Stickley/Harvey Ellis Chest of Drawers...

A great design. Your son should be proud to have such a fine chest.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

That is one Great first piece to post here. Really nice. Welcome to LJ.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

It is a wonderful chest. Thanks for sharing.

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

Nice job on the chest Mark. The finish you used turned out very nice!

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

Welcome!!

THis is wonderful – I especially like the top 1/2 drawers.

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

That is a very nice looking chest. Nice sized drawers are very important.

-- Lori

Very nice. Where did you get the hardware?

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

That is a beautiful piece of furniture that you can be proud of. Great work!

Love that QSWO!

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Nice work, love the oak and finish it looks like it would last a few lifetimes. jockmike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

That looks great your son is lucky to have a dad that will take time to build him something. I still have a small chest my dad built me when I was 4. I bet your son cherishes his as much as I do mine.

-- tektōn an artificer, that is, (specifically) a craftsman in wood: - carpenter. http://cicc.wordpress.com

Very nice. I am planning on building an Ellis dresser in mahogany. The design I have seen has a little curved backsplash and arched panels on the side, but is very similar.

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

Mark -

Welcome to Lumberjocks! Beautiful work and a great posting. The figure is stunning. Thanks for sharing the construction details!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the comments.

A couple of answers:

Dano – the hardware came from Lee Valley.

Gizmodyne – The design should look beautiful in Mahogany. I elected to omit the curved backsplash on my piece, but I have seen it both ways.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

A stunning piece of craftsmanship Mark and thanks very much for letting us see it.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

This is a great chest Mark! Very pretty use of the wood!

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

I had to see what else you built after seeing the asian inspired table. This is an instant classic.

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

good looking piece. well executed. well balanced figure.

-- ..... art for lifes sake

Thanks again guys! Hopefully I will be able to post a few more projects soon.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

Mark – I very much like the piece, in particular the decidedly Craftsman/Stickley exterior and then the use of secondary materials for the drawer boxes (the Poplar). Something that I’m trying to ingrain (no pun intended) in myself is not to make everything on a project too challenging/expensive; to just preserve the overall effect and stack the deck in my favor where I can, thereby enjoying more and laboring less.

A year ago, I would’ve built a chest like yours and used 100% QSWO throughout, hand-dovetailed all the drawer boxes, and finished the project 6 months later feeling accomplished but wrung out just the same.

Your project is admirable in appearance and your philosophy in approaching its execution is great example to us, “less-than-expert,” woodworker hobbiests. Thanks for sharing both -

-- -JB

JB,

Thanks for the nice comments. Though it would have been typical for Stickley to use a secondary wood like Poplar or Soft Maple for the drawers etc., they probably would have used dovetails for the drawer joinery. I contemplated doing them however, at the tie my hand cut dovetail skills were not up to the challenge (and I do not own a dovetail jig). So, I opted for a more reasonable approach. Today I probably would have gone the hand-cut route…I guess I have to save that for the next piece!

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

Great looking piece. I am about to start a chest of drawers also for my son to go along with his new super twin bed. What colors Watco did you use and where can I find that plan?

-- Chattanooga TN

Bama,

I used Watco Cherry first and then Watco Medium Walnut. The top coat is multiple General Finishes Arm-R-Seal semi-gloss.

The design is a Stickley/Harvey Ellis design (#913 Chest). I used a shop drawing (not a complete plan) from Bob Lang’s book Shop Drawings For Craftsman Furniture.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com