Construction of Chest of Drawers - Timber selection and preparation

The chest is being made from Ash, the timber is English and a mixture of white (for the exterior) and olive & white for the drawers. 

This stage involves careful inspection and selection of timber to ensure consistent grain and colour particularly around the exterior of the chest. Once the selection is made the timber is 'broken out' into more manageable sizes for machining.

The timber is machined to size using a planer - thicknesser and the edges prepared square and straight for jointing with a hand plane. 

The planks have wooden biscuits inserted into their edges for strength and then, with glue are pulled together using sash cramps. All efforts are made at this stage to ensure the new panel is clamped flat and remains true. This panel will form the top of the cabinet. 

The image shows the figure of the wood, these planks were crown cut, i.e. from the exterior of the logs - thereby giving this strong, distinctive grain pattern.

Construction of Chest of Drawers

To begin what is likely to be an intermittent blog : I'll firstly be documenting the construction of the studio's current commission; a four drawer chest of drawers.

The fine tree on the left is a Himalayan Cedar (Cedrus Deodara), there was a second here but its age got the better of it and it was felled by tree surgeons. Ensuring the timber was cut and air dried correctly about two years ago has meant that it is now almost ready to use. When used as drawer bottoms the natural aroma of this timber not only serves to give the storage spaces a good smell but also offers natural anti-moth protection. 

Having cut the timber to more manageable sizes that are specific to the furniture, it is moved from a draughty barn to the warmer indoors. The aim being, with the help of a de-humidifier to reduce the timber from around 14% to 8% humidity.