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- Sep 20, 2007
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Finally after 40-50 hours of work and 3.5 weeks, my dresser is done. Below is a pic from my phone, I'm trying to get a good camera to take some pictures.
The dresser is 60" wide, 36" tall, and 19.5" deep. Total material cost: $440
Material and Design: It's all plywood with Wenge veneer (exotic African medium toned wood) sealed with 5 coats of water based clear satin polyurethane. The finish has a distressed antique look. The style is a contemporary design.
Legs: This is what I envisioned for some reason that motivated me to build it. If anything, it adds some uniqueness to it. The legs have glass strips embedded from inside. I had these cut from Viking Glass in Dickinson. I cut 4 long pieces of plywood to form each square leg and used a table saw for the inside cutout and routed an insert on the inside to lay the glass in. I then secured the glass on the inside with wood blocks carefully drilled and nailed by hand to not crack the wood.
The inside is a web frame design to fit the drawers into.
Drawer boxes: The drawer boxes were cut to fit on wood runners and kickers (no metal slides to open or close) with Johnson's paste wax rubbed on to help them slide smoothly. I used wood biscuits with a biscuit joiner to attach the box sides, front and back pieces together with glue and used a air brad nail to secure it in place as it dried. (Think of this in place as a classic dovetail or box joint design).
The drawer bottoms are red oak 1/4 inch plywood. I dadoed (cuts a groove) the drawer box sides to insert the bottom as I assembled it all together.
Drawer fronts: The final part was to attached the drawer fronts. Before hand, it's important to measure everything(I did to the 64th of an inch) and to keep in mind the veneer thickness while I put veneer on all sides of the drawer fronts (it's about a 64th of an inch). This allows me to make sure I have a 16th inch spacing between everything. I then exactly measure each handle
I actually cut and made the table top before everything else, and as I kept measuring and cutting to make the rest, I hoped they would fit to the top, and they did, so I didn't have to resize the top.
All I know after some exhausting hours, it's one hefty, well built piece of furniture.
Bill of materials: Total cost $440
Plywood - $70
Drawer Boxes - Baltic Birch plywood $55
Red Oak drawer bottoms - $30
Veneer - Wenge - $140
Drawer handles - $70
Glass - dark colored - $55
Misc (finish, glue, biscuits, paste wax, nails, etc..) $20
The dresser is 60" wide, 36" tall, and 19.5" deep. Total material cost: $440
Material and Design: It's all plywood with Wenge veneer (exotic African medium toned wood) sealed with 5 coats of water based clear satin polyurethane. The finish has a distressed antique look. The style is a contemporary design.
Legs: This is what I envisioned for some reason that motivated me to build it. If anything, it adds some uniqueness to it. The legs have glass strips embedded from inside. I had these cut from Viking Glass in Dickinson. I cut 4 long pieces of plywood to form each square leg and used a table saw for the inside cutout and routed an insert on the inside to lay the glass in. I then secured the glass on the inside with wood blocks carefully drilled and nailed by hand to not crack the wood.
The inside is a web frame design to fit the drawers into.
Drawer boxes: The drawer boxes were cut to fit on wood runners and kickers (no metal slides to open or close) with Johnson's paste wax rubbed on to help them slide smoothly. I used wood biscuits with a biscuit joiner to attach the box sides, front and back pieces together with glue and used a air brad nail to secure it in place as it dried. (Think of this in place as a classic dovetail or box joint design).
The drawer bottoms are red oak 1/4 inch plywood. I dadoed (cuts a groove) the drawer box sides to insert the bottom as I assembled it all together.
Drawer fronts: The final part was to attached the drawer fronts. Before hand, it's important to measure everything(I did to the 64th of an inch) and to keep in mind the veneer thickness while I put veneer on all sides of the drawer fronts (it's about a 64th of an inch). This allows me to make sure I have a 16th inch spacing between everything. I then exactly measure each handle
I actually cut and made the table top before everything else, and as I kept measuring and cutting to make the rest, I hoped they would fit to the top, and they did, so I didn't have to resize the top.
All I know after some exhausting hours, it's one hefty, well built piece of furniture.
Bill of materials: Total cost $440
Plywood - $70
Drawer Boxes - Baltic Birch plywood $55
Red Oak drawer bottoms - $30
Veneer - Wenge - $140
Drawer handles - $70
Glass - dark colored - $55
Misc (finish, glue, biscuits, paste wax, nails, etc..) $20