WIP Chest of drawers

**John Samuel** · 25th February 2020, 12:32 AM

Thanks to Riverbuilder, I have started this project.

A project to build a small chest of drawers with cabriole legs and sides and front that matched the shape of the legs has been on my mind for some years, but I was concerned I didn't have the skills necessary. Here is a rough sketch showing half the cabinet.

ZZZ Cabriolet Cabinet (2).jpeg

I decided to start with the components that had concerned me the most, the sides of the cabinet. Three 50 mm thick Surian Cedar boards were glued together, and then cut in half because the sides were too wide for the throat of my 14 inch SUV band saw. I bought a half inch, bi-metal blade with 3 TPI, glued three pieces of MDF together and did a test run. It worked!

Then it was time to cut some cedar. In order to hold the work piece vertical as it was cut a piece of 12 mm MDF was glued onto the foot of the work piece with hot melt glue. The gluing was done using the band saw blade as a guide as noted in the next pic.

IMG20200224091832.jpg

Here are the sides after they have been cut and glued back together,
IMG20200224095212.jpg

Then the sanding started. made a curved sanding block to help to sand and shape the concave curve at the top of the sides.
IMG20200224123211.jpg

Here they are, ready for finish sanding. Quite happy with the result.
IMG20200224231357.jpg

Next will likely be the legs and frame that support the cabinet ... when I get around to it.

This job has reminded me about how long I delayed making my first set of cabriole legs ... only to discover that they were not at all difficult. They take a little time. A set of legs usually takes me half a day of solid work. I was fretting over the sides of these cabinets but now realise that, as was the case with cabriole legs, I was just being a big sook. It's necessary for novices like me to be careful, but they were not difficult to make. The real challenge will be getting all the drawer fronts, which are the same shape as the sides, sanded to one continuous plane, but I have a few ideas and as always, father time will reveal all.

**John Samuel** · 25th February 2020, 11:09 PM

Legs were made today. I'll shave a bit off the bottoms of the legs until I get the slipper feet looking a bit more delicate, or shape the toe into a more downward angle.
IMG20200225215409.jpg

**John Samuel** · 26th February 2020, 03:04 PM

Decided not to shorten the legs. Instead, the front of the foot was cut to slope down at a steeper angle to make the slipper narrower at the toe. Now they look less chunky and a little more delicate.

IMG20200226135842.jpg

**John Samuel** · 20th March 2020, 02:33 PM

My first ever dovetail joints. Much better than the test run. Nice firm fit that required a few thumps with the mallet to drive the tails home. The tails were easier to make than the pins, but that was expected. The band saw did a lovely job on the tails. No paring was necessary.

**John Samuel** · 20th March 2020, 04:07 PM

Dry assembled the carcass. It is amazing how stable the carcass is. Everything is firm and the carcass can easily be carried around the shop.

Dry Assembly.jpg

It gets better. Ran the square over the corners and they are close enough to perfect as they are.

The joints are not perfect, but given this is my first set of dovetails I am very happy with the result, especially given the nice fit of the dovetail sides to the sides of the pins. Once glued up, the carcass will need no extra strength from any other components. I now better appreciate why this method is so favoured by "real deal" cabinetmakers. It is very strong and it allows the wood to move.

Thank goodness I had the good sense to buy a Japanese dovetailing chisel, and a clever dovetail shaped chisel for cleaning out the corners.

Taking the weekend off to go to the farm to enjoy the smells of cow dung and gunpowder. Next will come the drawer dividers, which I think I will assemble as web frames to make the drawer runners easy to fit ... there are nine drawers ... but will give that some think time over the weekend.

FRONT ELEVATION.jpg

**John Samuel** · 1st April 2020, 11:02 PM

Chickened out and fitted the drawer dividers to the carcass with floating tenons and epoxy resin. The test run with a sliding dovetail was not pretty. I am going to need to make up a better sled or similar to do a better job of guiding the work piece over the cutter. The carcass is very strong, so I remain happy with the job.

IMG20200329131655.jpg

In the next pic the drawer components are sitting in the carcass. The drawers will be built as noted earlier in this thread, with dowels.

IMG20200329164903.jpg

Then the drawers were glued up and the false fronts were cut on the band saw, attached to the drawers and the front of the cabinet was sanded to shape as a single piece.

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EDIT: I lied. The description of drawer construction was in another thread. Here is the pic showing how I usually make drawers.
IMG_1789.jpg

**John Samuel** · 7th April 2020, 07:51 PM

Finished, and in it's final resting place.

IMG20200407180131.jpg IMG20200407172308.jpg IMG20200407172043.jpg IMG20200407172231.jpg IMG20200407172019.jpg

**John Samuel** · 15th September 2020, 12:21 PM

Just a point of interest.

I thought that this cabinet would attract attention. It does not. Most people barely register it's presence and it sits in a very prominent position. Everybody who comes into my home walks by it. If they sit in the lounge chairs, they are facing it.

On the other hand, the girly cabinets in the master bedroom, which some people dislike, always generate comments ... Girlie cabinet. Some love them, some think they are quite odd and unattractive, but they always generate interest and comments.

Maybe it's already time to replace this chest of drawers.

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