Chest of Drawers

Not only is it incredibly beautiful, looks very well done.

Although daughters usually know how to work dads (I say from experience) it’s probably not an intentional setup. With every accomplishment you achieve, then the the thought becomes “I wonder if he can build this ” . So we create the expectation that we can build whatever the dream up. Luckily dads are as good as they are!

-- Mother Nature created it, I just assemble it. - It's not ability that we often lack, but the patience to use our ability

What is Suar? I looked it up and is seems to be a city, back in the medieval times. What kind of wood is the face? Looks very nice.

Very well done.
Great use of a beautiful piece of wood.

-- Steve-- http://www.urbanexteriors.biz

very nice chest,that’ll be around for your daughter to use for many years to come.i’m the same way when i get done with a project the flaws jump out at me also.seems like more flaws than good on each piece for me.keep up the good work!!!

-- It don't have to be straight,it's just a suggestion!!!

Brandon2012-

When I get stumped on a unknown wood name I have never hard before, I usually enter the name of the wood plus adding “wood” to a Google search. Just to weed out the false positives such as the medieval city you found. I can usually (not always!), find a usable description in the first 5 – 10 items listed.

Such as “Suar wood” gave me this link that was listed at #4.

http://www.java-nola.com/categories/index.cfm/cat/34

This typically gets me enough info to satisfy my curiosity, such as this beautifully figure front.

-Dave

-- I'm not old. Just "well seasoned".

First to the woodworking. What a beautiful project. Making angled dovetails is quite a challenge. How lucky that such a nice piece of Suar came your way when you needed it. That really highlights the piece and sets it apart from being just utilitarian. (Much to John Stewart Mill’s chagrin.) What did you use for drawer slides? What is the wood on the sides and top?

Now, the other issues. Making mistakes is unimportant. Learning from mistakes is all important. Pros make mistakes too…they are just make different mistakes and are much better at covering them up. That is why they are pros.

Your daughter is lovely. Of course you are being set up, but being set up with love is seldom a bad thing. Hope your son is doing well in his studies.

-- Big Al in IN

Boxguy said it well! Very nice piece, and your daughter will always be proud of it. The mistakes are character of creation and human input otherwise you can buy a file, not of this character or quality.

Measuring is necessary and I’ve made mistakes even after measuring three times and sneaking up on it. LOL!

Are the drawer pulls handmade?

Wonder what the piece would look like if they had a tone and color silimar to the drawer fronts?

It is a piece I wish I had made. :-)

-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher

wow! looks great! it’s those little details that make it better, splayed desk legs etc.

-- Josh - Jacksonville, FL, http://jubinsky.wordpress.com

Nice chest of drawers. Good use of a nice piece of wood. Like the dove tails on the top, nice touch.
To me, the front looks like it is in motions.

-- The greatest risk is not taking one...

Nicely done and the wood looks great.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

Really a nice job, the front panels look amazing.

-- John, BC, Canada

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Brandon2012, Suar is also known as raintree:

I have used it in several projects. The sapwood is milky and soft, the hardwood much as you see. It it very prone to tear-out, but very pretty.

BG, I quite agree about learning from my mistakes. Just wish I could find another way to learn! Still, I’m pretty happy with this one.

Doc, the drawer pulls are handmade, and, in fact are also suar (though a different board). Interestingly, the lighter components of the frontspieces were pretty much the same color as the pulls until I applied the first coat of BLO. The face grew dark immediately, the handles stayed pale. I toyed with the idea of staining the pulls, even to the point of trying to imitate the grain pattern, but decided I preferred the contrast.

-- From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned. Immanuel Kant

Wow! That is some gorgeous wood and you did a great job on this one. I imagine the splayed legs added a whole host of challenges but your finished chest looks perfect. Another candidate for ‘dad of the year’.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Well. Maybe you scored the side boards a bit deep when tracng for the dovetails, but appart from that very ultra minor must-know-it flaw, I don’t see anything wrong with this piece. All the opposite actually. The front is a pure stunner and the contrasting pulls look great.

Handmade by daddy wins once again ;)

-- Thomas - There is no such thing as a problem, there only are solutions.

The grain and colors on the drawer fronts made your project jump out on the LJ Projects page. Just gorgeous.
The fit to the desk legs looks quite good from here.

Well done sir!

-- Jim, http://moonlightwoodworker.blogspot.com