Little Tansu Inspired Case #3: Drawers

This is fun to watch. Great pics too!

-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com

Still looking good Dorje! This thing will be very nice when you done!

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

You are making progress.

By the way I looked up tansu and have a general idea what it is now. If it wasn’t for your post I might never have stumbled over this term. Thanks for educational inspiration.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

I, too, am enjoying the process

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Nice job Dorje.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Pretty cool.

Is there one height setting with that bit? Then just cut one piece flat and the other on end?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Very nice job with the drawers—I like the way the figure matches drawer-to-drawer on the entire drawer front stack.

-- SteveL

Looking good Dorje. I’m always really impressed with your photography, what kind of gear are you using (the colors and the lighting always seem spot on)

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Looking good. Nice grain patterns on those drawer fronts.

I cut that joint with a tablesaw for my planer cart, but used a very iniffecient method. Nice work.

How will those attach to the case?

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Your great sense of craftsmanship is showing in this process, Dorje. I like your attention to detail and use of traditional methods. This will be really nice when it’s done.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Thanks all for your comments -

Gary – On the drawer lock bit, you set the height so positives and negatives match; it stays the same through the process. Fronts and backs are routed flat down on the table (as I’m sure you can imagine) and the sides are routed on edge. The kicker is that the fence is set back from the upper cutter, the width of the sides (or more for overlap drawers), when you do the fronts and backs, and then you move the fence in to set it dead on to the lower cutter when you do the sides.

Damian – I just use an Olympus didgtal camera…2.0megapixel or something. It’s pretty old at this point. I take a bunch of pics and a few usually turn out okay…Thanks for the nice words on the photos.

John – not sure I understand the question about attaching to the case…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

I was going to ask the camera question too. The light in your shop must be really good natural light, because those photos look great!

I had missed the first two posts on this little baby. Very nice. Thanks for sharing.
So I take it, you like the lock joint and would use it again? Just a lot of tweaking to setup?
I have done locking rabbets on the TS, but this has that nice little chamfer with it….

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Thanks for you comments guys…

Jon – I have very little natural light in there and these were taken at night under regular incandescent bulbs…go figure.

Steve – I would use it again – and next time it wouldn’t take as much tweaking because I understand the geometry of the joint now…which is a relief.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Looks like a really fun project. the woods look very warm. Are they softwoods? I can’t wait to see the finished product. Looks great!

-- Daniel, Tumwater, Wa U.S.A.

How is this project coming? The drawer construction process was interesting.

-- Maplewood, MN

Daniel - yes – softwood for the most part- just tight grain soft cedar scrap for the primary, and some cedar, pine and poplar for the secondary woods…

Many Tansu cases were built out of Paulownia, which is very very soft, so it sort of fits in there…

rikkor - I’ve only had a couple hours to work on this in the past month; I fit the drawers to the case…really pleased with how that worked out…

Hopefully, I’ll have some time to work on this in the next couple/few days! Next, is surface prep and finish, installing a back and hardware…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Hey Hey A. Dorje, how much lumber have you jocked today?