chest of drawers

[Jeff]

I have a few pictures of my latest piece. It's a chest of drawers built in mid-century Danish modern style. I placed equal emphasis on organic feel and contemporary construction techniques. Rounded corners give it a more nouveau feel, a nuance the Danes weren't inclined to add to these types of pieces. Their chests tended to be boxy. The top three drawers are 4-1/2" deep and the bottom drawer measures 6-1/2" deep. I'm very much an American, but I never took to incremental drawer depths.

Cheers, Jeff

[Chris Friesen]

Nicely done.

Are those finger joints on the carcase?

The exposed carcase joinery makes me think of Becksvoort's chests of drawers. His are Shaker-derived though.

Chris

[Jeff]

Yeah, they're finger joints. I use them all the time. If you invest the time to create a jig, then you might as well use it. That's the first time I've ever rounded them. I wasn't sure how that would go so I tried it on a test joint. It looked great but at the same time it wasn't an entire cabinet. Some are worried about illegal immigration, but I could have used a mexican or two to help me run that carcass over the router table....

Jeff

[J. Clarke]

It puts me in mind of my mother's Chinese chest, only without the carving. Same rounded corners with finger joints on some edges and dovetails on others.

[Swingman]

"Jeff" wrote

Like the piece, like wood, like the rounded finger joint corners ... they go nicely with the style. IIRC, it was Maloof who also started rounding off the corners of his inset drawers and doors on pieces in the style of yours.

... might be a nice touch to consider if you do another.

[Jeff]

I'd love to see some pictures of the Maloof pieces you're talking about. If you have any links, they'd be appreciated.

Jeff

[Greg G]

Nice work. I'm assuming the fronts are walnut? The sides look like they could be something else, maybe Cocobola? I need to get back to some flat work, but I'm still playing with exotics and woodturning at the moment.

I've used a lot of finger (box) joints on things as well (entomology boxes for one) - just because they look cool and are reasonably strong. I have noticed that they tend to expand and contract slightly during seasonal (humidity) changes - meaning that sometimes the pins can swell slightly proud of the adjacent pins on thick stock.

May your grand kids (or whatever) enjoy your heirloom work. (And I looked over your blog, BTW. ;-) )

Namaste,

Greg G.

[Jeff]

The outside is black walnut and the inside is red oak. I understand why you'd think the outside was Cocobola but it's poor lighting playing tricks on you.

My blog has been suffering due to a string of woodworking projects. On top of that, I have friends who've inquired about pieces. Thus far I've been putting them off. There's only so many hours in a day....

[Greg G]

I recognized the red oak drawer interiors and the walnut fronts, but wasn't sure about the side panels. I understand about lighting/camera setups. I try to photograph woodturnings, but without investing some effort into diffuse lighting and backgrounds (who the hell has time or room for that...) they turn out like this:

My blog has been suffering from exploding head syndrome. I've gotten to the point where I just can't watch the lunacy anymore....

As for friends who commission pieces, wish I had that problem - as long as they are paying cash...

Ciao,

Greg G.

[Swingman]

"Jeff" wrote

I originally saw his "design" for inset doors and drawers in a magazine or book. I'll look around and see if I still have it, but, after seeing what he did, I did/tried to do the same thing to these "Stacked Tansu" boxes (before I even knew what the hell "tansu" was) in my office a couple of years back:

... it ain't Maloof, but it's the idea. :)

Here's the tansu story :

IIRC, Maloof stated that he originally did it because it was easier, quicker, and with a lot less tedious door/drawer fitting, to have inset doors/drawers look good by rounding over the front edges all around ... after doing it that one time, I wholeheartedly agree. :)

I think he may have even made a few pieces where he rounded over the stiles and rails as well, but that seemed a bit much to me.

I wished I could find the reference ... but haven't been able to locate it.

[Mark & Juanita]

Very nice design and execution

[Jeff]

Ah, I gotcha. I actually did something similar on a previous piece and, yes, you're correct. It is WAY easier to align the doors/drawers. I refrained this time because when I laid it out I didn't like rounded drawers with rounded edges.

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

[Chris Friesen]

work? Ideally you'd have a cutout in the cloth just big enough for the lens to poke through.

You can also get some neat effects placing the subject on a sheet of acrylic sitting on a black surface.

Chris

[Greg G]

Actually, Chris, I've invested no more than 5 minutes of thought and zero effort into such things. I suppose I really should, considering how badly the flash alters the appearance of the segments. Used to do videography work, so it's not rocket science. Just a matter of setting about completing the task. A cardboard box shell, some nicely draped fabric, a few mirrors and a diffuse light source would probably cover it.

I have a small woodturning display in a friend's gallery, and used a similar approach to show the turning's underside details.

FWIW,Greg G.

[Phisherman]

right, it is a sign of good craftsmanship.

[Jeff]

details.

walnut and mahagony (?) piece on the left looks like a thrown pot at first glance.

Jeff

[Frank Boettcher]

Very nice piece, Jeff.

Frank