Pair of Dressers

[gee-dub]

Had some unexpected company mid-day. Folks we hadn't seen for a while so it lasted into the night. Good visit but I never did get back to the shop.
I will be using a secondary wood for the entire backs. I have a lot of poplar left over from when I used to make drawer bottoms out of it. I only make stuff for me now so . . . poplar it is .
Have I mentioned often enough how useful these silly adjustable height tables from Home Depot are? I find myself more and more glad that I didn't build the complex ones I had designed before the shop was built.

I break down and mill the long and short pieces that will make up the rear panel frames. These frames will M&T into the legs but will be tongue and groove other than that. Break out a dado stack for a bunch of 1/4" x 3/8" grooves.



I add a couple of chippers to the stack and use the L-fence to rabbet the ends of many members.

I wheel mark the exit points to assure a clean cut.

This is the final profile on the short verticals.

They fit into the long parts looks like so.

That's all I got. I'll pick it up tomorrow.

[gee-dub]

I seem to have not kept one rail tight to the table when cutting the dado. A router plane makes fast work of setting a consistent depth.

I glue and clamp some verticals to a rail.

The slats will be a simple lapped seam with rabbets all around between each vertical. My one-piece phenolic Saw Stop dado insert was getting pretty chewed. I did an epoxy repair on the opening that will have to set till tomorrow. That means I need an alternate insert for my dado work. I made a batch of replaceable inserts for my Colliflower throat plate back when I got it. I didn't make any solid ones for dados but I guess any one will do.


Here it is mounted in the plate.

And here I have run the dado up to about the height I will be cutting.

I use the "L" fence as shown in previous posts to cut the rabbets. Even though I plan on a 1/2" dimension I make a test cut on some similarly milled scrap and set my wheel gauge on that.

I strike a line at the cross grain cut areas to assure a clean cut and go to work. I end up here.

I dry fit the panels / slats and the remaining long rail to check the fit. It looks pretty multi-color right now.

Speaking from past experience the poplar will ease into a generally brown coloration. This happens even under the stain in case anyone happens to look at the back some day.

I route a profile on the internal edges of the frame.

I route a similar profile (a partial round over) on the raised portions of the floating panels / slats . . . not sure which to call them as some are wide like panels and some are narrow like slats(?).

For a comparison, the workbench base in the top of this pic is poplar with a bit of BLO on it. The frame and panels are raw now but will get some finish of some sort and mellow to this brownish hue over time.

I save a lot of my templates and write on them what they were for and sometimes a date. Things like this template get reused on the lower front rail arch.

I hang the templates on pegs . . . usually . . .

Sometimes they snow-drift up in a corner until I take a moment or two to drill a hole in them to hang .

[Coop]

Since no one dared asked, what is the weighted white line for in the next to last pic? My wife’s uncle has a tennis ball hanging from the ceiling of his garage that will bump his windshield just before he hits the wall but I doubt that’s the case here. 

[gee-dub]

Alas, no interesting story there . . . I have three zones for my shop lights controlled by a bank of four-way switches at each door.  This sounded like a good idea during the design phase.  In reality I use the switches at the main entrance door 99.999% of the time.  The lights in each zone also have pull strings.  That is just a pull string for one fixture in zone three with a bead on the end to make it somewhat stable.  I generally run half the lights in a given zone.  When I am doing close work I will turn a couple more on in that area.  If I am doing something that has me moving all around the shop it is not unusual for me to end up with all the lights on by the end of the day

[gee-dub]

We were in Texas for a few days attending a family friend's coffee shop grand opening. We got out just ahead of a severe cold front. I'd like to take credit for excellent planning but it was total chance.
I use a template from some previous project for the arch on the lower stretcher. It just happened to be about the right size. I do this in halves reversing the template for a good mirror image.



Once I have one done I use it for a template and do the whole run at once. I do still need to shift the material from one side to the other due to the size of my template jig.

They make these in all sorts of configurations. Here are two with inline and perpendicular configurations. I was fortunate and bought a bunch back when Harbor Freight used to carry a lot more variety.

They are good for holding long members. Here I use it to hold a part so I can do the layout for other joinery cased on the reality of the piece.

The door hanging assistant I made can apparently also help holding large back panels.

Here is a rough dry fit of all but the vertical dividers.

I will catch the second unit up to this point and then move forward.

[gee-dub]

Still plunking along . . . Given the curved legs I chose to approach this glue up horizontally. The bench vise, the door-jig, and some blocks of scrap all act as helpers.

I remove the panel, add the glue and set the joinery like so.

The little half-moon blocks I made earlier come into play.

The plywood assembly squares I made oh-so-long ago continue to serve me well.

I'll give this a bit to set up and do the other dresser.

[roughsawn]

That really looks like a technical glue up. Do you use a glue with a longer open time to work with?

They look like they are coming together nicely.

[gee-dub]

Thanks. I tend to use Titebond III mostly. It has an open time rating of 8-10 minutes. In my area it may be a little less but you can do quite a lot in 5 minutes if you have been through a dry run first.

I use a lot of darker woods so the darker cured color of TB-III works well for me too.  I keep other glues on hand for lighter woods.

[Von]

I continue to enjoy seeing your techniques and all the doohickeys you have made over the years. Thanks for posting.

[gee-dub]

On 1/17/2024 at 6:10 AM, Von said:

I continue to enjoy seeing your techniques and all the doohickeys you have made over the years. Thanks for posting.

Thanks Von.  You gave me a good laugh this morning.  Doohickeys is a word I use a lot and exactly what I call a lot of jigs and fixtures.  I feel vindicated

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, gee-dub said:

  Doohickeys is a word I use a lot and exactly what I call a lot of jigs and fixtures.  I feel vindicated

Sounds like a good title for the book you should write . 

[roughsawn]

On 1/17/2024 at 8:10 AM, Von said:

I continue to enjoy seeing your techniques and all the doohickeys you have made over the years. Thanks for posting.

Same here. I have picked up many pointers, and copied some of the jigs and techniques you have posted. Thanks for taking the time to post!

[gee-dub]

Thanks guys.  I'm sure anything I may share has been stolen from some other clever woodworker who shared on a forum. 

These little half moon blocks are used yet again.  I changed the rubber pads out for 120 grit sandpaper.  The small amount of flex/spring was causing me grief.  The heavy cloth-backed paper will serve me better.  Just taking one for the team in case you plan to make any . . .

One carcass is mostly glued up.

The door jig gets more duty as a horizontal part holder  . . .

The second dresser carcass is mostly glued up.

Once again very thankful that I went with the building size I did.  Two dressers in mid-completion and I still have room to work.  I am moving along a little too quickly.  The plumbing just got signed off this morning and I am trying to sync with the new master bedroom completion. Yeah, planning . . . that'll teach me

[wtnhighlander]

@gee-dub, you might need to rename your door jig, it is proving to be useful in a lot of situations!

[gee-dub]

I keep looking at a more sophisticated pocket hole jig but, this keeps getting me by for the amount of them that I do.

Complete with dust collection.

I had my neighbor come over and help me heft these guys up onto the tables.

The drawer slide support panels will use splines. Sort of like a long tenon in this case. They will fasten to the case rear and the horizontals in the front. I use pocket holes to anchor them while the glue sets. The spline at the front will also be the attachment point for the vertical divider trim. I use a FTG blade to cut the spline slots.

These are easy cuts so I don't even need an auxiliary tall fence. I do use a featherboard to help keep the material tight to the fence so I don't have to get my pinkies close to the blade.

These are starting to look like dressers.

Here's a shot of the splines / slots although they will probably make more sense once the trim is applied.

I think that will about do it for today.

[Von]

On 1/21/2024 at 8:12 PM, gee-dub said:

I keep looking at a more sophisticated pocket hole jig but, this keeps getting me by for the amount of them that I do.

...
I had my neighbor come over and help me heft these guys up onto the tables.
...

I have the Kreg 720 jig and the built-in clamp and dust collection port are nice, but agree they are optimizations. I could take or leave all the built in storage and wings.

As I've gotten older I've also learned the wisdom that there are just parts of the process I need help with and moving assembled carcasses around is definitely one of them

[gee-dub]

The concrete got poured this morning . . .

I am trying to time the completion of these with the completion of the remodel so I will have somewhere to put them. This gives me a relaxed time frame so here's some more detail on using scrap spacers for parts placement. I gather all sorts of random stuff that is good for nothing but single-use throw-away tasks like this. The spacer fits snug from either side of the divider panel. It is also cut square / perpendicular so it will work as a squaring aid.
 

The same scrap is used for all dividers of that dimension. This makes lining things up easy even for me.

I normally use one piece of scrap and just cut it off as I require shorter and shorter pieces. For this matched pair of dressers it was easier to use two scraps for the different sized openings.

For setting the upper position I use spring clamps to hold the spacer in position. This pic shows how the spacer also acts as a squaring aid.

At any rate you end up here.

I had already dimensioned some trim for the vertical dividers. Here I use an FTG blade to groove them to accept the splines discussed earlier.

Once cut to rough length they are marked for each individual position. They are within 1/32" of each other but I have plenty of time so I fit them all separately.

I shoot them to fit.

I then mark them so I don't mix things up.

The vertical divider blanks get the profile I've established for the front presentation.

If anything ever deserved a "version 2" it is this guy. I have been milking this version 1 cobbled from scrounged particleboard throw-away furniture parts for years. The purpose is to put the same ROS surface prep on these parts as have been put on the others. The jig makes it easy to do this on short pieces. It sure beats holding them in your hand and trying to hit them with the ROS without fouling things up.

At any rate, once completed the spline is glued to the divider and the trim is glued to the spline, divider, and horizontal sections.

Seven more to go.

[gee-dub]

Hitting one of those phases where you do a lot but not a lot shows .

All the trim is on.  Time to start milling drawer box material.

[gee-dub]

I am dilly-dallying a little. I don't want to finish these off before the bedroom is ready. I decided to add some corner braces and also use them as part of the attachment points for the top. I cut some 5" sections of 1-1/2" x 3/4" maple.

I cut a 45 degree on each end.

I pocket hole them for attachment.

That looks like so.

Then I drill an oversized counter-bored hole for the screw that will attach the top.

It gets counter-bored from both sides



These block will attach at the corners of the top.

The screw that feeds through the counter-bore will allow for wood movement.



Some figure 8's at the center-line of the top will also be used. This will make more sense later when you can see it.

[gee-dub]

I cut a 90 degree notch out of a piece of scrap (an old bar clamp version 1 extender in this case) and add a piece of rubber.

This let's me clamp the corner blocks into position for gluing and screwing.

They look like so when in place.

Now I have finally run out of excuses for making all those drawer boxes . . .

 

[gee-dub]

I mill some scrap to the same dimensions as the drawer box stock. I make a couple of test cuts to get the fit I am after. Once I have it I cut a couple inches off each board and use these as setup blocks for the rest of the project.

I epoxied a small block of scrap on the end of this featherboard so long ago I don't remember when it was. I use it as a stop block on occasion. Here I am cutting out the rear of the drawer box for the under mount slides.

Second cut at another bandsaw.

I shellac and sand the interior of the drawer and the bottom prior to assembly.

I tend to do a whole drawer for each project prior to cranking out the rest. I need to make sure I am remembering everything about installing them

Seems to work.

Now for the rest.

[Coop]

Whose undermount slides do you use? 

[Mark J]

17 hours ago, gee-dub said:

epoxied a small block of scrap on the end of this featherboard

Why?  Seems like you could just use the feather board itself.

[gee-dub]

On 2/1/2024 at 8:22 AM, Mark J said:

Why?  Seems like you could just use the feather board itself.

I needed a little more room for my finger to get by while turning the knob during set up. Just one of those silly things we run into and find solutions for.

[gee-dub]

On 1/31/2024 at 4:58 PM, Coop said:

Whose undermount slides do you use? 

Blum 563’s.  I knew I was going to need a few dozen for the bedroom pieces so I just kept watching for good prices.  I got a lot of them during a 25% off sale at Rockler some time ago.  Turned out to be the best price I could find at the time.  I always appreciate anyone's source info on these as they are not cheap.