Well its been 8 straight weeks of building, filming, editing, and sweating my butt off! Finally the chest of drawers is complete. Maybe picking the hottest part of the Arizona summer for one of our Guild Builds wasn’t the best idea. Oh well. It makes the victory all the sweeter!
Many of you requested more information about the epoxy fill, so let’s pick up where we left off. Once the epoxy cured overnight, I hit it with my block plane and card scraper. I wouldn’t recommend sanding the epoxy down as the heat tends to make things gummy, rendering the paper useless after only a few seconds. After the bulk of the epoxy is removed, its usually pretty safe to begin sanding the surface. I gave the board a rough sanding and a quick taste of mineral spirits just so you can see the effect of the epoxy and what it would look like with finish. You’ll also notice I have two small indentations that will need additional epoxy. That’s a quick fix.
The epoxy knot repair does a fine job of recovering what would normally be a piece of firewood. And hopefully in the photo you can see the reason why this piece is worth recovering in the first place. Look at all the beautiful swirly grain and the contrasting figure and colors! Knots generally create very interesting anomalies in the wood, and if we can stabilize and capture them, it really is a great way to celebrate Mother Nature’s beauty and power. Ok someone hand me some granola.
I was thrilled to be able to make the top out of only two boards. Because of the increased width of the boards, I decided to skip-plane them. This is a bit of a short-cut that allows you to use your planer or drum sander to flatten a board by taking very light passes and approximating flatness. You really need to start with a pretty flat board to begin with. The end result was one flat board and one slightly bowed board. So a few Dominos helped to ensure the boards were in alignment and the glue up was uneventful.
I finished the piece with General Finishes Enduro-Var. This is a water-based urethane that is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorites. I used it previously on my maple and bubinga Drill Charging Station and the finish has held up very well in the shop. Best of all, it doesn’t really look like a water-based finish to me. So I was fairly confident in using the stuff on a piece intended for my own bedroom.
One thing I have been catching a little flack for is the handles. Handles can truly make or break a piece. They are a major focal point and as a result, they can easily be overdone. Even if the handle design is perfect on its own, it may not look so great multiplied over six drawers. So its important to give the handles and pulls a significant amount of thought. Given the time-frame for the completion of this project, I didn’t have nearly enough time to follow through with all my different ideas and “experiments”. So I went with what I had so far and completed the project. These pulls (and several other prototypes) were designed and built over the course of 4-5 days. That seems like a lot of time for something as simple as drawer pulls and handles, but I could easily use 2-3 times that to really think about and work through the ideas I have in my head.
The wide pull was inspired by a piece of metal hardware I saw online. Overall I am happy with the concept although it could certainly be refined a bit. The smaller pull or knob for the top drawers is where I really struggled the most. I wanted them to stand out, but I also wanted to echo a theme from the rest of the piece. So the circular base represents the contrast and the curved boot-shaped handle is paying homage to the legs. Frankly, I am still digesting the effect and initial impression this gives the piece because I am not entirely sure it works. But I am afraid that my lack of time and need to move on to other things means that what you see is what you get. Now both my drawer pulls and handles can be removed with minimal to no damage, and if I am ever inspired and have time to do something different, it won’t be a very big deal to make the change.
The take-home message here is that subtle details can have a HUGE impact. But don’t let that intimidate you. Experiment a little, have some fun, and occasionally throw caution to the wind. Its going to be very difficult for you to discover what does work, if you never create something that doesn’t work. I am still not 100% happy with my drawer pulls and knobs and I am OK with that. I freely admit it. But I am having fun playing with different ideas and I am learning along the way. And that’s what counts in my book.
So that’s about it. The Chest of Drawers is living happily in my bedroom and is already full of clothes. Here are few pictures of the final piece and a short video advertising the Guild Build.
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Enduro-Var Gloss Urethane Finish The latest innovation in water-based urethanes! Purchase through this link and help support the TheWoodWhisperer.com. |
36 Responses to “The Chest of Drawers Finished!”
Marc -
It is beautiful. I love the drawer-pulls, especially the ones on the large drawers.
You are a pro. What would you have to charge for a piece like this?
Chester
Thanks Chester. I would say at least $3000. Can’t give you an exact number though because my time tracking on this one would be completely off-base.
I was thinking $3-to-4K …
OK, I just read your comments about the pulls. Honestly … don’t like the top ones at all. But am crazy about the lower ones. If it were me, I would make a slightly smaller version of the bottom pulls for the top drawers. The bottom pulls look Asian-inspired. The top pulls look “new-age” … and new-age does not work for me (just personal).
I did give that some thought, but the bottom ones are just too busy to make on a smaller scale, and started to become too much of a good thing for me. So I knew I wanted to take the top pulls in a totally different direction. The idea of a circle, which many seem to think just doesn’t fit, actually was inspired from looking at many Tansu pieces where a circle is used as a prominent feature. So it is definitely in the ballpark in terms of theme. But again, that doesn’t mean its right for this piece. Honestly, its pretty close to what I am looking for, but I wish I had more time to tweak it.
Marc,
what are the drawer fronts made from? I thought I remember reading that this piece was made from Walnut, but the drawer fronts look to light(at least to me) to be walnut.
Its all walnut and cherry. So the frame, legs and top are walnut. The side panels and drawer fronts are cherry.
What made you choose the Walnut Cherry combo?
My fiance loves it by the way, so I have a feeling a similar project is going to be added to my to-do list soon.
I recently did another project using that combination and I had some left-overs. So I figured why not buy a little more stock and use up the left overs.
That is a great piece of furnature Mark, good job! Is there another guild build this fall/winter. How do you decide what the projects are going to be?
Thanks Mark. So far the projects have been selected by Guild members. I suspect that we will always use a system that allows members to have a say in the project details, even if I am the one who selected the project itself.
There is a winter project planned and it looks like its going to be a wall-hanging cabinet. Mine will be going in my bathroom. :)
I like your teaching style and the common sense way you explain the different operations involved in your projects.
Note to self:
Join Guild
Clean garage
Make wife park in driveway……lol
Marc
Awesome project. You may have covered this elsewhere and if so I apologize for the repeat. What is it about the Enduro-Var Urethane that you like, over say Arm-r-seal? I guess a more general question is what makes you choose oil over water? Thanks
Dave
Well honestly, the reason I went with Enduro Var was because that’s what the Guild members voted for. They’ve seen me apply Arm-R-Seal so many times its no surprise they wanted to see a water-based formula via HVLP. Now there are a few reasons why one would choose EnduroVar over an oil-based varnish. First, you can easily spray the material in just about any shop. Or like me, you can use your driveway. The over spray is not flammable so you can set up a simple box fan booth if you wanted to. The material cures water-white, so if you are looking to avoid the ambering that goes along with oil-based finishes, you can easily do that. And finally I would say the dry time. Water-based finishes are going to dry much faster. Oh and lets not forget odor. Water-based finishes won’t stink up the house when you bring the piece in.
The final results of the chest of drawers turned out wonderful. As usual, the videos are top notch. If only the other woodworking sites had your camera setup. Although the free site has a lot to offer, the Guild is worth every penny. Looking forward to the next build.
The chest of drawers look wonderful Marc! I like the drawer pulls. The only thing I can think of is playing with the tone or color of the pieces of the drawer pulls. I was wondering what the top drawer pulls would look like if they were toned the same as the lower drawer pulls(?). I realize the circular pieces of the top pulls lend a different visual dynamic than the bottom pulls, so maybe not.
Beyond my curiosity, I think the final result is outstanding!
Yeah changing up the color tones could make things look totally different. I do want to mention that the cherry pieces on the top drawers had the least sun exposure. So the cherry appears significantly lighter than the rest of the cherry in the piece. Over time, they too should darken up and blend much better with the piece overall.
Turned out really nice Marc!
I’ll have to try that enduro var finish as soon as I finish up the High Performance water based poly I have on hand.
Also, I put in a concrete paver patio in the same pattern as your driveway. I went through 2 pairs of leather gloves… Now I know why all of the quotes to have it put in were so high!
All I can say is thank goodness the previous owners were the ones who paid to have that work done originally. Our front driveway is full of those things and as much as I love pavers, I doubt I would ever pay to have that much put in. Nor would I even think about doing it myself. :)
The first thing I noticed was the drawer pulls. I have an affinity to custom pulls and those are legit. Embrace them both!
Nice piece!
The pulls are WOW! Nice touch!
I really like that you used the knot on the top. I think that the so called “flaws” are nice to keep in a piece, and I have had great success from the epoxy trick. I have one small clock that I kept the knot in, and it has held up for a handful years with no problems.
Marc – I noticed that in the final video that you had a can of Enduro Semi-Gloss. Rockler doesn’t appear to carry the semi-gloss but says in the info on the Gloss product to mix the satin with the gloss should you want semi-gloss. This seems like an expensive alternative to just being able to buy a can of semi-gloss. Where did you get yours?
The chest really came out nice and enjoyed watching the video’s of the project.
Ron
You are right Ron. That’s pretty lame. It would work, but only if you really need two cans. Incidentally, I did need two cans for this project. But anyway, I actually get mine directly from General Finishes. I did manage to find the semi-gloss on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....B003KZWVUY
Marc – I’m just getting into spraying and was wondering do you use more product spraying versus hand finishing? You said you used two cans so it took two quarts to finish the chest. That is more than I would of thought.
Ron
After seeing this I have to say you easily live up to your wood whisperer name.
2 questions, How did you cut those curves and arches so nicely? and What type of sanding/finish work do you do after spraying the stain on?
Home run, very nice work!
Hey thanks Will. You are too kind good sir! :)
The curves and arches were all cut using a template and a flush trim bit. So its all about making a great curved template. I spent nearly an entire episode on this topic in the Guild. Its not that difficult, simply using a scrap strip of wood to get the curve you’re looking for. But there is quite a bit of subtlety to the whole process.
As for the finish, I didn’t use any stain on this piece. But I generally sand with 320 grit after the first coat dries, then 600 grit after every other coat. By the third coat, the finish was nearly perfect right off the gun.
So Marc, or anyone else who made one of these, what was the approximate cost of the wood? Looks like at Bell Forest it’s $420-$560, but I assume with this much wood a decent chunk of that is shipping. Anyone buy the wood local and have an estimate on the price for raw materials?
I didn’t participate in this build, but seeing the end product, I’m thinking I may participate now :) Also, anyone come up with maybe a design for a matching night stand or headboard?
My materials, purchased locally, ran me about $400. But I do get decent prices on domestics out here. So the Bell prices are not all that unreasonable. But keep in mind you will still have to buy any plywood for the project locally. So ultimately, a local source is the way to go if you have one.
Oh and we do provide a SketchUp drawing for this project. So if you are comfortable with the program, you could potentially dissect the models and fairly easily create something on a smaller scale as the basis for a night stand if you wanted to.
Brad,
Craigslist can be your friend when it comes to finding great deals on wood. Last time I bought Cherry, I got about 350bf for $300. The guy was getting out of woodworking and just wanted it gone!
It does kind of depend on where you live and what is around you too. Where I live, there are a lot of forests and a lot of sawyers. I recently bought 250 bf of 10/4 hard maple for $1.25/bf. The sawyer I know bought a veneer log and cut it to specs for me. With me helping pull boards off and stacking them, it cut the time in half and I saved a bunch of money. Local hardwood dealers were asking as much as $6.00 bf. for the same wood. So, now it’s stacked up in the basement drying out. For that price I can afford to wait to use it. Oh, this guy also has thousands of board feet of all local hardwoods that were dried in his solar kiln for cheap! Walnut for $2.50/bf, Cherry and quarter sawn white oak for $2.00/bf! Believe it or not, most of the trees come from people’s yards…people not wanting to pick up the walnuts every year for example…
There is a Wurth Wood Group (they supply materials to all of the local cabinet makers) about 15 minutes from my house – they sell mostly domestic woods plus mahogany, as well as furniture grade plywoods, cheap hardware, Blum hardware, tools and even finishing supplies. There is also a millwork shop about 10 minutes away, and I’ve scored all sorts of cutoffs on the cheap. $1.00/bf for cherry, walnut, oak, or mahogany! $.50/bf for poplar or pine!
Just look around and ask around. I don’t think I’ll ever pay more than $3.00/bf for anything domestic again!
I second the craigslist point. I live in MN and there’s a ton of lumber on craigslist for cheap, but the part I really enjoy is finding unwanted trees that I have cut into lumber, air-dried at my parents’ farm, and then milled in my garage/basement shop. I’ve created an MS Access inventory system to keep track of my costs and it even allows me to ID from which tree a particular board came. The cost-tracking is a huge help in pricing work, or just pricing my rough lumber (which I also like to sell on craigslist), and being able to identify which tree produced my lumber gives me (or the recipient of the piece) a real connection with the piece. For example, I made a wall shelf out of a huge spruce tree that needed to be removed from my parents’ yard. The wood would have normally just been firewood, but instead my mom has a unique shelf that has WAY more sentimental value than if the wood was bought somewhere.
Marc, you continue to inspire me by your work and enthusiasm! Thank you!
I thought you were a power tool guy. I’m surprised to see you using hand tools (hand plane)
haha, then you don’t know me that well! :)
I have been following the show via the charles neil show, Really enjoyed it, wish I could subscribe to two shows, Ill talk to the significant other and see what I can work out ;)
The chest of drawers turned out awesome. I really like how the legs flair out and the contrasting woods. Very nice.