Modern Dresser Plans

[Birdhunter]

I have been "volunteered" by my wife to make a modern dresser for some young friends. They have a picture of what they want the dresser to look like. They like quarter sawn white oak.

It is 72" long, 19' deep, and 30" high. The entire front consists of drawer fronts. The dresser will have to be moved from my shop to their house. I have Festool connector sets for both the 500 and 700.

I have not been able to locate plans to guide me. I'm pretty experienced in woodworking and have build cabinets with drawers before but always face frames.

My main concern is the internal structure.

Any suggestions?

 

[mino]

Search for "European style" description. That is how I saw these usually referred in the US internet.

I would start with how you want to setup the drawers and what slides you will want to use. That would be my first.

One think of note though. You will find a lot of guides on how you "should" join the pieces - i.e. if the top should go "over" the verticals or instead be dominoed "into" them and same for the bottom. Lots of youtubers look at it from the strength/mechnical perspective but with a Domino and raw wood what is more important is the look side. You can handle the strength just with more dominoes ...

E.g. if I was making a standalone piece - one that will not have another piece on itself - I may have the sides even protrude a bit above the top board. And vice versa. Or I may want to make a mitter joint instead. Etc. Etc. Then come if the drawers are "hiding" the carcas or "inside" it. Again, design choices with no "correct" way.

Long story short:
I would talk first and foremost with the "customer" on what type of a design they want visually/use case, down to any/no decorative overhangs, joints visible or not and only after that look onto making it happen. With a Domino at hand you have the luxury to be able to make any design will relatively little work.

EDIT: read after myself ...

 

[Birdhunter]

I usually attach tops to the structure using Z-Clamps that allow for wood movement. I add a little overhang of the top over the sides. The “customer “ wants a waterfall look so I’ll have to minimize the amount of overhang. I don’t think quarter sawn white oak will move much over the 30” of depth.

 

[YOGO100]

Take a look at the instagram account of caleb james (@calebjamesmaker). He posted a couple of pictures of modern dressers recently that may fit the bill for you. While he uses fingerjoints for at least one of them, he also uses a technique for waterfall miters, which consists of making invisible splines (the technique itself is also described in Tage Frid's woodworking books).

 

[sancho57]

dont know exactly what you want ....

but these may help



one of my favorite woodworkers though its in italian its easy to follow


Heres a photo of one I built for my daughter (you cn tell its being well used). I built 3 seperate boxes cut a platform out of a sheet of ply ripping it in half. Half for the bottom half for the top. Using the LR 32 system I made the system holes for the drawer slides.I  then set the boxes on the platform screwed the boxes together.

 

[Birdhunter]

thanks for the help

 

[Steve1]

HERE is one.
[attachimg=1]

And a couple of other sites for plans:https://www.woodsmithplans.com/https://thewoodwhispererguild.com/store/projects/

 

[Steve1]

I have a question on the dresser shown above.
For the top, he used 3/4" birch plywood with 3/4" x 1-3/4" solid birch picture frame around it. 

Is that at high risk of cracks/gaps due to differential expansion between the plywood and the solid ?

 

[Birdhunter]

I’ve edge banded Baltic birch plywood with thin strips of oak many times with no issues. The movement will be across the edge bands not down their length. Of course, essentially no movement with the plywood.

 

[Packard]

My "teak" furniture from the now-out-of-business Scandinavian Design store (which was in shopping malls all over the country in the 1980s) had veneered teak over particle board and the drawers and doors on the cabinets were wrapped in approximately 1" wide banding. 

There were plenty of things wrong with the construction of these pieces, but the banding was not one of them.  I still have a dresser (most of the rest of the things fell apart--built by amateurs thinking they were Ikea). The drawer fronts and the edge bandings are still tight.   

Over the weekend I will take a shot of it and post.

 

[Dane]

Check out four eyes furniture.  He does all modern pieces and sells plans as well as has videos showing his techniques.  I’m 99 percent sure he has at least one dresser plan

 

[Dane]

Also to the question about edge banding plywood.  I built some cabinets with mahogany plywood edge banded in half inch walnut back in 2007.  This is in North Carolina where they swing from air conditioning to heating every year.  No issues at all- no gaps.

 

[4nthony]

dont know exactly what you want ....

I really like this dresser and have watched the video numerous times. Everything I've been building has been edge-banded plywood but I can see this being a good project for transitioning to hardwood. I'll eventually buy the plans to support Chris and Shaun for their efforts. They definitely put a lot of work into them.

 

[Birdhunter]

Thanks to all responders. Good input.

The final dimensions are 62” wide, 19” deep, and 36” high. The whole front will be drawers with no frame showing. All show surfaces will be quarter sawn white oak.

Any suggestions on finish? The young couple have two very active boys so the finish has to be tough. I do not have any spray equipment. I’ve used MinWax WipeOn Poly before. Not sure if it would resist wet glass water spots.

 

[guybo]

Hi, I like the new oils, osmo, rubio,and odies  sanding up to 120 and 150 for the first and second,higher on the odies,plus easy repair, when it wont bead water needs renewed. odies on this piece.good luck love white oak

 

[mrFinpgh]

Thanks to all responders. Good input.

The final dimensions are 62” wide, 19” deep, and 36” high. The whole front will be drawers with no frame showing. All show surfaces will be quarter sawn white oak.

Any suggestions on finish? The young couple have two very active boys so the finish has to be tough. I do not have any spray equipment. I’ve used MinWax WipeOn Poly before. Not sure if it would resist wet glass water spots.

You might be surprised how well the hardwax oil (HWO) finishes resist water.  I've had a HWO finish on a walnut countertop that sees a lot of use daily for the past 4 years.  It seems to do pretty well despite having a sink and dish rack on it 24/7.  The big upside to the HWO is that it's the easiest to repair and it tends to look better over time whereas a varnish is generally downhill from the moment you finish rubbing it out.

That said, I would not hesitate to use Arm R Seal Satin on white oak.  It will also look great and should provide a fairly good amount of durability.

 

[Rick Herrick]

Hi [member=15289]Birdhunter[/member] .  What kind of drawer slides are you thinking?  I am in the middle of a dresser build for my daughter, also using white oak but she wanted a walnut top.

I recently finished some small side tables using Blum undermounts and they are terrific but also unavailable for the most part.  I decided to go with some Accuride side mount slides for this build.  I don't love them, or ball bearing slides in general anymore.  They just never operate as smoothly, or consistently, as Blums.

I had planned on doing Rubio for this but after talking to others, include Rubio folks, I will stick to MinWax wipe-on.  I like the idea of Rubio's single coat but I just don't feel it will be durable enough, especially for the top.  And, I won't have easy access to it to refresh it.

 

[Birdhunter]

I could not find 18” Blum slides so reverted to Accuride. I’ve used them before with success.

I ordered a jar of Odies and will experiment with it. If I don’t like it, I’ll go back to the MinWax. It’s easy and reliable.

 

[Rick Herrick]

I could not find 18” Blum slides so reverted to Accuride. I’ve used them before with success.

It would be nice if you could make the drawers for Accuride now and then when Blums start being available, you change them out.  But the drawer construction keeps you from doing that.  Theres always something.....

 

[guybo]

I could not find 18” Blum slides so reverted to Accuride. I’ve used them before with success.

I ordered a jar of Odies and will experiment with it. If I don’t like it, I’ll go back to the MinWax. It’s easy and reliable.

you dont need no stinkin slides [big grin] plus this will add a rigidity, but i'm sure it will be fine