Labor Day weekend my wife took the kids up to the family cabin for a couple days. I spent most of this time in the shop working on the drawers. For this dresser I had designed the drawers with large through dovetails. Since I don’t own a decent dovetailing jig that allows for custom size and spacing, I was going to have to do these by hand. Since I haven’t done many projects with hand-cut visible dovetails, I figured I’d better take my time with these. To make things a bit faster and more accurate, I used the bandsaw with the table tilted to 10 degrees to start the pins and the router table to hog out the majority of the waste. I’m not sure how much faster it is vs. a hammer and chisel, but it was certainly more accurate than I would be solely by hand and saves a bit of wear and tear on the chisel blades — I wasn’t keen on spending my rather limited shop time sharpening chisels!
That said, I do truly enjoy working with sharp chisels as I am here cleaning up the pins:
The pins completed on one drawer front:
Marking out the tails with an X-acto knife:
I’m very pleased with the end result. This is a dry fit of one of the drawers…
I used a simple dado to attach the drawer backs.
I had originally planned to use sliding dovetail drawer slides, but they fit so well, I decided to simply add guides on either side and a block at the top to keep it from dipping. Here’s the chest with the completed drawers:
Next up is the top. After that, sanding, sanding and more sanding.
A few months back, we learned that we were expecting our third child. My wife, the youngest of five kids, is adamant that this child have their very own crib and dresser. Who am I to argue? A couple weeks ago we learned it was a boy - so, I set off to design and build a “masculine” dresser.
Inspiration
My first step was to review some of my favorite projects on lumberjocks.com. I’ve added references to these projects at the end of this post. They’re all excellent…check ‘em out!
Perspiration
With those pieces in mind, I set out to design the new dresser. Here’s my current Sketchup rendering:
The light colored wood represents cherry and the dark, walnut. I spent some time debating reversing the side panels, that is, using walnut for the frame and cherry for the raised panel. This seems somehow more “right” since it more closely echos the drawer/face frame arrangement of the front. Howver, I just didn’t like the look as well. Feel free to tell me if you think otherwise! Also, since I enjoyed the “hand cut dovetail” process so much on the kid’s bench project, I figured I’d do a whole bunch of ‘em for the drawers. I’d never really considered using through dovetails for drawers, but I liked the look of them so well on the design references below, I figured I’d give ‘em a try here!
Decisions Remain
I’m still unsure what I want to use for pulls. I’m nearly positive that I will be crafting them in the shop out of hardwood…but I’m still looking for just the right design. Anyone have any ideas? Also, as with most of my pieces, I intend to customize this one with an inlay or two. I’m still unsure of the “what” and “where” at this point. I’m considering a pattern that cuts across a number of drawer fronts — but with the child due to arrive in early November, that may simply be too much to finish in time!
Google SketchUp!
Here’s my SketchUp drawing for anyone who’s interested in playing with it.
I’ve yet to cut my first board and wholeheartedly welcome any suggestions, comments or criticisms (preferably constructive 
).
cherrywalnutdresser.skp
Design References
There are many examples of inspiring design and craftsmanship on lumberjocks.com. Here are the ones I used while working on my design. Thanks, guys!
