor had failed on the mbf so it was going to be a replacement until someone mailed me a replacement motor for cheap. All the things were dirt cheap, $125 or less per saw...

[treeslayer]

i don't know how i missed this one, great work sir!

[mdbuilder]

Match jointing a couple 1/2"+ poplar boards to glue up for a dust partition. Woodriver #6

[mdbuilder]

Dust dividers are done, thickness sanded to just under a half inch and panels raised on the radial arm saw. I'll hit them with a smoother for final fitting to the case.

[mdbuilder]

Dust partitions added

[treeslayer]

I like the idea of adding dust partitions, I’ve put them on all the dressers I’ve built and see no reason not to and a lot of reasons to put them in, well done

[mdbuilder]

Agreed, they add a lot at the cost of a little labor. The wood was dirt cheap, I bought 38 4 foot + 4/4 boards from a local sawyer a couple weeks ago for 1.20 a board foot.

[mdbuilder]

After the initial fit up of the partitions now I am on to cleaning things up as I go. Poplar planes beautifully. I've been final thicknessing everything with my new drum sander which works great but the 80 grit paper leaves some prominent sanding grooves. They come off quickly in 2 or 3 passes leaving a rather nice ready for finish surface.

[Chet]

On 7/19/2021 at 6:10 AM, mdbuilder said:

works great but the 80 grit paper leaves some prominent sanding grooves.

I think the grits on a drum sander are courser then the the equivalent number of your ROS discs.  I use 120 on my drum sander then start with 80 on my ROS and work through the grits.  

[Chestnut]

I also find removing drum sander sanding lines a lot faster with a hand plane or card scraper as well. It's interesting that you find Poplar for inexpensive. I've not been able to find an inexpensive source for it. I can usually get soft maple or #1com cherry for cheaper. Probably a regional thing as soft maple and cherry are readily available here, while poplar doesn't grow well up here wild.

[Belle City WW]

You are doing an outstanding job on the Chest!

[mdbuilder]

On 7/19/2021 at 12:02 PM, Chestnut said:

I also find removing drum sander sanding lines a lot faster with a hand plane or card scraper as well. It's interesting that you find Poplar for inexpensive. I've not been able to find an inexpensive source for it. I can usually get soft maple or #1com cherry for cheaper. Probably a regional thing as soft maple and cherry are readily available here, while poplar doesn't grow well up here wild.

I understand :). My normal guy I go to the regular A grades of black cherry, red (soft) maple, hard maple and red ambrosia maple are all $4.95 per board foot for the A grade 4/4 size with poplar being $2.50 for 6-8" wide A grade.

 

The alternate place I found the cheaper poplar has  a more limited selection and air dries it. For a $1.20 a BFI couldn't pass it up <g>.

[legenddc]

I was looking at your post history and saw you recommended MD Select Hardwoods. You still get most of your wood there? I'm curious how the grade B stuff is. It's an hour away from me but might be worth the trip.

Nice work on the chest so far. Can't wait to see it with finish on it!

[mdbuilder]

On 7/19/2021 at 3:33 PM, legenddc said:

I was looking at your post history and saw you recommended MD Select Hardwoods. You still get most of your wood there? I'm curious how the grade B stuff is. It's an hour away from me but might be worth the trip.

Nice work on the chest so far. Can't wait to see it with finish on it!

Yes, MD Select is my normal guy. I've occasionally gotten a grade B board when I come across it in the pile, depending on the size of parts you need they can be OK. Generally more knots so you are not going to get a 5 or 6 foot part out of it. Also, not sure how much B stuff he regularly stocks. You might want to call first and ask how much B grade he has for whatever species you are looking for. He is on the net: https://www.maryland-select.com/