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.
Chippendale Side Tables – Project of the Week
This week we have a real treat for you. Two of our viewers, Brian and Jorge both built Chippendale Side Tables that were modeled after David Marks’ design from Woodworks. Both projects turned out great! Let’s hear from Brian first.
“I have been a hobbyist woodworker for the last 5 or so years but mostly around the house stuff – paint grade built-ins, crown moulding, etc. After years of watching David Marks I decided it was time to see how hard it was to build a quality piece of furniture. I called up my dad (who taught me everything about woodworking that David and Norm didnt) and told him it was time to get serious. We went and got ourselves a planer and a bandsaw to complete my small shop and decided David’s Chippendale Side Table was as good a place to start as any. I had seen this episode of Woodworks years ago and vaguely remembered it. Luckily, I found a link from David’s site that walked me through enough of the steps to get this project finished.”
“Some details of the piece: it is made from 2 pieces of rough lumber- 8/4 Honduran Mahogany for the legs and 4/4 for the aprons and the frame & panel top. The panel is resawn and bookmatched – I got really lucky with the figure of this particular piece of mahogany. The aprons are attached to the legs with integral tenons and the top is simply glued to the base. Wenge accents (courtesy of my Dad’s meticulous work on his scroll saw) were glued in place and the whole thing was treated with General Finishes red mahogany stain and Arm-R-Seal.”
And now let’s hear what Jorge had to say:
“Like you, I am a big fan of WoodWorks and I have been fortunate to have taken two classes with the Great David Marks. The design for these tables is from one of the first Woodworks but I did change the table top. I used redwood burl veneer. For the first time ever I used the vacuum press (which I purchased more than a year ago). I think they look good and my wife and children like them. I have been woodworking for just a few years and truly I am not that good yet. Honestly, these pictures significantly over represent my abilities. The pictures were taken on my table saw covered with a white blanket.”
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