Wow, we’re done! No it didn’t take 5 weeks, it’s just that I have finally recovered enough to write about it! It really was a great 2 weeks with 5 enthusiastic students. Each one completed a dresser with over 75 hand cut dovetails! The drawers were done with half blind dovetails in the front with through dovetails in the back and then solid drawer bottoms that were hand planed to a beveled edge to fit in a groove in the drawer side.
We used soft maple for all the internal drawer parts. Larry did a super job on his dovetails. He decided to make his dresser out of walnut, which contrasted very nicely with the maple. Larry chose to do needle point dovetails, which are quite challenging. This was his first attempt at that style dovetail but the results were top notch.
Carl had to leave early on Saturday, so here he is with his finished cherry dresser.
Here is the rest of the group with their finished dressers late on Saturday afternoon.
I have mixed emotions at the end of a 2-week class. It’s sad to see all my friends leave after having spent so much time together. It is rewarding to see them leave with such an accomplishment after much hard work.
Some of you know that most of the wood is pre-milled before and sometimes during the class. This is just in the interest of time; if we had to mill all the wood during class, we would have people standing around waiting and it would add a lot more time to the class. Plus we want to focus more on the hand skills such as the joinery and surface preparation during class. Having said that, the wood milling for this class is a HUGE job. So on behalf of the class I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Jonathan for doing such a great job, for tirelessly milling all the wood for the class so perfectly.
Yes, thank you Jonathan for your accurracy, skill and mostly for your excellent work ethic. Thank you for the class, Frank, and for teaching me more than just how to make a dresser. See you next year for another class, if not sooner.
Dawn, thank you for the comment. It was a pleasure to have you in the class. You did great and I look forward to your return. I will make sure that Jonathan gets your note! As always please feel free to ask us any questions both in this format or via email.
Frank I never thought a dresser would be this challenging but was I ever wrong! Thanks for giving me the know how & confidence to build such a great piece. This truly was a great class & such a fun group. Thanks again to Frank, Stan, Joanthan for a wonderful experience. Hope to see you all soon.