Construction of Chest of Drawers - Outer shaping

With the drawer fronts machined to fit into the cabinet, the final key stage of the construction is to shape the outside. The design concept was a simple one; the piece is intended for a nursery; the idea therefore was to soften the overall form and reduce opportunities for children colliding with hard edges / corners / handles etc. 

The hatched area denotes the timber to be removed, at this point it almost seemed to a shame to remove this joinery - but the best effect is yet to come..

With a spokeshave, the timber was removed to reveal the final form, this tapering chamfer softening the form and in turn finishing the last stage of construction. After sanding, a hard wearing acrylic finish is applied to give the water-resistant work surface required by the clients.

As soon as they're ready I'll post some studio and contextual shots of the finished cabinet. Thanks for reading!

Construction of Chest of Drawers - Installation of drawers

To allow the handle free design, touch release drawer runners were necessary - these were installed on lateral slips to allow the cabinet to expand and contract without altering the position of the drawer fronts.

The runners proved to offer the well engineered smoothness in operation that was hoped for.

Construction of Chest of Drawers - Glue up & assembly

The assembly of the carcass is always a nerve-wracking process with time limited by the glue and lots to check to ensure joint closure and squareness. Fortunately all went smoothly.

A very satisfying part of the process - smoothing the joints after gluing to reveal the joinery. This image also shows the curved aperture for the drawer fronts machined into the carcass.

The rear dovetails on one of the drawers; the joinery has come together really well on the carcass and drawers, the machining jig proven to be a sound addition the the workshop.

Construction of Chest of Drawers - Joinery

For the purposes of cutting the main joints on the body of the chest the studio invested in a routing jig for machining joints. To become familiar with the tool the dovetails for the drawers were cut using it. 

The box or finger joints were then cut with good result using the jig. This required some subversion of the intended method as it turned out the jig was not meant to cut panels of this size.  

The component parts of the cabinet and drawers jointed & ready for gluing.