Sapele Nightstands with Claro Walnut Panels

[edwarmr]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share a project I’ve been working on for quite some time. I made a couple nightstands to match a bed frame I made a few years back. This was my most challenging project to date as I decided to do full-extension sliding dovetail drawer slides taking advantage of the repeatability and accuracy of the Incra LS Positioner. This was very difficult since I couldn’t find a whole lot of info on how to do this online. With a lot of planning though it worked out

It is made of quartersawn sapele, with claro walnut panels. The front panel on the door is curly claro walnut. The drawer and door have claro walnut cock beading as do the panels on the side and back (overkill I know  [eek]).

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The sliding drawers consist of three parts: a maple runner  on the inside of the cabinet, a sapele slide, and the maple drawer sides. There are two stopped grooves on the inside of the sapele slide that act as stops for the catches. The first catch is a #8 screw attached to the drawer sides in a strategic location. The drawer pulls out about halfway and the catch hits the stop in the groove. Then the slides come out of the cabinet until the second catch, which is a #8 screw in the runner on the cabinet side, hits its stop. This brings the drawer to full extension.

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The doors of the cabinet have bullet catches from Brusso along with Brusso offset knife hinges. Brusso makes beautiful (but expensive) brass hardware. The claro walnut panels received a dye stain made by Behlen (I believe Mohawk bought them out now) so the walnut color does not fade.

The tops were coated with danish oil to bring out the ribbons on the quartersawn sapele. They were then coated with Minwax poly along with the rest of the cabinet parts. The walnut panels were finished with gloss to bring out the amazing figure in the wood. The rest of the nightstands were coated in satin and rubbed out with steel wool, white scotch brite pads, and paste wax.

This was a really fun project I nearly finished last year until the cold MN weather prevented me from spraying finish I procrastinated this year but just finished before it got too cold.

Thanks for looking!
Michael

 

[deepcreek]

Outstanding work!  They look great!

 

[edwarmr]

Outstanding work!  They look great!

I appreciate that, thanks

 

[woodbutcherbower]

That’s fabulous work. Beautiful material, expertly crafted. Well done sir.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Sensational work! I love the slider design, very nice indeed!

 

[RJNeal]

Michael, what a beautiful piece. You put a lot of thought in to it with the design,material,hardware,and finish. And it shows. Wow. Enjoy.
Rick.

 

[Steve1]

Really nice.
I love those wooden full extension slides.

I haven't worked with sapele before, but I am planning on using it for my upcoming book-cases.

 

[nclemmons]

Sapele is a beautiful wood.  Great job on the details!

 

[Sparktrician]

Beautifully done, Michael!  [thumbs up]

 

[Cheese]

Nice Michael...very nice, love the drawer extensions.  [smile]  Did you prototype them first or just wing-it?

 

[edwarmr]

[member=75780]woodbutcherbower[/member] [member=75933]luvmytoolz[/member] [member=3515]RJNeal[/member] [member=65451]Steve1[/member] [member=167]neilc[/member] @Sparktrician
Thanks for all the kind words guys I really appreciate it!

 

[edwarmr]

Nice Michael...very nice, love the drawer extensions.  [smile]  Did you prototype them first or just wing-it?

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] Thanks!

I somewhat prototyped them and somewhat winged them. I didn't do wood prototypes but I did do full scale drawings to make sure everything was clear in my head and that I wouldn't mess up the cuts. I used graph paper and placed the graph paper on Incra's full scale drawings in their template book. Since the graph paper was somewhat transparent I then was able to trace the dovetails onto my paper and decided which cuts I needed to skip or change to make the sliding dovetails work. Incra's cuts are labeled 1A, 2A... 1B, 2B... 1C, 2C... 1D, 2D, etc. I wrote down every cut number/letter that I needed to make. Since I only had one shot at this without milling up more lumber I really took my time and made sure that every cut would be correct.

I plan on doing this again for a coffee table drawer in the future. If I do I will have to take notes of the step by step process so I can explain it better. I wish Incra would put out a video on how to do this. Mark Mueller mentions full extension dovetail slides briefly in one of the Incra videos but doesn't show the full process.

 

[Vtshopdog]

That’s awesome.  Love the wood combo.
Incra positioner is a very capable tool and you pushed it to a new level.

 

[Muttley000]

These are incredibly nice, fine work for sure!  Really like the slides as well.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Those are really spectacular. I especially like the drawer guides.

 

[WillB]

Ditto everyone's compliments,
so nice to see "out of the box" ww components.
Did u get these tall dovetail slides from the Incra video, but not in their book?
Did they have pre made patterns (inserts scales) for this?
More importantly, how well do they function?
and one last question   has such tall dovetail drawer slides been used on historical furniture?  I never recall seeing anything like this? (with this much height of course)

 

[edwarmr]

[member=68668]Vtshopdog[/member] [member=76927]Muttley000[/member] [member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member]

Thank you very much

[member=71257]WillB[/member]
They don't demonstrate the sliding dovetails in the video but they mention it in passing. The book does not mention how to do this either. I did use the Incra templates or inserts but I had to adjust some of the cuts to make it work. I will try to post more information when I get a chance.

I don't know about something like this being used on historical furniture but Fine Woodworking has an article on a similar sliding dovetail that is pretty tall. They don't do it with the LS Positioner and only use a single dovetail for the slide.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/1996/04/01/all-wood-extension-drawer-slides

This forum shows something similar. It's the closest thing I could find to what I did. My technique was a little different though.https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/sliding-dovetail-drawer-guides

And they slide smooth as butter  ;D
I did a little shimming with plastic shim stock on the back of the runners in the cabinet to get them to slide nice and smooth. You don't want them too tight or too loose. It took a little trial and error to get the fit just right.

 

[Cheese]

I somewhat prototyped them and somewhat winged them. I didn't do wood prototypes but I did do full scale drawings to make sure everything was clear in my head and that I wouldn't mess up the cuts. I used graph paper and placed the graph paper on Incra's full scale drawings in their template book. Since the graph paper was somewhat transparent I then was able to trace the dovetails onto my paper and decided which cuts I needed to skip or change to make the sliding dovetails work.

Interesting, with all the modern aids available, you solved the problem the old fashioned way...tracing paper, a sharp 4B pencil, a ruler & a calculator.  [smile]. I'm also a big fan of patterns.

FWIW...on old Anderson sliding windows, Anderson recommended a light application of candle wax on the sliding wood surfaces. That treatment really did significantly ease the movement of the window.

A little wax goes a long way, the wax I think is used to close the pores/grain of each sliding wood piece so that they just skim across each other. Too much wax and it becomes sticky.

 

[WillB]

Agree with Cheese... u went old school, which was all that was required here, sometimes we all can over tech stuff, which sometimes takes more time, and the end result is sometimes no better, and even sometimes worse.  The exception is, when the tech is used by highly skilled tech guys and for procedures done over n over, no learning curve, like there is for a single task!

Thx for the related links.  One of the articles shared my exact thoughts... soo much that can go wrong with sliding dovetails of this size.  It's so critical to get the width spot on so the dovetails have no excess friction.  Of course, as all the wood moves over time, I imagine it's still vulnerable to added friction.  As only a few thou could take it from butter smooth to sticky.  Should be interesting.  I thought shims was only way to achieve the ideal fit.  I have sheet shims I often find invaluable for exact fits.  Lots of wax should solve any future friction up to a point.

I have the Incra system on both my router table and TS, and I have always wanted to put it to such good use for projects like this...but higher priority projects and life keeps getting in the way!

So refreshing to see something in ww I never saw before!  And executed with such skill and craftsmanship... thx for sharing !

 

[Bugsysiegals]

I also have the Incra fence on my SS but never dreamed to make these dovetail wooden drawer slides ... I assume you flipped it 180 and have a router table extension wing on the TS or use the system on a dedicated router table?

I really love these ... I'd be afraid of ever scratching them.  Maybe I missed it but how did you finish these?