Bombe Chest - Drawer Blades - Fourth Installment

The cock beading needed to be cut out of the sides before the dovetails for the drawer blades were cut.  I had to develop a way to put the beading on the side.  I have a Stanley Beading plane that could round over the small strip of wood which makes the bead but how to make the small strip of wood. The sides are 7/8 inch thick so I need to lower 3/4 of an inch wide by 1/8 inch deep to leave the 1/8 inch bead but how could I do that.   If the sides were flat I could use a router with a rabbet bit to cut it out.  But the sides are bowed.  I could use a chisel and carve off the material but that would be difficult to get it even and smooth.

Here was the trick I used to do it.  I put a very narrow base of wood only one inch wide on the base of my router in the center and put the bit though a hole drilled in the center of the wood this allowed my router to follow the bowed side but still rest firmly against the curve.  Using a 3/4 inch rabbet bit with a bearing I removed 1/8 inch deep strip leaving the bead on the edge. The bearing rested on the wood that became the bead.  The bearing was large, only exposing 1/8 of an inch of the cutter. The only care was to not tip the router from side to side with only a 1 inch base rest. Once the 1/8 inch was exposed I used my Stanley beading plane to round over the cockbead.

Now that I had the cock beading on the sides, I turned my attention to the drawer blades and drawer runners.  I should have thought about it earlier because there was not an easy way to insure that they would be perpendicular to the sides.  When I started to look at the sides and thought about how to put the groove and dovetails in the sides I first thought about using a router.  But how could I steady it against the curved sides without making some complicated device.  It looks like the router is out. I decided to do it by hand.

I used the drawings to locate the position of each of the drawer runners.  I marked them out with a marking knife and pencil.  I don't have any pictures of me actually sawing and chopping out the dovetails but this is what it looked like after it was glued up. I had to be very careful not to mess up the cock bead on the side because it needs to be mitred with the bead on the blade. When I first cut them they were undersized.  Then I fitted them when I had the blades made.

As for the groove for the drawer runners, I chopped them out with a chisel, they were just 1/8 inch deep.

Now that the grooves and dovetails where in the sides, I needed to make the drawer blades.
I used the drawings to make templates for the runners since each one is different due to the bow on the front of the chest.

Above are couple of the drawer blade templates, only half is required.  Then the length of each blade need to be measured perfectly because you need to add a dovetail and mitre the cockbeading with the side.
So I made an adjustable template for length.

With this template I could test fit the dovetail for each drawer blade and then make the blade exactly the same knowing that it will fit.

Putting the cockbeading on the drawer blades was simpler than the sides.  I mounted 1/8 inch beading bit with bearing in the router table and put the bead on both sides and then used a fly cutter to remove the material between.  I could have used my Stanley hand beading plane.

Above is a practice piece for drawer beading and dovetailing.  There were three blades to make each a different length and shape.

The drawer runners and the rear cross pieces were put together with mortise and tenon but not glued in the back.  This allows them to move with the wood sides.   When I did glue up the assembly I only glued about 4 inches from the front of each blade and put a couple of finish nails in the runners to the sides.

The base molding was made from 8/4 stock.  The shape was traced from the drawing to a cardboard template.  I used several router bits to match the profile and some carving chisels.

I also routed an edge to the top of the chest using multiple router bits.

Mitring the side pieces but not attached yet.  Again they would be glued in the front 4 inches and attached with nails.

Next installment I will tackle the drawer fronts.   Everything was easy up to this point...

Bombe Chest - Third Installment

At this point I as still shaping the sides of the chest.  Having used the scrub plane to remove all of the steps from the dado blade, it is time to smooth the surface with a Stanley/Victor  #20 compass plane. This plane is common to ship and boat builders because it can conform to both convex and concave wood surfaces.

I purchased mine on ebay many years ago.  Most of the nickel is still there and the rest of the plane was in good shape.  Of course sharpening the blade is most important.

In the above picture you can see the line scribed on the side from the template.  I need to plane the entire side to the line.

The screw and knob in the middle of the plane allow for adjusting the sole of the plane to fit the contour of the side.

This plane did the heavy lifting in smoothing the sides and bringing the thickness to the final dimension.

As I mentioned I had made templates and jigs to assist with build process.

 These are the side profile templates.  The thin one in the middle is 1/8 in. tempered masonite.  The two wood blocks match the curve on the inside and outside of the case.  They can be pushed along the sides to see that shape conforms from the front to back.

Here is one side almost completed.  The plane of course can not cut all the way to the end since the end blocks are in the way so I used a spokeshave to get close to the end.  

Later I will use a card scraper of smooth out the surface.

One side done. Outside.

This is the inside of the same piece.  I spent as much time on the inside at this point,   probably should not have but I wanted the drawers to slide smoothly against the inside.

There are different styles of bombe chests.  Some do not have curved insides. On those the inside is left flat except for the drawer front.  These are much easier to build since you do not have to shape the drawer sides to match the curved sides.  But I chose to go the whole 9 yards and curve the insides which means later you will see me shaping the drawer sides to fit the case sides.

The next step was to cut out the front curve on each side of the case.  Notice that the curve on the front of the case matches the curve on the side of the case.  So the same template can be used to trace this curve on each side.  Cut it out with a bow saw, jig saw or coping saw.  Leave a little extra and clean it up with a spokeshave. Also, I cut off the top and bottom blocks at this point using a hand saw and table saw.  Make sure they are square.

Next I glued up a panel for the bottom 7/8 in. thick. I laid out the dovetails, cut them and chopped them out.  I am a tails first man.  Then I matched the tails on the bottom to the sides of the chest and traced marks for the pins with a marking knife and pencil.  I use a pencil so that I can the knife line.

Here are the pins laid out.  Notice that I am using one of my blocks to support the chest side in the vise.  This help keep it perpendicular. 

Here I am using both of my curved support blocks to hold the side while I chop out the pins.

Once dovetails were chopped out and fit the two sides where ready to be attached to the bottom.

However, the top needed to be made next.  

I selected two nice looking pieces of 4/4,  milled them to 7/8" and glued them up.  While I was waiting for the glue to dry, I used a dovetail router bit to apply a dovetail shape on only one side of each of the sides.  By only putting the dovetail on one side of the panel allows it to slide more easily into the top.  

Once the top panel glue was dry, I used a dovetail router bit to put a matching one sided dovetail groove in the under side of the top board. This is a stopped groove that does not go all the way through the top.  You do not see the dovetail groove in the front.  I think it stops 3/4 inch from the front.  This half dovetail groove allowed the top to slip on to the two sides without too much trouble.

Once I had dry fit the sides to the top. The carcass is complete but I can not glue it up yet.   

Next is the drawer blades, dovetails and grooves for the drawer runners need to be put into the sides.

I tackle that in the next post.

Regards,

David

Bombe Chest - Second Installment

Well thanks for all of the encouragement to continue the bombe chest build.  We left off with hogging out the material to make the bulbous sides.

No one made a comment about the modification to the radial arm saw.

The cabinet side was about 20 inches wide and the radial arm did not have enough travel for the blade to reach the end of the work piece.

So I had to add about 4 1/2 inches to the radial arm, which was made from cast iron.

 

I took a piece of white oak and made an extension exactly like the track that the saw ran on.  Long 1/4 inch bolts holds it in place with tapped and threaded holes in the end of the arm.  The little piece of metal on the end stopped the saw from running off the end.

Now the dado would run clear to the end of the table which was necessary to cut the cabinet sides.

Once the initial step cuts were made in the sides, it was time to start to clean up the steps and smooth both side to the lines of the pattern which were traced on the sides.

The ends will be cut off later but for now they help square up the side panel.  Also there is a support piece I left in the underside that will be chopped out later.   You can see how much material has been hogged out by looking at the ends.  Imagine wasting all that expensive mahogany just to get this shape.  I suppose you could veneer the popular if you wanted a show wood.

One way to do it in the 18th century before power tools, they would saw kerfs across the board about 1 inch apart and then chop out the material with a chisel.

Here I am using a Stanley #40 scrub plane which has been reconditioned.  New blade and brass leaver cap.  The leaver cap doesn't have a leaver just a threaded brass knob.
The blade has a curve to it which cuts a shallow depression.  But it takes a lot of material off quickly.
You can see above that the steps are getting knocked off the top of the bulge.  The lines created by the saw kerfs help my eye maintain the shape horizontally.

Another View of the progress

.
 All Scrubbed!  Now I still have to get it smoothed and to the line.  There is about 1/32 inch to go for the most part at this point to get the material to the line.  I still have to do the other side first.

Here I am working on the inside curve.  I have knocked off the center support and now scrubbing the steps off.   The Stanley #40 did a great job and made quick work of shaping the sides.

All Scrubbed front and back.  You can see the Stanley #40 laying there on its' side on the bench,  I think it is tired and needs a rest.

One done, now I have to do the other side.   Back to the scrub plane.   I think my arm hurts at this point.   

We will work on getting it smoothed out in the next installment.

Regards,

David 

Which Oxbow Chest? I am not sure which I want to build.

I found another Oxbow Chest which is nearly identical to the one that I have decided to build.  This one is almost the same dimensions and similar build characteristics.

But this one does not have blocked drawer fronts.

Below is the original design I was going to build. With the blocked drawer fronts.

Forget about the hardware differences.  What do you think about the drawer designs?
With blocking or without blocking?

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
David

Old Build - Bombe Chest

Quite a few years ago I thought I was ready to build real complex period furniture.  So I picked one of the more challenging pieces a Bombe Chest with ball and claw feet.  Boy was I in for a surprise.  I thought making the case was the tough part but that turned out to be easy compared to the drawers.

I obtained a set of plans from Craig W. Bentzley.  They were excellent.  You can get them too by contacting him at cbentzley@verizon.net.

I was not doing videos in those days so all I have are still pictures. I will be posting them here if you want to follow along with the build.

A fine piece of furniture like this needs to be made from mahogany.  One thing that makes this piece so expensive is most of it is built from 12/4 stock.  Drawer fronts, sides and feet.  So I contacted Irion Lumber for pricing.   It turns out that the mahogany would have been about $1800 then.  Imagine what it would cost today.

I was not all that confident in my skills then and I did not have a spare $1800. to produce fire wood.  I decided to build the piece with Poplar.  Yes, the lowly poplar wood, probably the cheapest of the hardwoods.  Even at that, the poplar cost about $400 for the 12/4 stock.

Here it is, three 10 foot pieces of poplar.  It had good grain and color. The three pieces were about 15, 12 and 8 inches wide.   There is a little more than necessary but I thought I might make a couple of mistakes.

I started with carcass sides, thinking that this would be the hardest part.  I flattened with hand planes and squared up the stock of two pieces 20 inches wide by about 24 inches tall.  I had to glue up two pieces each to get the width since my widest stock was one 15 inches.

Then I made a template with cardboard of the shape of the side of the bombe chest. I traced the shape on the side.  

Now I was ready to hog out the inside and outside of the two bulbous sides.

You can see the pattern traced on the side of the panel.  I used my radial arm saw with a 3/4" dado blade to hog out the material in steps.  I raised and lowered the saw to follow the line leaving about 1/16" off of the line in each pass.  It it difficult to see the steps in this picture.   You can see them a little better below.  I have to do this on both sides of the chest.

I will continue soon with next steps in the bombe chest build.   Hope you enjoy the journey.

Changed My Mind - Oxbow Chest by Amos Bradley in Cherry

While researching the serpentine chest that I was going to make out of tiger maple.  I came across a chest in Connecticut Valley Furniture Book.  This one by Amos Bradley 1788.

It is similar to the other chest but much more elegant.  I was going to add quarter columns to the other design anyway but here is an example with the columns already.  There are numerous examples of this type of chest in New England, some with columns and without. Some have ball and claw feet, with mixed ball and claw and bracket.

Notice that the hardware is mounted above center but the handle sits at the center of the drawer.  Covers on the lock key hole. I don't think I will do that.  

Quarter columns are short, not sure I will do that either, I think it would look better if they were full length.

This is obviously cherry, wondering how it would look in tiger maple??????????

Off to make some drawings.

New Project Eliphalet Chapin Bureau in Tiger Maple

I have been thinking about my next project and trying to find something I could get excited about.   Well, I think I have found something.  The Eliphalet Chapin Bureau  described in a book  Connecticut Valley Furniture By Eliphalet Chapin and His  Contemporaries 1750-1800. 

 I have already made three Chapin arm chairs and a desk on frame.  This would be the third piece by Chapin, so I guess I have a favorite craftsman. 

This is a picture of a reproduction of the piece in walnut, the original was mahogany.  But I think I will do mine in tiger maple.  I have some left over from another project.  The drawer fronts are described as reverse serpentine. The bracket feet are curved and slightly carved.

I am also thinking that it might look elegant with a fluted 1/4 column on the front corners.  So with these modifications I guess that I could only say that it was Chapin like and not a reproduction of the original.

Popular Woodworking had an article in February 2012 issue called Serpentine Chest by Glen Huey.  However in that piece the drawer fronts are the normal oxbow format and straight bracket feet.   

I have more research to do and of course make full size drawings before I start.  So it will be a while before I get underway.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Shaping and Finishing the Bow Saw

This is a quick little project.  So today I shaped and finished the bow saw or turning saw.  I have the drawings from Tools for Working Wood.   I can look at the plans and trace the lines on to the work pieces.

The sides need to be tapered to a 1/4 inch.  I drew a line from the center to the end on both sides leaving a 1/4 inch in the middle.

Starting to use the spoke shave following the line to taper the arm from the center to 1/4 inch on the end.

Making some shavings.  Have to get both sides tapered, just turn it over.

Now to round over the ends.

Using a #50 Nicholson rasp to round over the corners.  Then a smoother file to clean it up.

Using the rasp on the inside of the curved end to round over that and narrow the neck.

All done with one.  Rounded over the edges and the inside where the mortise is located.

Now to make a matching second one.  Before and after.

Then the center stretcher needed to have octagon sides.  I made 3/16 inch lines across all the corners and then used the spoke shave to plane them flat.  You can use the spoke shave both on the push and pull strokes.

 
That's all there is too it.   Three pieces shaped ready for assembly.

All assembled and ready for final finishing.

I sanded it with a 150 grit sand paper and finished with Minwax Antique Oil.

All done, ready for sawing circles!

Here is today's video: