A New Child's Dresser (Finally Completed!)

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Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Hi there.

About a week ago or so one of our members,Trent Mason asked to have us share some details surrounding a current project in this thread…..http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/f29/share-one-project-30062/

Here is my contribution.....:icon_thum

Well…….. I have been “off and runnin’” for about 4-5 weeks now with constructing a small dresser for our new grand daughter. We just knew she needed some storage for all of the outfits the grandmas have been purchasing over the last couple of months. This child is going to be well healed!:gar-Bi

(BTW: A very good book that I have been using as a reference is “Illustrated Cabinet Making” by Bill Hylton.:eusa_danc)

I started by prepping a bunch of flatsawn white oak from Scott Smith and Jeff’s lumber run last fall. After gluing up enough ¾” oak to make the end panels, I found that flattening a larger panel was going to be a challenge (won’t fit in my DW735:BangHead:). I called upon fellow North Carolina Woodworker’er Splint Eastwood (Matt) to have a run through his wide belt sander. Worked like charm and panels were now nice and flat and ooooohhhh so smooth. (Thanks a bunch Matt!:eusa_clap) One thing that I need to pay more attention to when gluing up panels like this is the color and grain pattern of the wood as evidenced by this left panel. :embaresse

It was now onto ripping out rails and stiles and raising the panels. (Don’t have any WIP pictures of the panel raising, but I used the cabinet makers set from MLCS). Here is the end result.

100_1867.jpg


I had planned to build dust panels separating each drawer and set them in dado’s in the side panels. Having a look at my router dado jig, I found that it really needed a tune-up.:confused_ With that, a quick call to Joe Scharle and I had a appointment with him for a jig tuneup! In addition to the tuneup, Joe was kind enough to give me a demo on plowing out 1/8” stopped dados in my end panels. (Thanks again, Joe!:icon_cheers)

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Router dado jig in need of tuneup....

Dado_Jig_3.JPG


I proceeded then to build dust panels that will placed into the side dados separating the drawers. Used white oak (front drawer face) and poplar joined with 3/8” dowels and scrap ¼” ply for the panels. In addition to the glue used in the dados (fronts only – not on the panel ….potential floating panel wood movement issues) I elected to get out the Kreg pocket hole jig and add a 1” fine pocket screw into the side stiles.

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Here is picture of the basic carcass all put together. A little bit of a juggling act to glue it all up, but those pocket screws sure make life a lot easier when one only has two hands!:icon_thum

Having a few Irwin clamps and these pieces of square ¾” plywood helped to keep everything square for me while the glue set up.!

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Clamps off and ready to work on the base for the carcass.

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With this base design, there is a bullnose frame that the cabinet sits on. Stock is laying flat and mitered at the corners.

To cut the miter’s I took out my tablesaw miter sled and proceeded to cut the front two corners.

This is a great tool for checking those angles! (Checking the jig here.)

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Dry fit of the frame on the carcass. I’m happy!!!!!!!!!!!:icon_cheers

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In order to join the mitered corners, I decided to use pocket screws (1 ¼” fine thread) again as they will be hidden when assembled anyway.

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Nose frame all together and solid as a rock!!

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Here is picture of the carcass resting on the nosing just completed.

100_1885.jpg


Next the corners on the toe kick that ultimately will bring the carcass to the right height.

Basically, a boxed frame without a bottom. To add even more mass and stability I decided to make it out 1” white oak. Each corner needed a beveled miter this time. The first time I tried this on my tablesaw, the 2” cutoff shot back at me like a bullet!!:swoon: Onto plan B. Lets try it standing on end (perpendicular) to the blade and clamped.

(The old Craftsman came through for me again!)

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In order to add some endgrain reinforcement to the joint, I decided that biscuits may be the answer. I pulled out an old jig that a cobbled together a few years ago to punch the slots 90 degrees to the bevel.

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Dry fit of the toe kick with biscuits.

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Nice and square and already for glueup. (Merle band clamps ROCK!!:eusa_clap)

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(The little blowout in the lower right corner was operator error. Not holding the work firmly enough when I cut the biscuit.:elvis:) Resorted to an Irwin clamp for all of the rest to hold the work to the jig ramp! It will be hiding under the bullnose anyway.)

To add even more strength to the corners, I glued in corner blocks of 1.5” poplar.

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The last thing that I needed to do with the base is join the nosing frame to the toe kick. After centering the nosing with the toe kick I drilled pilot holes into each corner, spread glue on the top edge of the toe kick and screwed it together and clamped.

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(Added blue tape to catch the glue squeeze out.)

Completed base unit.

From the bottom…

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From the top .....

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And finally, here is the carcass sitting on the base, awaiting the addition of the top and some drawers.

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(Need to cut a piece of plywood for the back as well.)

I picked up some poplar and full extension slides to begin work on the drawers. I will need to get back down to Scott Smith’s farm for some more white oak for the drawer faces and top.

Stay tuned and I will try and post more progress, hopefully before the end of the month before this thread closes.

Thanks for looking!

Wayne

 
Last edited:
M

McRabbet

Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Great job and a great thread!
 

lottathought

New User
Michael
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Very Nice !!!

And you have my undivided attention on that digital angle gauge.
Who makes it and where can I get one?
 

sapwood

New User
Roger
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Wonderful WIP, Wayne!
And you never cease to amaze with the constant upgrading of skill level :icon_thum

Appreciatively,
Roger
 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Very Nice !!!

And you have my undivided attention on that digital angle gauge.
Who makes it and where can I get one?

Thanks for your comments and your interest, Michael!:wsmile:

The angle gauge was a great gift from another NCWW'er. Here is a Lee Valley version. Quite reasonably priced and works well. I woudn't be without now!

Link to the digital protractor....

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=64278&cat=1,43513

Thanks for lookin'!

Wayne
 

Trent Mason

New User
Trent Mason
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Looks great Wayne! Thanks so much for sharing the process. I've never built a cabinet so that has always been fascinating to me. :rolleyes: Looks like I need to make some jigs! :widea:
 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Last week I had to go out and find me about 30 bdft of 4/4 poplar to start work on the drawer boxes. I ended up at Capital City Lumber in Raleigh and found some pretty clear wood about 10 inches wide and ended up paying $2.29/bdft for S2S.

Needless to say it really makes me sad when I think; to get 5/8” thick stock for the boxes, I needed to plane away a bunch of wood! Filled the separator can about three times!

Once planed, I ripped to drawer height (7 ¼”) and cut to length for the drawer opening and depth, it was onto cutting some half blind dovetails. (NOTE: With the PC4212, the stock width MUST BE in increments of 1/4" ie 2 1/4, 3 1/4, 4 1/4 etc. or you end up with 1/2 pins!:BangHead:)

I set up my Porter Cable 4212 DT jig, tested on some pine scraps and was ready to go.

100_1939.jpg


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The box fronts and sides started coming together pretty I think well…

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All the box sides and fronts are done with the DT jig and a dry fit in the carcass…

100_19431.jpg


With the fronts and sides done, took all the boxes apart to dimension the backs and cut dado’s in the side backs to receive the drawer backs.

I set up my stack dado, and got out my dado sled and set up a stop block so that the dado’s were positioned at the same place on all 8 drawer sides…

100_1946.jpg


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Now I have all four boxes dry fit and square.

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Today, I decided to get started with routing the dado around all sides, fronts and backs to capture the plywood bottoms.

I set up a 7/32” plywood straight bit in my router and using a push block, I went to town on all those slots.

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One thing that I really had to careful with was not to plow through the end of the bottom pin at each corner…

100_1957.jpg


This coming week, I will start dimensioning the ply for the drawer bottoms and case back, then hopefully complete the glue-up. Final fitting of the drawer boxes in the case is always entertaining too!

Thanks for looking and stay tuned!:wsmile:

Wayne

 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP)

Terrific work Wayne. So many techniques go into a dresser like this - all sorts of joinery (pocket holes, dadoes, dovetails, biscuits), panel raising, trim, drawer slides, etc. etc. Definitely one of the better "how-to" threads!
 

TV

New User
Todd Vaughn
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP- UPDATE #1)

Great thread, Wayne! Enjoying reading and seeing the progress.

tv
 

Trent Mason

New User
Trent Mason
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP- UPDATE #1)

Wayne,

I've really enjoyed reading about how you're doing all of this and the WIP pics. Thanks so much for sharing and looking forward to the next installment. :icon_thum
 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP- UPDATE #1)

Half tails do look better, eh!

You got that right, Joe! It took me awhile to figure that out, eh?:BangHead::BangHead::BangHead:!

(Now. If I can just talk Kathy into letting me get a Leigh, I could select my own drawer widths and get half tails like I'm supposed too. Haven't sold her on the idea yet though!:nah::nah:)

Wayne
 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP- UPDATE #1)


UPDATE #2

The latter part of last week, I managed to get all of the drawer boxes glued up. This was a dry fit to size the drawer bottoms (1/4 oak ply).

100_1958.jpg


One of our own, Joe Scharle was kind enough to drop by last Saturday and give me a few pointers on getting a good fit with piston fit drawers. :icon_thum In spite of one drawer ending up slightly racked after the glueup:eusa_doh:, we managed to save the drawer with a little help from a ROS, belt sander and a few passes with a chisel.:wsmile:

100_19442.jpg



After we got a good fit, I hit the drawer boxes with some clear shellac, a couple of passes with some #0000 steel wool and paste wax on the sides and I have success! Smooth as glass!:wwink:

I made another run to Scott Smith’s farm in order to pick up more, wide white oak for the top and the drawer fronts. (as usual, left plenty of drool behind!:wsmile:)

I typically use 3/8” dowels when doing panel glueups for alignment.


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I decided to go with 5/8” thick stock for the drawer fronts and a faux raised panel look. I went through my assortment of bits and decided on a tabletop thumbnail profile.

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Even though I had planned on making at least 3-4 passes (moving my RT fence after each pass), I still had a concern about tearout on the endgrain.

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I threw together a push-block by taking a handle and bolting it to a piece of scrap 5/8” stock. It worked great!:icon_thum:icon_thum

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All of the false fronts now profiled …..

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It was now onto getting the top sanded flat, final dimensioning and mill a ¾” roundover on the bottom edge and a 1/8” roundover on the top edge.

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I am using cheap luan plywood for the back.

Now here is a great trick that Joe Scharle told me about. For heavy pieces (like this one is bound to be when complete), cut two finger grip slots in the back for lifting the piece – as opposed to stressing the top to move it around. They are located, just below one of the carcass dust frames.

Great tip Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

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Now on to the fun stuff!!!!

Plenty of sanding to do, order the drawer pulls and lay on the finish.

I figure it should be just about complete in about a week or so!

Thanks for looking and following along.

Wayne

 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP- UPDATE #2)

The dresser handles arrived from Lee Valley yesterday. Just in time!

I had just completed a coat of Golden Pecan stain, 2 coats of gloss wipeon poly followed by two more coats of satin poly.

I put together a plywood jig to get all of the holes for the pulls lined up and finally completed it this morning.

Here are some pictures of the final product!

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It was a fun project and my daughter and grand daughter (5 weeks old) approve!

Now to find time to deliver it. Weighs a lot, so will need some assistance from my son-in-law to set it in place. Hopefully she will enjoy it for a few years, anyway.

A big thanks goes out to many of you that provided the inspiration, assistance (Joe Scharle, Matt Stewart and of course Scott Smith and Jeff Mills for the white oak!).

Thanks to everyone that followed along with this lengthy thread!:wsmile:

Thanks for looking!

Wayne
 
Last edited:

jhannum

New User
Jeff
Looks great! Thanks for the step by step pics and explanations, thats always helpful to new guys like me
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
Re: A New Child's Dresser (WIP- UPDATE #2)

Great folllow-up Wayne, the step-by-step description is terrific. And a super solid dresser! Of course, I hate your guts now because I have the exact same tool set you do, so there is no excuse for me not building one just like it :)

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
 
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