Shaker Style Case Topper (at least that's what I'm calling it!)

You did a fine job of matching the wood grain on all the drawers and the rest of it. Super joinery! I turned out very nice…you should be proud!

-- Jesus is Lord!

This project is right up my alley. Sqaure , functional, the dovetails, color have all come together great. Nice job.

Bob

-- Bob A in NJ

Very nice job. Are those hand cut dovetails? Well done.

-- RonR, Massachusetts

Great Topper. Nice job with all of the construction details.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

handsome cabinet. Is that quarter sawn Fir?

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Very nice A+. Better than anything i’ve done. jockmike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Very nice topper. The dovetails have a handcut appearance. Can you talk a bit about the construction and joinery?

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Great topper. I’m also wondering about the dove tails.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Very nice. I like the vertical grain and the score lines on the dovetails.

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

this could win a summer award for joinery…beautiful piece…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...SING WITH ME: "Sum...sum...sum...summ...summ...summ...summertime..."

Making fine dovetails in a soft wood is very very difficult.

The finish is uniformly reflective.

That is a top-notch topper.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Dorje -

WOW! Excellent job. Very nice detail and finish work. This is a project to be very proud of! Very nice case work.

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Thanks for all the positive comments! To answer some of the questions:

It is vertical grain (quartersawn) fir that I picked up for next to nothing from a window shop that was shutting down in my neighborhood. I tried to use the prettiest, tightest grained material for all the showing surfaces.

The joinery is as follows: I handcut dovetails for the main carcase corners and all the drawers (front and back); sliiding doves for the vertical dividers (made with the router); stopped dadoes for all the horizontal dividers (again, routed). Sawdust2 said, “Making fine dovetails in a soft wood is very very difficult.” Isn’t that the truth! The combination of the hard, brittle slow growth rings and the soft quick growth rings in fir sure gives handsaws and chisels (and their user) a run for their money. I also made a frame and (flush) panel back (all solid stock) and mortised and tenoned all the back frame members (overkill – but wanted the practice!) then rabbetted it into the back of the case. Oh yeah, I resawed alder (right off the firewood pile) and jointed up stock for the drawer bottoms out of that.

My intention with this piece was to learn a lot of different joinery techniques on one little project that I will later be able to apply to other, hopefully bigger pieces that I construct! Also, I wanted to use all solid stock on this one. So from my point of view, I accomplished what I set out to do.

Thanks again!

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

Oh yeah, one more thing…

The knobs: I handturned those out of birch.

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

oh so very nice!!!!

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

Dorje,

I really love the straight grained fir. Very nice work. I think it would be the perfect place to store hand tools.

Joe

Thanks Doc-

It would be great for hand tool storage – but it’s gonna be used as more of an office supply case/homework center for my 10 year old…however unfortunate that may or may not be!

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

nice i love the wood,is that old pine?

-- Phil, Chattanooga,TN

Thanks rentman – it’s vertical grain fir (quartersawn)...

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

Beautiful work. Great finish. I love the fir. I picked up 4 old doors, all quartersawn fir just a couple weeks ago. I was going to take them apart for the wood but the boss decided she wanted to refinish them. ( I’m letting her strip and sand).

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

That’s pretty funny! I hope you didn’t have plans for the wood…

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

Great job. Very nice looking piece of furniture.

-- Greg Mitchell--Lowell, AR--gdamitchell@sbcglobal.net

Dorje – just cruising around this site and came across this treasure – real nice, Mate!

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/

Thanks Greg and Don!

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

I wish I had seen this sooner, this is a great piece!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I’m glad you came across it – and thanks for your words!

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

Wow, that is sweet. I missed this first around too. Handcut doves – impressive!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Thanks Douglas! I’m surprised you hadn’t seen it. I thought you knew me. Cracking myself up.

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

Gorgeous! I’ve been looking through Handjberg’s books too, and this is definitely a Shaker style you’ve got going. Love the dovetail carcass!

-- SteveL

SteveL -Thanks for stopping by to check it out!

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

Very nice, Dorje. This is the one from Tool Tweaks #2, no? You do good work. How’s that stack of lumber doing by the way?

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Jeff – yep- this is the one…

The maple stack is staying dry (i.e., out of the weather) and just holding steady for now…can’t imagine that it’s changed too much yet..

Good to hear from you Jeff.

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

Hey Dorje, I am glad this popped out of the archives. What great dovetailing. Good job!

-- Maplewood, MN

That is a very nice. You are an inspiration. There is a lot of skill and patience on display here. I hope you have a very durable finish on it handing it over to a 10 yr old… I like the way the finish runs to the scribe lines on the drawers. Thanks for sharing this with us; I really like this “topper”.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever... - Keats

Beautiful piece Dorje! Man I HATE working with V.G. Fir, I bet you’re still picking splinters out of your hands. A few years back everybody up here wanted V.G. Fir trim. For a couple of years every day fir, fir, fir, fir. Then Alder, now cherry and walnut. It’s finally been long enough that I can appreciate it again and that is a piece worthy of praise. Kinda tough to keep a hard edge on some of it isn’t it?

Thanks guys!

Finish is Tried and True Varnish Oil…should hold up well!

Yeah – keeping an edge on your chisels is a joke when you’re chopping through tight vg fir end grain…just crumples the edge of the tool on the first tap…

Or maybe you mean a crisp edge on the end of the fir boards…I can see that that could be problematic too…with the alternating soft (fast) and hard (slow) growth of the annual rings…

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

W O W !!! I’ve always loved the look of vert. grain fir , but this is the most impressive piece I’ve ever seen for a furniture project !! I looked at the pictures about 5 times so far and I can’t get over how perfectly you’ve made everything….Added to my favorites for when I’m looking for some inspiration to do a better job on my own projects ! thank you for posting this and I am grateful that your project came around again for all to enjoy. : )

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

Thanks Dusty56! This piece is getting a little beat up with daily use, developing it’s “patina.”

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