Finished Construction of the Dressing Table

Once the knee blocks had been glued to sides of the cabriolet knees, it was time to pare them off.  I used a sharp chisel.  I tested it my shaving the back of my hand and it worked well.  Then I touched them up with 180 grit sand paper.  I put them on all four sides of the dressing table.
You can see the front two in the picture below.

I glued on the drop finials.  I pre-sanded them to 180 grit.

Then I attached the top.  I drilled holes in top front drawer blade so I could put 3 screws along the front.  I did not leave room for them to move.  Then in the back kicker rail I put 3 elongated slots and centered the screws.  This will allow for expansion and contraction of the top board.
I also put two 1/4 by 1 inch slots on the inside of the sides and installed table buttons

Here it is all assembled.  Done with the construction phase. Now for the finishing.

I took the top off and started to sand it.  The large part of the top I did with an orbital sander but the molding must be done by hand.

I am going to sand everything to 220 grit before I start the finishing.  So you won't see too much progress for a little while.   I also ordered some finishing supplies which should be here in a couple of days.


While I am waiting, I took a trip to my friend Doug Moulder's shop to see how he was doing  in constructing a Pinwheel Cabinet from the book Furniture in the Southern Style.   Here he is cutting out the pinwheel inlay on the face of the door.
He is taking a lot of great pictures of the build.  Maybe he will let me do an blog story on the cabinet when he is done.

 We should chip in and buy him some better light fixtures. :-)

I will keep you posted. Have a great day!