From trees to finished Christmas present
I finished the Christmas present for my wife. No, not next year's, I'm finally done with last yearsI never said I was fast, I'm not so sure I'm good, either
Before I show the pictures here's a little explanation as to the construction of the piece:
To begin, several years ago hurricane Isabel danced through our area. While waltzing around the neighborhood she knocked over a couple nice red oak trees belonging to a friend. This friend allowed me to take three, ten foot section from two of the trees.
First, I and several friends took two Saturdays to roll the logs into the front yard. Then I had to find and hire someone with a portable sawmill to come and render the logs into boards. Once we accomplished that it took five trips with my little pick-up truck to haul the lumber to my house. At home I stacked and stickered the boards, covered them with a tarp, and let them air dry for 12+ months. Every bit of lumber (except the back and drawer bottoms) in this piece came from the above mentioned red oak trees. The carcass is joined using dovetails at the corners and blind dados for the various dividers.
As for the finish, I thought about following one of the more involved recipes, using dyes, sealers, glazes, etc. Instead I settled for an old tried and true formula: two coats of Watco Dark Walnut, followed by two coats of wipe on poly, finishing with two coats of Briwax Tudor Brown.
The first is a picture of the whole piece.
The next two pictures highlight the figure in the oak.
The last shows the dovetailing. Each drawer recieved the same number of dovetails, evenly spaced.
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