Pair of Dressers

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Great job as always Glenn, and thanks a lot for the tips you share, I always learn something from you.

 

[glenn bradley]

Not much going on this morning. I crosscut some long members to length.

People ask about how much glue or how much squeeze out I try for. This is about right for me.

If I can get to most of the glue line and I can get there within a fairly short time of clamping I will use a straw. This is a method I picked up from Tim Rousseau. You can see him use this technique extensively at 10:10 in this video. I also keep an acid brush cut short for scrubbing nooks and crannies as he shows in the same video. My primary method is to set a timer for about 20 minutes and come back and pare off the leathery glue with a chisel. The straw is my choice when I have easy access, and a wet rag is my last choice. To each their own . . . or multiple "their owns" .

With well milled, wide bearing surfaces things tend to self-square when clamped. I use a small machinists square just to be sure before I walk away.

For now all the end panel / leg assemblies are in the clamps.

I need to go get the car smogged while these set up a bit.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

I like the straw idea. I'll have to try that one.

 

[glenn bradley]

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.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

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

Interesting .. I've done that with a plow plane but never with a dado stack.. It seems kind of like an obviously good idea in retrospect.

 

[glenn bradley]

Speaking of plowing operations . . . 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 will profile the panels and frame members to make thing look a little nicer. Then I will do a final assembly of both back panels.

 

[glenn bradley]

Another slow day as other items on the to-do list beckon me. I have glued the verticals to the long rail of each rear frame. I clamp the other long rail on and 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 .

 

[glenn bradley]

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.

 

[Darren Wright]

I don't remember seeing those type of clamps at all at HF, sure look handy though.

 

[glenn bradley]

I don't remember seeing those type of clamps at all at HF, sure look handy though.

Yeah, we're talking 2005-2006-ish. They also used to carry these for a few bucks.
.
Alas, like others they now only carry what moves quickly.
At any rate, 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.

 

[glenn bradley]

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

 

[glenn bradley]

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.

 

[glenn bradley]

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.

 

[Darren Wright]

Looks like a garage conversion?

 

[glenn bradley]

Looks like a garage conversion?

New master bedroom, bath, and closet. The next phase in the master plan. I haven’t used a garage as a garage in forever.

 

[glenn bradley]

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.

 

[glenn bradley]

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 coutner-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.

 

[glenn bradley]

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 . . .

 

[glenn bradley]

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.

 

[glenn bradley]

I have been dilly-dallying on these to try to fit a schedule. Today I happened to notice one of those random things we do in the shop. I do a lot of joinery at the tablesaw and at the router table. I don't really care for production work so even when it is just a batch of 14 drawer boxes I will break that effort up with other tasks. When I want to go back I don't want to futz around a lot so I jot things down on a whiteboard.

In this example I simply measure from the router table top to the tip of the bit whatever that may be.

I can remove the chamfer bit (that I will use again later) without worry.

I can then insert the drawer lock bit and set the height per my whiteboard notes.

I can now start confidently cutting joinery.

No magic here but, a real time saver if you have to change setups and know you will be going back.