Some things take way too long to accomplish. In this case, this project lasted three years, and was completed in two states. That's correct. Three years ago, upon completing twin dressers for the McMurtrey boys, I decided my boys were worthy of such quality-made furniture, which need was accelerated by the fact that the IKEA piece of junk that they were using was slowly falling apart.
So, work began in earnest in the spring of 2013, as time permitted. As it turns out, building three large dressers the old fashioned way takes a ton of material, a ton of time prepping, milling, glueing, and trimming, and a ton of time (as the calendar goes) as all of the parts are manufactured and prepared for assembly. When we left Arkansas to move back to California in September of 2013, the project was put on halt - the cabinets were all but constructed, the drawer parts were all rough glued, but not milled... and that is how they were moved... piles of rough cut lumber. The project was put on hold as other priorities whisked my time away. At this point, all three boys were living out of one small changing table in the nursery. Along came baby. Boys were evicted. My loving spouse encouraged me to hurry up and finish what I had started.
Typically I will finish a piece, give it its time to be photographed properly, then place it in use. In this case, the dressers were needed, finished or not. The cabinets were installed in the house (yes, they are bolted to the wall for safety), and as drawers were finished, they were placed in the cabinets. Then came the milling, trimming, sanding and painting of the drawer fronts, bringing the last step to finish these units to a close.
The dressers are made of solid Poplar, with 1/2 inch maple plywood taking up the side and rear panels. There are no nails or screws involved in the construction of these units, drawer rollers and handles excluded. The cabinet is assembled using old mortise and tennon joinery, and the drawers are all assembled with dovetail joinery. The exterior is sprayed with a satin enamel oil-based spray, while the interiors (drawers) are all rubbed down with a polyurethane clearcoat.
Assuming my boys take care of these dressers, they should be able to endure a lifetime of abuse, and be worthy to be passed down to my grandchildren at some point. No rush, boys... no rush.
So, work began in earnest in the spring of 2013, as time permitted. As it turns out, building three large dressers the old fashioned way takes a ton of material, a ton of time prepping, milling, glueing, and trimming, and a ton of time (as the calendar goes) as all of the parts are manufactured and prepared for assembly. When we left Arkansas to move back to California in September of 2013, the project was put on halt - the cabinets were all but constructed, the drawer parts were all rough glued, but not milled... and that is how they were moved... piles of rough cut lumber. The project was put on hold as other priorities whisked my time away. At this point, all three boys were living out of one small changing table in the nursery. Along came baby. Boys were evicted. My loving spouse encouraged me to hurry up and finish what I had started.
Typically I will finish a piece, give it its time to be photographed properly, then place it in use. In this case, the dressers were needed, finished or not. The cabinets were installed in the house (yes, they are bolted to the wall for safety), and as drawers were finished, they were placed in the cabinets. Then came the milling, trimming, sanding and painting of the drawer fronts, bringing the last step to finish these units to a close.
The dressers are made of solid Poplar, with 1/2 inch maple plywood taking up the side and rear panels. There are no nails or screws involved in the construction of these units, drawer rollers and handles excluded. The cabinet is assembled using old mortise and tennon joinery, and the drawers are all assembled with dovetail joinery. The exterior is sprayed with a satin enamel oil-based spray, while the interiors (drawers) are all rubbed down with a polyurethane clearcoat.
Assuming my boys take care of these dressers, they should be able to endure a lifetime of abuse, and be worthy to be passed down to my grandchildren at some point. No rush, boys... no rush.
Species Featured: Poplar
Lumber: Dimensional lumber, maple plywood on the side panels
Hardware: Oil rubbed bronze handles, 100 pound rollers
Finish: Satin enamel exterior, poly interior
Measurements: 50" tall, 35" wide, 23" deep
For pictures of what the construction process looked like, click here (similar to the twin dressers, modestly different design (four drawers vs. three, a bit taller as well).
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| These were painted green, red and blue, corresponding to each of the boys' assigned colors |
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| Big, deep drawers fit an enormous amount of clothing. |
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| 100 pound ball-bearing rollers and dovetail joinery |
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| I came across these fantastic big, beefy, 8" handles at Lee Valley |
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| Here's Thing 3 at the ripe old age of five showing off his awesomeness (for purpose of scale) |
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| For comparison's sake, this is what he looked like when I started the project three years ago... |
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