Oh boy, a Highboy!

[Jeff Monson]

Brett, that is outstanding work! The workmanship is great, but I cant get over the poplar and how well the finish turned out! Well done.

[Jerome Hanby]

I used poplar as edge banding and trim on my wife's lathe stand. Last week, I slapped some shellac on it and I was surprised how good the poplar looked! I've always considered it paint grade...

[Norman Pyles]

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!

[Jim Kountz]

I will only echo what others have said, the poplar is amazing, I would never imagined it could made to look like that. Excellent job all the way around!! I think Ill go play with some stain and scrap poplar now....

[Kyle Brooks]

Outstanding work!!!!

[Jeff Wittrock]

As others have said, I would have never thought it was poplar. Beautiful work!

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

Beautiful job Brett! VERY professional looking!! I've been wanting to build one of those myself for quite a long time ever since I watched Norm build one - just never got around to it yet. Excellent craftsmanship!!!

Randy

[David Keller NC]

I wouldn't care if it was made from lumber from recycled pallets! That is beautiful! Did you seal it with shellac before putting the stain on the final project? Very, very nice Brett!

BTW....I found cherry to be extremely expensive here too!

Uh - yeah, guys, please don't do this (make a highboy from recycled pallet wood). I'm rather constantly amazed at guys that put 200+ hours into an 18th century desk but make the fall-board from 3 mismatched boards because "that's what I had in the shop, and wide lumber was expensive". To me, that's the equivalent of building a blanket chest with dovetails and a bracket base, and using zinc-plated gate hinges bought from the Borg because they were inexpensive.....

That's not a knock on Brett's project, though. While not the usual case for a highboy, much of 18th century furniture, especially "ordinary" furniture like tavern tables, blanket chests, pembroke tables and the like was made from "secondary wood". The exception to primary woods like walnut, mahogany and curly maple on "high-style" furniture, particularly highboys, was "japanned" furniture, where all of them were made from less-desirable eastern white pine and plain maple/poplar.

Brett - a suggestion. Gooseneck moldings are pretty easy to carve by hand. Much, much easier than a shell, for example. And just about every machine process I've ever seen used to create these moldings carries a high degree of risk to one's hands and fingers, or requires some pretty fussy jigs to avoid risk to one's hands or fingers. I would strongly recommend that you give carving them a try - I suspect you'll find that they go extremely quickly.

And - that's an impressive finishing job. Getting a blotch-free look when one needs to heavily color the wood isn't easy at all.

[Gordon Eyre]

A real beauty and the finish is amazing on the poplar. Well done.

[Brett Robson]

Thanks again for all the comments guys! My modest highboy has had a life far beyond what I would have guessed!

When I started this thread, I expected mostly a series of snipes about making the thing from poplar!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Uh - yeah, guys, please don't do this (make a highboy from recycled pallet wood). I'm rather constantly amazed at guys that put 200+ hours into an 18th century desk but make the fall-board from 3 mismatched boards because "that's what I had in the shop, and wide lumber was expensive". .

David,

1st...I wasn't suggesting using pallet wood for fine furniture. I was simply saying regardless of the type or origin of the wood used it a nicely crafted piece of furniture.

2nd.....I've seen some furniture created from pallet wood that was pretty spectacular. All pallets aren't created equal. I have received some rather large electronics equipment on pallets and in crates made of oak and other hardwoods.

3rd....If you lived in a place like I do where you can pay $8-$11 a board foot for some hardwoods, you might be tempted to make furniture from cheaper woods.

[dave toney]

Brett,
Outstanding craftsmanship! Beautiful finish too.
Since you asked for constructive criticism, most period furniture does not have a lip on the bottom of the drawer fronts.
Dave Toney

[Brett Robson]

Dave, using an applied drawer front was a concession I had to make in using poplar. Had I made the drawer faces inset and with half-blind dovetails, it would have been very difficult to finish the drawer faces without getting stain all over the sides and dovetails, especially considering the stain-heavy finishing schedule I had in mind. I wrestled with that decision for some time before settling on the design I used.

I figured as I wasn't intent on making a historically accurate piece, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

[dave toney]

Brett,
I didn't mean that the drawers should be inset, just that the drawers on period furniture do not have a bottom lip, just the sides and top would overlay, like this:
DSCN1640.JPG
This shows more of the rail and the drawers don't look too close together.
Just a tip, your work looks great!
Dave

[David Keller NC]

David,

1st...I wasn't suggesting using pallet wood for fine furniture. I was simply saying regardless of the type or origin of the wood used it a nicely crafted piece of furniture.

Yeah, I get it, I'm just saying....

My point was that time isn't free, even if you're working uncompensated as a hobbyist.