i just got my first big commission. my mom has been talking about getting new dressers for me and my brother for about 2 months now and i have been begging her to let me build them but she kept saying no. well i had given up about 3 weeks ago but today she came down to me in the workshop and said that she wanted me to build them. she said that all the good ones were at least 1000+ each and even the unfinished pine ones were 600+. she figures that she can save money by having me build them and she's been so impressed with my work on the printer table that she believes that i can do them now. so this series is going to be like the Teenage woodworker with videos but they will be farther apart and focused just on the dressers. i am putting them on a new series because i don't want it too take up all the time of Teen Age Woodworker for Months. if i have stuff that i especially want to show though i will feature it on the Teen Age Woodworker. so i will start to draw up plans and get prices for it and i will post my plans once i have them. i don't like having my parents pay me for these kinds of things because i enjoy them so i figure I'll do what my dad did when he did my grandmothers porch (thats how we got the compressor) and just add the price of a tool that i want onto it. probably a 10" Liegh dovetail jig because there will be lots of drawers. so i hope that everybody likes the idea and my next post will just be some draw ups and sketch ups of the pieces.
It always bothered me when my Mother (RIP) wanted to buy a certain small casrving for a gift for some one. I always told her not to worry about it. One time after I told her "later", she asked me a couple of weeks later…....but she just wouldn't let it go….. she always gave me more than I ever would have asked from her. What a sweet Lady!
Congradulations Buddie!
Dave
That's what I'm talking about - Right on! Hopefully by the time you start college you will be able to get a good job in a cabinet shop and have some dough for school and the like. I would start looking at books on dressers and how the different ways they are constructed and even go to furniture stores and take a look at the finished product so you can build a plan for yours. Make sure you have a plan you want and stick with. I know you can do it Lad!!!
Sounds like a good deal - besides getting the tool you want, you also get the experience, leftover wood and of course maybe an additional tool or two you may need to finish it.
We look forward to watching your success.
Here you Denny, http://www.stickley.com/
Gustav Stickley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gustav Stickley (March 9, 1858 - April 21, 1942) was a furniture maker and … Stickley began making furniture in the mission oak style with the founding of …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GustavStickley
When I go to the furniture trade shows I have noticed some other companies who have good looking stuff. Here are a few reputable furniture stores/designers that have some pretty tough stuff. Pulaski, Riverside, Stanley, Ashley, Powell. I have pitched rates to most of these and more. If you see something you like at a designers website send me a PM and if I have contact with their reps I can try_ to get a set of plans for the unit you choose. You could try this too by telling them you want to do it for a School woodworking project, But I doubt you'll be able to get past the GateKeepers and contact the right execs to secure the plans. If you do manage to get past the GateKeepers and or secure plans we'll put you to work birddogging for info from others and then you won't have to make them - you'll be able to afford them! LOL Good luck!
hey pat. i have no idea how long the series is going to be. i want it to be as detailed as possible (without boring everybody of course) and it is going to be a large project that will easily take up 2-3 whole weeks of my summer but they will be beautiful. I'm planning on including inlays, carvings, dovetailing the drawers, I'll finish it with at least 6 coats of poly (and actually follow the directions and wait one day for it to dry). This is going to be a beautiful piece and i want to put all my heart into this piece and make it something that will last at least a hundred years and people who look at it in the future will look at it and they will respect me because of it (and because i made it at such a young age). So this might be a long series thats why i wanted it seperate from the Teen Age Woodworker. I may have high expectations for this piece but if i take my time, don't rush things and put all my heart and soul into it i think i can make something that would amaze anyone from the least to the most experienced woodworker!
don't forget to sign it, date it and put your age on it somewhere. Your great-great-grandchildren are going to be so proud of their heirloom furniture!!!
I need to take a lesson from you: beyond my abilities but if I don't rush it and put my heart and soul into i .. yah.. i could do anything as well.
Congrats on the commission. Love the idea of charging "a new tool".
I look forward to watching the progress and a step-by-step process of the drawers.
Congratulations on the commission. You have taken the first step in any project and that is commitment. Once we get past this initial barrier then the project seems to flow much easier. I will be looking forward to seeing your posts on the build.
When I see the furniture I made in my early teens I'm always surprised I was able to do it. Sounds as though you will have the same opportunity!
It's a great feeling to look at something thirty some years later and see it's still looking good.
I don't think I was as smart as you though!
Some people are in such a hurry to see the final product, they don't enjoy the journey. Just remember you'll only pass this way once, so take your time to not only do it right, but to enjoy the process.
Glad your mom has the copnfidence to let you build these, and you have the confidence to give her what she wants. In time she will see how this and other projects will build a better foundation of woodworking. As Lee stated, years from now you can look at these dressers and show your kids and grandkids what you accomplished.
I have been spending a lot of time in the past day looking up different styles of dressers and amoires and what i was looking for was that it is a very simple but elegant style. I wanted it to be something like the Quaker Spice Box built by Steve Latta in Fine Woodworking #196. I really liked this style so i am planning on basing the style of the dresser and amoire off of the Spice Box. So now the next step is to start drawing and sketching plans. I am also planning on going to some higher end furniture stores to get some ideas on construction techniques. Also which i will show in this blog is i need to build an assembly table for these pieces. It will be built off of David Marks design which is very low to the ground. I like the Wood Whisperer's design just i don't have very high ceilings and i need all the room that i can get. Alright so I'll start drawing up the plans and post them as they start to take shape.
Hey Everybody,
I just figured that i would do an update on the design. this is a really make shift video as i just threw it together tonight. it goes through all the major design aspects though of the bottom of the armoire. Well i hope that everyone likes it.
So i hope everyone liked it. As i said if you have any comments or suggestions just leaves a message. the drawer supports are probably overkill but i want this to stand the test of time. As i also said i will try to finish the design of the top and get it out within the next week. Well I hope that everyone enjoyed and i hope to see you again next week!
P.S. Just a small announcement. there will be no fourth episode to my printer table series. I ran into some difficulties both in the finishing part and the technical part. somehow i lost some footage and my camera ran out of batteries right as i was pouring the finish onto the piece. Well no way i could go back but i will have a finishing episode in the future on just my basic everyday easy to apply finish. The Gel Poly one is good but i want to throw some other ideas out there too.
Hey everyone,
Today I talk about the design of the top of my armoire, and i have got to say that i am pretty proud of it. My cousin Pat quest stars (again) and we have a little message for Marc Spagnoulo (The Wood Whisperer). SO i hop that everyone enjoys this episode.
Well i hope that everyone liked it. next i will show the finished piece along with some things that i am doing on cutlist with the design. hope that everyone liked it and i hope to see you again for the next episode!
haven't written in at least a month on this topic so i figured i would write quickly with a quick update. right now i am just pricing the project out. as you know i don't have a car so i have to rely on my parents to get me to all the different lumberyards so i can price up the piece. we've been busy this week so no luck getting to the lumberyards. well aright thats it for now. have a nice week everyone.
There's a couple of small problems with your theory. First, the $8.50 for the 12/4 is per board foot. If you buy it and resaw it into 4/4 boards, you'll have paid $25.50 for 3 board feet. That's assuming you don't have a strange lumber yard that charges by the lineal foot for hardwoods.
Second, resawing 12/4 into 4/4 boards can cause a lot of wood movement if the wood is not perfectly dried and stable. The outer surfaces are usually dryer than the interior of the board. When you resaw off the first 4/4 board, you have one exterior surface and one interior. The interior surface is going to begin releasing or absorbing moisture like made to reach equalibrium with the surrounding environment. The exterior surface is already at equalibrium and isn't going to move as much. The result…cupping and warping. You can help the process by immediately stacking and stickering the resawn lumber, then putting weight on top of the pile to keep it flat but you still haven't overcome the extra cost for the 12/4 and there's still no guarantee that the boards will be flat in the end.
its been a long time since i posted about the armoire and dresser that i have been commissioned to build.we have been looking all over for good walnut and have not really been able to find any. upon contacting the specialty dealers we found that they were way out of our price range. so after my recent success in dying the poplar we are thinking that we are just going to settle for poplar and some good finishing techniques. won't take away anything from the piece. i'm gonna have to get creative but i think that it will work out in the end! so in the next couple of weeks i should have the lumber and we'll take it from there.
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