My parents downsized into an apartment and are dealing with a lot of clutter. So I offered to build them a chest of drawers. This one is my first, and is my own design. It's made of cherry plywood, Pennsylvania cherry, and the drawer faces are Oregon cherry, with a few coats of shellac.
P1019406_adjusted.jpg With 5 3.3" drawers and 5 5.5" drawers it's almost a horizontal file. I used nickels to space the gaps on the front - they're almost exactly 1/16" of an inch.
P1019412_adjusted.jpg I'm not sure what style to call it - modern country perhaps?
P1019409_adjusted.jpg The drawers are on 16" full extension slides. Definitely anchoring this one to the wall.
P1019403_adjusted.jpg You can see more of the construction here - it's a plywood carcass with a 1/4" plywood back rabbeted in, a shelf in the middle in a dado to keep the case from racking, and a face frame glued to the front. Spacers were glued in so the slides would clear the face frame, and a nice hardwood top is screwed on from underneath with elongated screw holes to allow for movement. The feet are 4x4 glue blocks 3" high made of pine, and then a cherry trim is attached to the feet, not the carcass. A bit of Roman ogee moulding softens the lines a bit and hides any potential gaps.
This was an ambitious project with a bunch of firsts for me - chest of drawers, first use of shellac, separate feet with applied trim, first time I've ever made moulding, first miter cuts on my chop saw, first drawers made with lock miter bit, and even my first use of metal drawer pulls.
The shellac gave me some grief - I used Zissner (sp?) Bullseye, and I loved everything about it, except I did have problems with streaks on the non-horizontal surfaces I applied it to. I was using a foam brush, and was obviously applying too much. Next time I'm going to try wiping it on, or wiping off the excess.
Thanks for looking - it was a lot of work but it was all worth it seeing my parent's eyes light up when I delivered it!
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