Chest of Drawers Delivered

[Todd Burch]

This 4 drawer chest of drawers got delivered last night. Client was very pleased. It was almost too big through the narrow closet door! Dummy me forgot to check. Sprayed oil based gloss enamel over MDF, poplar and pine. Baltic birch drawer boxes, lacquered, on full extenstion slides. Size 52" tall, 30" wide and 20" deep. One heavy muther.

Thanks, Todd.

[Brad Schafer]

good looking work. where do you get your drawer hardware (rails)?

b

[Jim Becker]

Very, very nice, Todd! The finish really turned out great--all those tests paid off nicely.

Question...do you provide some form of anti-tip provisions (or advise) with this kind of piece to your customers? I know that many commercial outfits do now and wonder what customer builders like you do.

[Bob Lasley]

Looks good Todd!

Bob

[Lee Schierer]

While I'm not a big fan of painted furniture, I do appreciate good work and that dresser looks very nice from my seat. And if the customer was happy, it is perfect. Good work.

[Kevin Murdock]

Hi Todd,

Which parts are which with respect to MDF poplar and pine usage. I'm currious as to what was used where.

Thanks,
/Kevin

[Steve Clardy]

Great finish looks like. Guess you got your spraying tactics figured out. Steve

[Todd Burch]

Thanks for all the pats on the back guys!

Brad:
I got those drawer slides from Louis & Company. 18" full extension KV (Knapp & Vogt) 100lb rating. I paid $7.16/per pair for the 22"ers, (couldn't find my recepit for the 18"ers, but they are less) and in my opinion they are much better than the Liberty slides.

One thing to note about weight ratings on drawer slides. If you've ever read the fine print that comes with these types of slides, you cannot achieve the published weight rating using the screws that come with these slides. The instructions will probably state that you have to use epoxied-in inserts with machine screws. I did not do that in this application. These drawer will work just fine with a load of t-shirts or socks or undies with the coarse thread pan head screws I used. (Oh, when you buy these slides in bulk - you don't get screws... gotta buy them separate - in bulk!)

Kevin:
As far are materials goes:

Case sides, top, drawer slide cleats, back mounting cleats and bottom shelf are 3/4" MDF.
Face frame (glued and pocket screwed, then nailed & glued on) and toe kick plate (nailed and glued) are 3/4" Poplar. These stick out ~1/8" from the case sides and were rounded over prior to install.
1 1/16" Cove moulding (nailed and glued) is pine.
1X4 cleats under top that top screws to (from below) are pine.
Back is 1/4" tempered hardboard (glued and stapled in rabbet).
Baltic Birch drawer boxes (box joints)
1/4" birch ply drawer bottoms (glued in groove).
Painters putty in nail holes. Latex Caulk @ all joints. Kilz primer sprayed. Sherwin Williams Alkyd Enamel color match.

While MDF is nice and flat for painting, you have to prep it right, especially edges and routed profiles, like the top edge on this piece that received the long sloping table edge router bit. I've been using Clawlock undercoater/primer from ML Campbell - a two-part system, that is high solids and dries fast. It gets sprayed on and sands real nice with fre-cut 220 grit.

Jim:
As far as anti-tip - I provided qty=4, 2½" long coarse threaded screws, which went through the back mounting cleats and case back, through sheetrock and into wall studs. I figured that should do it. Took about 90 seconds. The case sides are also notched at the back-bottom to provide relief for the baseboard (so I didn't have to cut it out) and that allows you to get the case up tight against the wall (so you can SEE how non-flat the wall is!)

The client asked if I was going to cut the carpet out from underneath it, and for this type of application (master bedroom closet) I said no. I told him to take it with him if he ever moved!

[Douglas Robinson]

Looks real clean. What finishing equipment are you using? Did you spray a primer coat first?

[Todd Burch]

Douglas, it's probably the best paint job I've ever done (in quantity) with oil based. (I'm kinda thinking about making another one for my house, but using a bold color oil paint. It would be stunning in non-white with a heavy saturated color.

For the Clawlock primer, I used a Binks 2001 conventional gun with a 1 quart siphon cup. For wood, only one coat of Clawlock is needed. For MDF, it suggests 2. Since the primer is white, and heaviliy pigmented, it looked pretty good with just the primer on it!

For the oil based, I thinned ~15%, give or take, and used an Asturo G70 pressure fed conventional gun with a 2 quart remote pot. Roughly 10-12lbs fluid pressure and 30 PSI air pressure, triggered. I ordered the Asturo with a 1.4mm needle/nozzle setup - big enough to spray latex.

I have a mongo compressor (5hp, 2 stage, 80 gallon upright unit).

I have two 26" wide x 94" tall x 10" deep cabinets to paint as well, (most likely next week - I'm waiting on hardware) and I will use the same finishing process. Alas, they will be white too.

[Tom Sweeney]

Great work! Your attention to every detail is very impressive - I'm sure your clients appreciate it also.

[Brad Schafer]

Thanks for all the pats on the back guys!

Brad:
I got those drawer slides from Louis & Company.

(snip)

Cool. Appreciate the feedback. Plz post pix of the other stuff as you get it painted.


b