Guest Bedroom Dresser

[gee-dub]

I need a little more of that re-purposed red oak for the back slats. I strip the hardware off of the old round top.

Change out to a rip blade and "carve me up some steaks".



I clean off the under side at the planer which has no film finish on it, just color.

I resaw to approximate thickness and save some of the off cuts for veneer or box dividers.

I got a reasonable amount of material out of that and didn't have to toss it in the land fill.

On we go . . . .

[fcschoenthal]

On 6/2/2026 at 11:12 AM, gee-dub said:

I resaw to approximate thickness and save some of the off cuts for veneer or box dividers.

No wonder you didn't want to get rid of it, that was one thick top.

Old saying: "It's not hoarding if it's wood".

[gee-dub]

Ha-ha.  In the 70s in SoCal it seemed like everything was made out of red oak.  Every newlywed and college student had red oak furniture picked up at the "entry level" furniture store.

[fcschoenthal]

On 6/2/2026 at 7:58 PM, gee-dub said:

In the 70s in SoCal it seemed like everything was made out of red oak.

Not just in SoCal. You should have seen the massive (at least 7x7) entertainment center we had in the early 80's. In the late 80's we got an even more massive computer desk with hutch. Each one must have weighed over 200#. Both ended up using cheap plywood, but I salvaged all of the oak trim and other solid pieces.

[Mark J]

@gee-dub, I would imagine that ripping that large circle/semi-circle would be a little unwieldy.  How did you stabilize it, and keep the cut going straight? 

[gee-dub]

@Mark J - The table was made for leaf inserts and so had a reasonably flat edge where the halves joined.  I jointed that edge using the table top against the fence as the reference surface.  Then I ran that jointed edge against the fence and used a Grr-Ripper the finish the feed.  I do prefer feather boards when ripping but obviously couldn't do that with the semi-circle shape.  The Grr-Ripper solved that problem.

[gee-dub]

I am starting to have the feeling that using recycled material for this back panel was more trouble than it was worth. I comfort myself by remembering that at least the material didn't go into the land fill. Parts, parts, and more parts.

I start to glue the stiles to the rails for the rear frame.

Now that's ready.

OK, lets get some panels ready. I shellac them on all sides to control moisture over the seasons.

This looks a little confusing so I will blah, blah about it a bit . . . I use blobs of silicone instead of space balls. I use spacers to set the panels in place.

The tape is to prevent things from shifting while I glue the remaining top rail in place.

Now I go do something else until tomorrow. The one downside of silicone instead of space balls is that it has to set for several hours but, after 20 years of success it is hard to change. I have plenty of other stuff to do in the mean time.

[gee-dub]

Continuing to bumble forward . . . I have a small, inexpensive vise that I bolted to the side of my outfeed / assembly table. I added a jaw that would accept a dog and a plate with magnets to use as a stop.

It sets like so.

I am using it in this case to align the frame rails for the drawer fronts.

I have a couple of these (at the time) inexpensive pencil sharpeners; one at each end of the shop. I also have some hand crank sharpeners mounted here and there but being able to quickly sharpen one-handed has its advantages during a process.

Back in the day they were under $20 but I don't know what they are today. They come in super handy for a quick sharpening of the point of a pencil during mark-up.

I clamp the frame parts together and mark them for the mortises.

The frame and panel back didn't come out too bad. remembering that it is made up of reclaimed material . . .

The green and yellow colors of the poplar will dull to the choclate brown of my workbench base.

Alas, by the time they reach that coloration stage, no one will see them. Maybe someone will notice when they empty the house 

[gee-dub]

Here is the face frame presentation.

I know I have shown this doo-hickey before. It is a push-plate of sorts designed to interface with the MicroJig Matchfit system. It does many things but in this case it gives me a reliable vertical and horizontal perpendicular reference.

It rides against the sled fence and is therefor aligned by default.

I set it to let me make a spline slot in the small vertical frame members.

The clamps are configurable to allow a deep reach. This does a couple of things; it keeps things aligned as I change blanks and keeps my pinkies away from the meat-eater.

(Read in an Ace Ventura voice . . . ) "Like a glove".

I do up the four parts.

I will use some 1/8" double tempered hardboard as the splines.

These will provide structural strength for the drawer box dividers inside the carcass. This will make more sense after a few more steps.

[gee-dub]

Well . . . Mr. Twinkie Pinhead (that would be me) got ahead of himself and cut the leg tapers before he cut the joinery. Let me re-state that in a better way; always cut your joinery before you cut your tapers or curves. That being said, I used an extra leg blank as a story stick / fence to align the mortises so as not to follow the taper.

I measure off of a known parallel part to assure the line is true.

Normally when working with larger parts I prefer to bring the tool to the work as opposed to vice versa. In this case the Domino table was already setup and I had a work support handy so . . .

With all the mortises cut I can dry fit the front, back and sides.

Time for some lunch.

[pkinneb]

Looks like you worked it out! Very nice! Oh and if I had a dollar for every time I did something out of order I'd be rich 

[gee-dub]

Gluing things up so everything looks pretty much the same.  I need to do some surface prep on the front frame and touch up the end panels where they show the sign of me handling them and using them as 'alignment tools'.   I'll post a pic once I have the carcass in the clamps.  Hopefully that will be before end of day. 

LOML has a guest coming later this afternoon but they generally get lost in girl-talk so I can probably keep moving forward in the shop.  We have plenty of leftovers so I don't have to stop to cook.  My only excuse for not getting the carcass in the clamps may be a nap requirement 

[gee-dub]

Finally getting back to this after a little back and hip trouble . .. glad that's over. Glue up the front frame using a reference surface and clamps to try to overcome the slight bow . . .

. . . that I picked up in the parts when resawing.

I keep a grip of 3/4" pipe in a corner behind the door for altering pipe clamp dimensions. I have shorter pieces and couplers as well. Cheap, easy to store and they come in real handy when you need them.

I take a moment to swap out the head and tail pieces.

Same old trick here . . . I clamp a couple of carts together to yield a larger work surface than I want to commit space for. Sets up and tears down quick without dedicating precious shop floor space.

I am getting some more use out of those bed supports I picked up on Amazon when doing the headboard project. I find I need a third hand more often nowadays.

I have a Kreg model 720 which is really great. For these pieces I want the holes positioned for 1/2" material despite it being 1" material. The 720 auto-magically sets things up based on the thickness you clamp in it. I break out a small Kreg jig and set it up to put the holes where I want. I grip the Kreg clamp in the vise and use it like so for these odd-ball dividers.



That's about it for today. I will follow up later on.

[Von]

I admit I've never heard of a "crook" before when it comes to wood deforming. Makes sense now that I see it.

With regards to your pipes - I agree and keep a similar, more modest, stash around. I have a number of 12" pieces. With 4' sections I find I often just need a little more length. I started with 1/2" and then it dawned on me there was no reason I could think of not to do 3/4" so I've got half-and-half (and more accurately, half-and-three-quarter).

I've always used black pipe. I have a vague memory the clamps are supposed to get a better grip? (Probably one of those things that only matters in theory but spurs great debate on forums. Sorry if so.) 

Love your trick of clamping the Kreg clamp in the vise!

[wtnhighlander]

I had several pieces of 3/4" rigid conduit left from an old project, that I pressed into service for pipe clamps. I can say that black pipe is harder and stiffer. The slip clutch of the clamp can dig in to the conduit surface, and become difficult to release, and the conduit flexes & deforms at lengths > 24" or so. 

[curlyoak]

On 6/14/2026 at 10:09 AM, wtnhighlander said:

The slip clutch of the clamp can dig in to the conduit surface, and become difficult to release,

With the screw part of the clamp in hand and the slip clutch away from you, with modest force hit the clutch lever on a bench top edge. Or a tap with a hammer on the lever...