| Project by markrules | posted 154 days ago | 329 views | 0 times favorited | 8 comments |  |
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I learned so much doing this project. This was my first piece of furniture. Before this, I was building picture frames and birdhouses. This was my first project buying wood from a hardwood store, and therefore, my first work with red oak. I used a router and fence to joint the boards and then used a card scraper to flatten them. The large pieces were all flattened by card scraper. I learned how to sharper a card scraper.
The dividers were attached to the sides by a sliding dovetail. I didn’t make it narrower on the front because I couldn’t figure out how to do that with what I have, so I hammered and hammered until the thing fit. I won’t do that long of a sliding dovetail again. I used the table top clips from Woodcraft to attach the top. I used my biscuit jointer to cut the slots for those, and that worked very well. I mismeasured the top somehow and had to get creative with a border of about 1 1/2” on the sides and front. It looks like I designed it that way, but I assure you I goofed big time.
I guess it’s all in the recovery, right? I can sit on this thing and it doesn’t creak or move at all. It weighs about 12 billion pounds, and I think that’s a good thing considering the junk we buy from stores nowadays.
Red mahogany stain with Minwax Poly sprayed (another first for me) in three coats. I need to start experimenting with a different finish (but my wife likes this).
8 comments so far
Beginningwoodworker
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4180 posts in 568 days
posted 154 days ago
Nice changing table.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
a1Jim
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16851 posts in 472 days
posted 154 days ago
very nice changing table looks great
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
CharlieM1958
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posted 154 days ago
Good job!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
BTKS
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posted 154 days ago
Wish I had seen this before the babies were ready for potty training. Looks great.
BTKS
JoeinDE
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posted 153 days ago
Nice job, especially for your first big build!. It looks like it is going to be a little short for you (we purposefully bought a tall changing table) so you will have to do a lot more bending over than necessary when changing diapers.
I’m impressed that you did all of your planing with card scrapers, having just recently started using them myself. You must have a great deal of patience.
-- A bad craftsmen blames his cheap #$%ing tools
Lenny
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126 posts in 422 days
posted 104 days ago
Hi Mark,
Nice job on this project. I agree it is impressive work for a first furniture project. I have made more projects out of red oak than any other type of wood. The open grain of red oak is very pleasing to the eye. I am confused about something though. You say the dividers are attached to the sides by sliding dovetails but no dovetails are evident in the pictures. In fact, the close up photo appears to be a butt joint. Also, there is a picture of a glue up with clamp pressure side to side. I wouldn’t think you would need such clamp pressure for a sliding dovetail. Am I missing something here?
-- And on the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop!
markrules
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145 posts in 1011 days
posted 104 days ago
Lenny – Thank you for your kind compliments. Red oak is indeed awesome. The sliding dovetails were very difficult. The sides wanted to cup and I had to use 2×4s to keep them straight enough to hammer into place. That shouldn’t have to happen, but I was committed and things worked out in the end. I would definitely do things differently, including a wedged sliding dovetail instead of a perfectly parallel one. What a headache!
markrules
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145 posts in 1011 days
posted 104 days ago
Oh, and I stopped all the dovetails because my wife couldn’t appreciate the intricate dovetail on the front of the dresser. In retrospect, the joint wouldn’t be tight enough to want to show off!