Oak Chest of Drawers

[tim]

It may not surprise you that furniture makers' houses suffer from 'cobbler's children' syndrome' in that we don't have a lot of furniture. a) I can't afford the time and b) I won't let the missus buy other peoples'!

However, there comes a time when the John Lewis catalogue gets left out open in obvious places too often to be ignored. So unless I want to put together shop bought tat or whinge about how 'you should have just asked me love', I have to knuckle down and deliver.

There was some oak left over from a previous job and I also had some veneered MDF that had some amazing figure which I had put to one side.

The chest is about 1000mm tall, 1300mm wide and 550 deep. The majority is solid oak with just the panels in veneered MDF and the drawers are 12mm birch ply. The drawer handle backers are English walnut. Finish is Chestnut finishing oil and wax on the outside, with waterbased lacquer on the drawers. There are also two large offcuts of cedar of lebanon that are fixed inside out of sight to keep moths away and make it smell nice.

She was very pleased although you should have seen her face when she opened the top drawer to find my invoice. I think it was used to light the fire :roll:

Comments as usual welcome whether good or bad.




Rotation of the pic was necessary because the location is marred by a nasty balustrade (on the list somewhere!)

Drawer pull detail:

Cheers

Tim

 

[Gary M]

Very nice Tim,
The veneered mdf side panel looks super :wink:
Unfortunately for me while viewing SWMBO poped her head over my shoulder and said
" Oh now that looks nice, could you make something like that ?"
So thanks a bunch mate :roll: :lol: :lol:
I dont suppose you have a prototype you dont need ? :lol: :lol:
Cheers ,
Gary.

 

[OPJ]

And very nicely done, too!

I like the simplicity of the drawer pulls and yes, you're right about that grain. Shame about the sapwood (?) trying to creep in, just off centre on the top though.

I'm in a similar situation with a coffee table that my mum wants for Christmas - catalogues are everywhere, I don't have the time (or the money!) to do it just yet. I'll definitley have to leave an invoice myself though (it will have 'storage space') - I mean, it's not like I've ever spent anything like £100 (materials) on her for Christmas before!! :wink:

 

[wizer]

wow I really like this Tim, well done mate

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Lovely piece of work, nice lines and well proportioned =D> =D> =D>

 

[TonyW]

Really great piece of work. Love the drawer pulls

Cheers
Tony

 

[Philly]

Very nice, Sir!
Lovely colour, too.
Philly

 

[woodbloke]

Tim - very tasty =D> =D> - Rob

 

[philg]

Great piece of furniture, if you wax over oil can it still be marked with cups, water etc

 

[Lukey]

Very nice indeed, that side panel does look awesome.
They make some great furniture in John Lewis' now!

Personally I dont understand why you would use veneered panels when the rest of the unit is solid...is there a better reason that lack of spare materials or cost? Is there a benefit to veneering?

:lol:

 

[Waka]

Tim

Excellent craftmanship.

 

[Neil]

Really good, Tim =D>

Cheers,
Neil

 

[Chris Knight]

Tim,
That's a lovely piece - great stuff.

Shame you cut the front legs too short.. :lol:

 

[tim]

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

Shame about the sapwood (?) trying to creep in, just off centre on the top though.

I don't think it is sap - although its definitely lighter (exaggerated by the flash). I left it there because the outer board was much lighter (unfinished) than the centre ones.

Great piece of furniture, if you wax over oil can it still be marked with cups, water etc

It depends on the wax - I use Briwax heavy duty stuff and it seems to hold up pretty well in general.

Personally I dont understand why you would use veneered panels when the rest of the unit is solid...is there a better reason that lack of spare materials or cost? Is there a benefit to veneering?

Its a fair question and I hope others will comment as well. However veneering and the use of veneers is not inferior - it has come to mean that because of the growth of the cheap furniture industry. IMO veneered panels are better in this type of construction because they can be glued all round which stiffens the carcase dramatically whereas solid panels would need to float to allow for movement.

Shame you cut the front legs too short..

If you haven't got anything good to say...... :lol: :lol:

Actually its unbelievable how much of a sag there is in our upstairs floors - it doesn't move but its about an inch over that distance. Well the house is about 230 years old. We have a friend whose house is over 500 years old and the spare bed has two bricks under each of the foot end legs to level it!


Cheers

Tim

 

[Chris Knight]

I think the only things against veneered MDF panels are that no-one knows how they will hold up in say a hundred years time whereas we do know what happens in the case of wood. Also they will be more easily damaged if they get wet compared to wood.

In the case of mass produced pre-veneered panels, the grain/figure is often not especially attractive and very obviously mass produced. This of course can be overcome by veneering one's own panels at the cost of time and money.

On the flip side are the advantages Tim speaks of and as he has demonstrated very attractive results can be obtained even with mass produced material.