Transformations

[Jiggy Joiner]

Superb! and what a transformation.  [thumbs up]

 

[FestitaMakool]

Simply great transformation! A lesson in re-using and improving design. Amazing work, looking forward seeing the “reverse” process. I’m guessing Japanese saw on that exquisite hidden drawer [smile]. But then again, it’s soo tight [blink].. we’ll see I hope!

 

[derekcohen]

That’s beautiful Derek. A lovely drawer. Hand cut dovetails?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CeeJay, is there another way?

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[CeeJay]

That’s beautiful Derek. A lovely drawer. Hand cut dovetails?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CeeJay, is there another way?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Glad to hear it!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[derekcohen]

The drawer and tapered legs certainly have transformed a dull piece into an elegant hall furniture. Well done. [thumbs up]

Edit: Re: "The legs were attached with dowels. I would never have guessed as the construction was very strong. Pulling them away caused some of the wood to tear along with it. No way to remove them other than saw the ends away."

Tom of Thomas Johnson Antique Furniture Restoration. U.S., a third-generation restorer, uses a heat gun and putty knife (where the heat is directed at) to loosen up all the dowel joints (whether hide glue or PVA glue is used) he comes across. He uses a side-cutter to remove nails, and he generously shared with me one of his trade tricks: he ground the cutter's bottom side flat so it could bite into the nail heads. I subsequently learned that the same could be done on an end-cutter.

Thanks Chuck. I watch his videos as well.

I decided that there was no benefit in removing the dowels. This will become clear later. Sawing them away was easier.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Mario Turcot]

I am speechless  [jawdrop]

 

[ScotF]

Beautiful work! Amazing transformation and very well done!!

 

[junk731]

Derek I usually don't comment on many pieces of furniture, mainly because beauty is in the eye of the maker. Mother always said if you don't have anything nice to say try to keep your mouth shut. In this case you nailed it, beautiful. I do love the complex simplicity. The drawer is a nice touch and now after examining the pic I see how you achieved the tight fit. I look forward to further details of the build.

 

[HarveyWildes]

I love the fact that you took an existing piece and improved it.  In particular,

• That you saw the potential for a more beautiful piece in the one you were given.
• That it seems you just couldn't be satisfied to take the easy course once you saw the potential.
• That you used the material you had to make it.

Last summer we visited the Kwanlin Dun First Nation Cultural Centre in Whitehorse, YK.  They had a beadwork display.  There weren't many pieces, but they were amazingly intricate and detailed.  As I browsed through the display, most pieces were pretty traditional - moccasins, vests, infant carriers, and so on.  Then I came on a very different piece.  It was a traffic cone that had been run over, so that it was crooked, and had part of the top of the cone ripped and partially missing.  It was covered with beautiful beadwork like the other pieces.  The craftswoman who made it said that she found the cone outside her home after a repair project on her road, and noted that somehow the road crew had managed to pick up all of the undamaged cones, but left this one.  She titled the piece "Redeeming Colonial Garbage".  I'm sure there were some political sensitivities there that went over my head, but I was amused by the title and impressed by the attitude of taking what life leaves at your door and making something beautiful from it.

I've wondered since what she thought about during the hours that went into the piece - wasted time, irritation over history and how it affects her today, the focus on planning and executing a totally impractical piece of craftsmanship.  But a good deal of what she thought about while doing the work must have been the idea of redemption, of making something beautiful out of the mundane.  I like that attitude.  I actually think of it when I work a piece of spalted wood or #3 cherry, or a piece of urban lumber that I've milled and dried myself - I feel like I can redeem it and in the process demonstrate that there is more beauty in the world than might appear on the surface.

So from where I sit, well done, Derek.

 

[derekcohen]

Somehow this area was forgotten, and of course it is important.

All surfaces were hand planed, and then finished in de-waxed Ubeaut Hard Shellac. This concentrated and thinned with denatured alcohol/methylated spirits.

This finish allows the figure to come through and, unlike an oil, does not darken the already dark Jarrah (which is what I wanted to avoid).

The top was, in addition, sanded with a ROS to 400 grit. Jarrah is an open-grain timber and the sanded Shellac doubled as a grain-filler, leaving a smoothed surface.

The next step was to rub in (and off) a water-based poly, from General Finishes, which does not darken or yellow with age. I rub thin coats on with microfibre cloths and then denib with 400 grit grey mesh ...

The final step is to wax (the top) with Howards Wax-N-Feed, which is a mix of beeswax and carnauba wax.

This produces a very soft, warm and natural finish.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

It was my intention from the outset to hide the drawer as best as possible. This required that the drawer not have a pull or handle visible on the outside. To achieve this end, the drawer would need to be opened from the underside.

Issue: Opening from the underside meant that the drawer would need to rest in a case which was open from below. Without a case bottom (i.e. drawer blades) on which the drawer could rest, the common method for a drawer would be a form of side hang.

There are two methods for a side hung drawer that I know of, and I dislike both of them intensely! Partly because they require thick drawer sides, which lack aesthetic appeal for me.

The first is a wooden slide (ugh!) which requires grooving the outside of the drawer sides ...

The second method involves a metal slide (double ugh!!), which is ugly and belongs in a kitchen ...

In the end I decided that I could build a drawer case with drawer blades open at the front. I have not seen anything like this before, but I live a sheltered life. I doubt this is original ... just re-inventing the wheel.

There are four parts to the drawer build: the drawer size and design, the drawer case, fitting the drawer case, and the drawer.

The drawer size and design

The drawer is 230mm (9") wide and 280mm (11") deep. The width represents one third of the length of the apron. This works well since the depth of the drawer needs to be greater than the width to avoid racking. Racking would not be an issue if there were side slides (ugh!), but we are avoiding those thingies.

Note the lip on the underside of the drawer front ...

See the drawer lining up with the apron ... going ... going ..

... gone ...

That lip is the drawer pull, and it doubles as the drawer stop.

The drawer case

Let's make the face of the drawer case.

The original aprons were 100mm high. The new apron was to be 65mm, which was the height I calculated (with a life size drawing on a MDF sheet).

The 65mm height included the drawer front, which would be 45mm high. That would leave a 20mm rail above the drawer.

The first step here is to rip away 45mm from the original apron ...

These two sections are jointed so that they may be perfectly flush once glued back together, and no join evident. The jointing was done on my large shooting board ...

The drawer front is marked off - with a knife, not a pencil - from the centre of the 45mm wide board ...

And then the drawer front is crosscut on the table saw. The cut area is covered in blue tape to minimise spelching ...

We are now left with four sections - the wide top, the two lower side sections, and the middle drawer front. The sections are glued back (taking care not to glue the drawer front back!) ...

Once the glue has dried, plane the board flat ...

Did you see it before?

Now the board is ripped down to 65mm, leaving a 20mm rail above the drawer front.

Here you can see the front and rear aprons. They have also been cut to length, given a tenon at each end. The apron tenons are angled 3 degrees for the splayed legs ...

Part 2 will complete the drawer.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

There are four parts to the drawer build: the drawer size and design, the drawer case, fitting the drawer case, and the drawer.

Part 1 described the drawer size and design, and the apron of the drawer case. Part 2 describes the rest.

We ended Part 1 here. That is the apron and opening to the drawer case ..

This is where the build ended ...

The drawer case and its fitting

I scratched my head for a week how to do this. How to get the case to support drawer blades. I did not want a heavy, complicated arrangement, one which ran the danger of protruding below the table and might be seen at a distance. It needed to be lean and mean. To be elegant. A design to be appreciated by myself and you. This is what I came up with ..

The case sides were grooved 3mm (1/8") ...

.. and matched with a rebated section which would form the 6mm (~1/4") thick drawer blade ...

The thickness of each blade is the same as the depth of the lip on the drawer front (which doubles as a drawer pull). This depth is significant.

The reason for the rebate arrangement is to get the blade as low as possible on the case side. Recall that the front of the blade acts as a drawer stop as well, and must be coplanar with the lower edge of the drawer lip.

The side/blades are fitted to the rear of the apron with a mortice-and-tenon joint ...

This was definitely a tricky joint to do and it needed to be precisely positioned so that the entry lined up with the sides ... precisely!

Here is what it would look like with the drawer front inserted ...

To aid with alignment, I made a MDF pattern ...

Here's the fun bit - aligning the case with the front and rear aprons, to mark out the rear mortices ...

The pattern is inserted and a straight edge is attached to the front apron to prevent flexing ...

A lot of repeat measurements are taken on the rear apron before I am satisfied it is square and equal front-and-back.

This is the result ...

By-the-way, note the biscuit joiner-made slots for attaching the table top.

The drawer

The drawer build was fairly straight forward. The usual half-blind fronts and through dovetail rears.

Transferring tails to pins on the Moxon ...

The sides were grooved rather than using slips. This was to save the extra 3mm height needed for the slips (saving as much height as possible for inside the drawer). 3mm grooves ..

Matching groove in the drawer front ...

Below is the stage of glueing up the drawer carcase. You know that it is all coplanar and square (essential for a piston fit) when the dovetail at each end just drop neatly into the matching sockets ...

The 6mm thick drawer bottom receives a 3mm rebate. This was made with a moving fillester, and then fine-tuned with a shoulder plane ...

The drawer fits well and needs minimal tuning. Two items added: a very fine chamfer to the top of the drawer front, to prevent binding when the drawer is closed. And a stretcher across the tops of the drawer sides, prevent the drawer tipping ...

This aids in achieving near-full extension ...

The end

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[junk731]

Derek thanx for the details and a great solution. With the joint being so tight is there any concern about seasonal expansion or is the wood being used unaffected. You knew someone would ask the question, LOL.

 

[derekcohen]

It's a good question.

Wood expands across the grain. This means that the drawer sides will expand vertically. The drawer bottom will expand towards the back of the drawer. The drawer front will expand vertically.

Internally, the drawer sides are shaved slightly, but the wood is quartersawn and should be very stable.

The drawer bottom has space to expand about 5mm.

The drawer front is chamfered where it meets the underside of the opening. However that is to make it easier to close the drawer. What I expect is that the drawer front will expand exactly the same amount as the apron, from which it was cut.

The table is also in a spot out of the weather/sun, etc.

I think it will be fine.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[derekcohen]

Rita's table at home ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[rst]

Beautiful, as much art as furniture.

 

[Gregor]

Very nice, thank you for sharing in such detail.

 

[Euclid]

I'd say that's a textbook project, Derek; although that would be a textbook I never seen (or maybe hasn't yet been written...)!
Thank you for taking the time to share the details with us.

 

[FestitaMakool]

Agreed, thank you so much for sharing.

 

[HarveyWildes]

Every project you document, I learn something about design or technique (or both)!  Thanks for taking the effort.