The Dresser Begins

Let me start by answering a question posed by two folks from, I believe, last week.

What is a slash pile?

What you see pictured is a slash pile. It is made up of the branches and shrubs cut down during the summer, mainly for fire mitigation.

There are at least five piles around the property that will be burned during the winter.

This week the dresser started to take form. The carcase pieces were sawn and the glue up began.

As you can see the need for clamps is extensive.

This glue up took me between 2-3 hours (I work pretty slow) with clean up from the squeeze out. The carcase is made of 3/4" cabinet grade Maple plywood. It will be faced in beetle kill Ponderosa Pine, more on that later.

While waiting on the glue to dry, the drawer fronts where cut to rough size and the grains matched for compliment.

The entire front edging and drawer fronts are coming out of one fitch of wood for consistency.

I won't start the drawers until the carcase is completed, with sides, legs and top.

I am planning to dovetail the fronts to the drawer sides and use UHMW for slide facing in the carcase.

The drawer pulls will be something dark probably Padute, as there is still some around the shop.

The larger glue up panels, for the sides and the top, will also come out of one fitch, which is the next section down from this one on the same tree.

What I mean is that the fitch for the front came from the top of the tree and this one will be from the log just below it. There should be consistency, but we will need to see.

The fitch for the top and sides came off the mill much more usable form, as it was cut after I put on new belts which virtually eliminated the vibration I was getting in the mill head.

Those of you with mills remember to de-tension the saw blade when not in use so as not to flat spot the belts.

The wood stickered under the sawhorses is the fitch for the top and sides.

BTW, the dresser will be slightly over 7 feet long and 42" high. When done it could weight 150-200#.

Yes it is a big one.

Next step is cutting and gluing on the front edge of Ponderosa to each piece of plywood.

This will also exercise the complete inventory of clamps.

Most everything is cut, but there will be fine tuning as the pieces of the puzzle are glued and clamped into place.

I hope to finish this up on Sunday.

Marlys has also been in the shop most of the week making some items, and refurbishing the ten year old wood bear statue we have on the patio. I especially like what she did with the eyes and lips.