Changing Table

This is my first project posting. I chose this because I happen to have a couple of pictures.
In 2006 my daughter announced that she was going to make me a grandfather. Time to make a changing “table”. The box, top and shelves are birch plywood. The top is edged with ¾ x 1” birch, mitered corners and glued to the top and reinforced with biscuits; no mechanical fasteners. Face frame and bottom trim are birch. The face frame and bottom trim are also attached using glue and biscuits. Hidden behind the bottom trim are four leg blocks just proud of the trim with felt feet. The dust shelf is a poplar frame with ¼” luan panels set in dadoes The two lower shelves are birch plywood also set in dadoes. The back is ¼” birch plywood. Please ignore the goofy guy in the picture.

The drawer has an applied face set flush with the face frame. The drawer box is ½” plywood with machine half blind dovetails. The drawer has traditional hand made glides and stops. The two open shelves were made with the idea that when the changing table was no longer needed I would build two more drawers so my granddaughter would have her first dresser. [I was over visiting the other day and the changing table has been redeployed as an entertainment center. Maybe I won’t bother with the drawers.]

The piece was finished with a Minwax stain and [here is the big lesson learned] a water based urethane. I was thinking I would minimize any potential for toxic vapors. Big mistake. The birch plywood did not tolerate the water well. In addition to the grain being raised a lot more than I anticipated I also found a couple of voids under the veneer that allowed the veneer to bubble up noticeably. When the urethane dried it pulled in a little but I wasn’t able to fix that to my satisfaction.

-- Berg, Central NH & Gulfport, FL - "It's raining...what a beautiful day to puddle jump" 3y/o Devlyn