Thread: WIP Queen Anne Dressing Table

Looking even betterer SB!!

I'm close enough to you to come up and conduct a personal inspectio.

Originally Posted by artme

Looking even betterer SB!!

I'm close enough to you to come up and conduct a personal inspectio.

Not a problem artme, when it's finished, but for now here is some more progress pics of the boards joined and sanded with a dry fit up. Note the top is not finished yet but it will give you some idea of how it will look. I'll be away for a few days so progress will be slow.

SB

I'm watching too.

How are the legs joined to the side and back panels? How is wood movement allowed for with this?

Looking very nice.

ajw

That is shaping up reeeeeelly well, And the wood is ,,
just so spectacular. Heirloom coming up here.

Looking real nice.

I think it's gonna look pretty fine

Pete

Originally Posted by ajw

I'm watching too.

How are the legs joined to the side and back panels? How is wood movement allowed for with this?

Looking very nice.

ajw

ajw, the panels are joined by three sets of mortise and tenon joints at each leg corner. The book matched panels themselves are joined with seveal sets of dowels along the join. The picture of the original QA dresser at the start of this blog is 250 years old and is of simple construction as the plans say. The plans have no mention of wood movement. If it can last 250 years it must be right. I might add the one in Australian Woodsmith N0. 68 of a slightly different design does not either.

Still looking for ideas on the finish. I tried tea as a dye with shellac on a test piece but it did not make much difference. I want it darker than Qld Maple but not over powering, just to pop the figure and take that light look off the maple away.

SB

Nice work superbunny, and welcome to the 1700's. It's a slippery slope from here. Just you wait.

You're going to learn quite a lot making a lowboy. In case you haven't noticed, the design can easily be stretched to make a table with a drawer. Same construction. The sides are M & T'ed to the legs, and the upper divider at the front is dovetailed to the legs, and the lower divider is double M & T'ed to the legs.

The plans may not directly mention wood movement, but everything about this piece is designed with wood movement in mind. That said, you need to know where not to put glue so the wood can move.

I like the shape of your legs. Much nicer than the sample pic, which seems a little squarish at the knee. You're seem a little more fluid. I notice you have not shaped the sides., are you going to shape the front apron? I hope you do because a shaped apron can add a fair bit of drama to the piece.

Just one little thing. Did the plans call for dowels to join the side panels? I can't imagine why you would need them for anything other than alignment. Glue is more than capable.

Nice work indeed. A+

Originally Posted by Too Many Clamps

Nice work superbunny, and welcome to the 1700's. It's a slippery slope from here. Just you wait.

You're going to learn quite a lot making a lowboy. In case you haven't noticed, the design can easily be stretched to make a table with a drawer. Same construction. The sides are M & T'ed to the legs, and the upper divider at the front is dovetailed to the legs, and the lower divider is double M & T'ed to the legs.

The plans may not directly mention wood movement, but everything about this piece is designed with wood movement in mind. That said, you need to know where not to put glue so the wood can move.

I like the shape of your legs. Much nicer than the sample pic, which seems a little squarish at the knee. You're seem a little more fluid. I notice you have not shaped the sides., are you going to shape the front apron? I hope you do because a shaped apron can add a fair bit of drama to the piece.

Just one little thing. Did the plans call for dowels to join the side panels? I can't imagine why you would need them for anything other than alignment. Glue is more than capable.

Nice work indeed. A+

Your right, but as I'm new to the 1700's and your right I think I'm on the silpery slope already, the joinery in its self may account for wood movement but I don't know that as I'm new to this type of furniture. I put the dowels in for alignment and as I'm inexperienced at joining panels I wanted to make sure they don't move. I only have the plans to go on and as you know they don't always tell you everything you want to know. For instance, they tell me nothing about the draws themselves and how to construct them, however, the Australian Woodsmith version does so I'll use thiers as a guide.

I'm glad you like my legs but I don't remember showing them to you in person. The apron and sides will be shaped but I'm doing my own design inspiered by two QA dressers I've seen. Pics of them soon.

SB

Looking absolutly beautiful.
Can hardly wait to see the finish on it.
The grain looks beautiful.
Rich.

As others have raised the issue of potential wood movevement , I thought I would throw in my 5 cents worth . I made a coffee table , with breadboard ends ,from Tassie myrtle a few years ago. The top ,which is 450mm wide,has shrunk 7-8mm.
You may not have as much movement in Queensland where the average humidity is probable higher than here in Melbourne ,but it would be worth while doing something to allow for movement before you do the glue up.
One way would be to glue the top mortise and tenon at each leg and elongate the other two mortises to allow the panel to move . I do not have an answer to how you would then "restrain " the other two mortise and tenons .
Somebody else will probably have a solution .

The traditional method of making the end panels is to cut three or four tennons per end which engage commensurate mortices in the legs. In draw-bored versions, it's common to see a peg in each tennon, however, if you're concerned about shrinkage, I would just drawbore and peg the middle tennon(s) and leave the top and bottom tennons loose to move as they will.

In service, you won't notice any shrinkage at the bottom and any movement at the top will go unseen because of the overhang of the top.

If you'd prefer to glue rather than draw-bore, then I'd cut four tennons per end and glue only the middle two tennons to prevent racking.

You "could" drawbore the tenons if you wish, many where. If you do, you can vertically enlarge the tenon drawbore pin holes to allow for movement. I've seen some glued only at the top, or only in the middle as WW suggested. However, many I've seen have been had all the tenons glued, with no apparent ill effect.

As you see, there's no hard and fast rule here. I glue only the center tenons and leave the rest to float in each direction. I might drawbore my next lowboy for a change.

About drawers. Typically, these pieces use 3/4" - 1" thick primary wood fronts that are a 1/4" to 3/8" wider than the opening on both sides and the top. No overhang on the bottom. Secondary wood sides and bottom. 1/2 blind dovetails in the front, through dovetails in the rear. You can either plow a grove for the drawer bottom, or use slips. Either way, use solid wood, chamfered down to fit the groove. Oh yeah, the back of the drawer doesn't get a groove because it's cut so the drawer bottom fits beneath it and slightly protrudes past it. Drawer front would also normally have a 1/4" thumbnail profile all around too.

Orient grain front to back, so all expansion is to the back. Do not glue the bottom at all. Just nail, or screw it at the back. If screwing, slot the hole in the bottom also to allow for expansion.

Although far less common, you can also make these using inset drawers if you wish.

There's a lot of good advise from Too Many Clamps, but those and other factors will largely depend on whether you want to make an authentic Queen Anne lowboy or a nice-looking-table-with-cabriole-legs-copied-from-a-magazine. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with either!