Bedroom Suite - Project of the Week
This week’s project comes from Chad. Let’s see what he has to say:
“Back in 1999, my wife wanted a “nice bedroom suite.” I happily looked into it for her, and was shocked at the cost of a full bedroom suite. Anywhere from $3,000 to $4,500. And surely none of them were actually solid wood. I had just started my hobby of woodworking, and so I asked my wife if she was willing “to have a piece made one at a time.” She said she would be. I designed the first piece, the armoire, and then asked her what type of wood she wanted….she said knotty pine. “Sweet,” I thought, “that is the cheapest wood in the world.” First I made the armoire, then we moved. I then made the dresser and a few months later, I made the end tables. All of this within about 2 years. (hey, I was in the Army, and I was busy defending my country.)”
“Anyhow, I never made the bed because I had bought a nice and inexpensive wrought iron bed, picked up at a garage sale. Earlier this year though, I decided it was about time to “finish” the bedroom suite. I designed the bed to be very simple, but with the same raised panel styling I had used in the other pieces. It took me many nights and weekends, but in the end, I think it turned out pretty good. All of the lumber was purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Each piece had three staining layers of Minwax Golden Oak. With three layers of polyurethane, semi-gloss.”
“Needless to say, my wife is very pleased, and I am happy to have the whole suite completed. As a side note, my wife told me a few years ago that the only reason she agreed to let me build the suite way back when was because, as she says, “I didn’t really think you could do it, so I said yes so that I didn’t hurt your feelings.” I guess it’s easy to please someone with low expectations!”
Jewelry Armoire - Project of the Week
This week’s project comes from Tim in CA who writes:
This jewelry armoire was a graduation gift for my niece. It is made out of Bubinga, Birds Eye Maple veneer (door panels), figured maple veneer (top), and Birds Eye maple (drawer fronts). Each drawer is dovetailed and the bottom drawer has a hidden compartment accessible from the back. The base is from a David Marks project Open Bookcase. The finish is Seal-A-Cell with several coats of Gel Stain on top. I was in way over my head on this project which means I got to learn many new things.
Chippendale Chest of Drawers - Project of the Week
This week’s project comes from Allen in OH who writes:
Since you recently featured a project from some younger students, I thought I’d send some pictures of a project just finished by an “old fogey” student. I’m working towards a degree in craftsmanship at the University of Cincinnati. Even at 37 years old (a far cry from the high school guys) I’m not the oldest in the program by far. There’s a retired doctor who, at the age of 86, has been taking up turning and does some amazing work.
These are some pictures of the project I just completed this Spring. It’s a Chippendale style chest of drawers. The design was actually Glen Huey’s who once taught in the UC program and was the instructor for the class my instructor was taking at the time.
It’s cherry, secondary wood is poplar. The carcass is joined with hand cut dovetails, used a jig for the half-blinds on the drawers. All parts that needed mechanical fasteners (backs of the drawer runners and the ship-lapped back boards) were joined with reproduction cut nails, which are a booger to drive.
Finish is three coats of a homemade oil/varnish blend (I admit it, it was David Marks who sold me on the look of that finish) top-coated with three coats of gloss sprayed-on poly acrylic.
Ash Dresser - Project of the Week
This week’s project comes from Schwigs, he writes:
Here is a dresser I built for my Mother-in-law. The design was inspired by dressers that my wife and I bought after we got married (and before I was into woodworking). She needed a piece for that exact spot you see in the pictures, so the dimensions were tailored for just that. It is all constructed from plain ole’ Ash, but was my first experience with mortise and tenon joinery (I spent some quality time with Episode 10 Pt. 1&2 in the process). Overall there are 31 M&T joints and overall everything went very smoothly. Also, the cove molding under the top was made on my table saw, it was my maiden voyage with that technique as well. The finish is one that another woodworking buddy taught me on my very first project. I use wipe-on poly and get the surface as flooded with finish as possible, then I use 320 silicone carbide sandpaper to work the finish into the surface, wiping off the excess across the grain. A light sanding after each coat is dry and then continue to the next finest grit with the wet sanding. After I have built up enough coats, I give it a good rub with some 0000 steel wool, blow off any dust and steel wool bits left over and we’re done! Thanks for looking!
Cherry Dresser - Project of the Week
This week’s project comes from Jim Schatz. Here’s his story:
“Here are few pictures of the cherry dresser I finally completed for my son. He is only 22 mo but I still have to build him bunk beds and a night stand to match. The design is simple and fairly traditional but all my own. I used local PA cherry from a small sawmill nearby that happened to be featured in Fine Woodworking recently. I think the PA cherry tends to have a little more red in it, which I like. I finished it with linseed oil, then several coats of wiping oil poly, and finally a light coat of wax”
I have to agree with Jim on that cherry color. It looks like cherry that’s already been aged for a while. It will be interesting to observe the walnut strips and how they mingle with the cherry top as the years go by. Nice job Jim!
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