Greene & Greene Thorsen Sideboard

TungOil said:

Design work and upskilling

Now that my Thorsen inspired dining table and Gamble House inspired chairs are completed, it's time to tackle the Thorsen sideboard. Those that have visited the Huntington Library's Greene & Greene exhibit will probably be familiar with this magnificent piece.

To my eye, the proportions of the original sideboard are perfect, I don't see any need to modify the design. A search of the Greene & Greene archives at the USC Digital Library turned up the drawings for the Thorsen House dining room furniture, so I ordered a digital copy. There are no dimensions, but knowing the overall size of the piece I was able to scale from the drawings to develop my design. I worked up the plans in CAD, then pulled off DXF files to CNC cut the routing templates for the lower stretchers. I sent the files off to a colleague with a CNC and had them back in a few days.

One of the key distinguishing features of this sideboard is the bolection inlay work on the doors, a style of inlay where the finished image stands proud of the panel and often incorporates elements of carving to add a third dimension to the artwork. I have never done any carving or inlay work, but as luck would have it, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking is offering a Greene & Greene style bolection inlay class this weekend, so I signed up.

Next step: off to Indiana to learn bolection inlay.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Design work and upskilling

Now that my Thorsen inspired dining table and Gamble House inspired chairs are completed, it's time to tackle the Thorsen sideboard. Those that have visited the Huntington Library's Greene & Greene exhibit will probably be familiar with this magnificent piece.

To my eye, the proportions of the original sideboard are perfect, I don't see any need to modify the design. A search of the Greene & Greene archives at the USC Digital Library turned up the drawings for the Thorsen House dining room furniture, so I ordered a digital copy. There are no dimensions, but knowing the overall size of the piece I was able to scale from the drawings to develop my design. I worked up the plans in CAD, then pulled off DXF files to CNC cut the routing templates for the lower stretchers. I sent the files off to a colleague with a CNC and had them back in a few days.

One of the key distinguishing features of this sideboard is the bolection inlay work on the doors, a style of inlay where the finished image stands proud of the panel and often incorporates elements of carving to add a third dimension to the artwork. I have never done any carving or inlay work, but as luck would have it, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking is offering a Greene & Greene style bolection inlay class this weekend, so I signed up.

Next step: off to Indiana to learn bolection inlay.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Design work and upskilling

Now that my Thorsen inspired dining table and Gamble House inspired chairs are completed, it's time to tackle the Thorsen sideboard. Those that have visited the Huntington Library's Greene & Greene exhibit will probably be familiar with this magnificent piece.

To my eye, the proportions of the original sideboard are perfect, I don't see any need to modify the design. A search of the Greene & Greene archives at the USC Digital Library turned up the drawings for the Thorsen House dining room furniture, so I ordered a digital copy. There are no dimensions, but knowing the overall size of the piece I was able to scale from the drawings to develop my design. I worked up the plans in CAD, then pulled off DXF files to CNC cut the routing templates for the lower stretchers. I sent the files off to a colleague with a CNC and had them back in a few days.

One of the key distinguishing features of this sideboard is the bolection inlay work on the doors, a style of inlay where the finished image stands proud of the panel and often incorporates elements of carving to add a third dimension to the artwork. I have never done any carving or inlay work, but as luck would have it, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking is offering a Greene & Greene style bolection inlay class this weekend, so I signed up.

Next step: off to Indiana to learn bolection inlay.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

You certainly don t shy away from the difficult stuff. Having inlay in the sideboard doors is one of the signature features. How much time does the CAD work take to make the plans?

- EarlS

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

hey im already for the next great tungoil adventure and this one looks to be a great ride.

- pottz

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Bolection inlay class

The bolection inlay class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking was well worth the 10 hour drive. Reid Eric Anderson taught the class over a weekend. The class project was a small portion of the inlay from the Thorsen House sideboard.

Reid uses a combination of CNC and laser cutting to create the recesses and pieces for the inlay. He developed a clever method that uses a secondary working panel (shown on the left below) with slightly oversized recesses to allow carving of the inlay pieces. The oversized recess allows the pieces to be inserted and removed easily but still grips the small parts well enough to allow carving. Any slips with the carving tools happen on the working panel, not the final piece. After the pieces are carved, they are then transferred to the final panel (right).

The inlay pieces consisted of white oak and mother of pearl. With the exception of the mother of pearl which was cut by CNC, all of the pieces were laser cut.

Bolection inlay is essentially a low relief carving. The idea is to create shadow lines using relief to approximate the item you are carving. The general idea is to work your way around the image, inserting and carving pieces in an order that allows you to carve them appropriately. In the image below I have the first six pieces partially carved.

The carving is done with a variety of different tools, whichever is the most appropriate for the situation. The tools consisted of traditional carving knives, gouges and veiners, small needle files as well as a small rotary tool (similar to a Dremel) with a variety of different shape diamond bits. Dental picks were useful to help lift the tiny parts out of the recesses.

Once the wood carving work is finished, we switched our attention to the mother of pearl flower parts. The mother of pearl is very fragile and must be handled carefully. After easing the sharp edges with some sandpaper, the pieces are ready to assemble into the final panel.

The finished panel is sanded and stained before the inlay is inserted, but no finish is applied until after assembly.

This small section of the inlay image took about 18-20 hours to complete. I expect each door of the finished sideboard will be about 100 hours for the inlay work alone.

Next steps: finish the design work in CAD and begin rough cutting parts.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Sideboard Design

For the design work on this sideboard, I start by purchasing a copy of the original Greene & Greene drawing for the Thorsen House Furniture from the digital archives at USC. There are no dimensions, but having visited the Huntington Library last year I have the overall size of the piece which allows me to scale the drawing and get very close. Combined with the photos I took of the original, I am able to draw up the sideboard in CAD to the point of being able to create the drawings needed to have the routing templates CNC cut.

Without drawings or photos of the interior construction, I am on my own for the inside details. Behind each door I add an adjustable shelf. For the drawers I originally planned to use a traditional web frame design. After consulting with my wife regarding what she is planning to store in the drawers (LOTS of very heavy stuff…), I decide to break from traditional construction and utilize Blum undermount drawer slides. This 'non-traditional' approach doesn't feel right at first, but I justify it to handle the weight and achieve smooth action. Besides, if these slides were available in 1908, Charles may very well have spec'd them for this piece!

For the interior construction and joinery, I start by sketching up a few options until I land on a concept that I am happy with. For this early conceptual work, I prefer to hand sketch. I find I am able to focus better on the design elements when I am not working on the computer. My design utilizes loose tenon joinery, which is typical for my work. My design sketches are usually isometric and often are a mix of exploded views, duplicated pieces to show joinery details, etc.

Once I have the basic concepts worked out on paper, I switch over to CAD and lay out the parts to scale. This allows me to double check clearances, verify proportions and work out the exact sizes and locations for mortises. I typically work in traditional three view drawings, but will create 3D models in Sketchup if necessary (for this project, it isn't).

With the majority of the design work completed, I print a few 11×17 copies of the drawings. I usually print a clean copy showing just the overall piece, another with dimensions, and additional drawings as necessary to show the details of joinery, etc. I tape these drawings up on my tool box so they are always handy.

With the drawings completed, I'm ready to start cutting materials. A quick look through my lumber rack tells me I should have enough Sapele left over from previous projects to make all of the solid wood parts for this sideboard. I'll need to pick up some Baltic birch plywood and Sapele veneer.

Next steps: pick up materials and start rough cutting material.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Sideboard Design

For the design work on this sideboard, I start by purchasing a copy of the original Greene & Greene drawing for the Thorsen House Furniture from the digital archives at USC. There are no dimensions, but having visited the Huntington Library last year I have the overall size of the piece which allows me to scale the drawing and get very close. Combined with the photos I took of the original, I am able to draw up the sideboard in CAD to the point of being able to create the drawings needed to have the routing templates CNC cut.

Without drawings or photos of the interior construction, I am on my own for the inside details. Behind each door I add an adjustable shelf. For the drawers I originally planned to use a traditional web frame design. After consulting with my wife regarding what she is planning to store in the drawers (LOTS of very heavy stuff…), I decide to break from traditional construction and utilize Blum undermount drawer slides. This 'non-traditional' approach doesn't feel right at first, but I justify it to handle the weight and achieve smooth action. Besides, if these slides were available in 1908, Charles may very well have spec'd them for this piece!

For the interior construction and joinery, I start by sketching up a few options until I land on a concept that I am happy with. For this early conceptual work, I prefer to hand sketch. I find I am able to focus better on the design elements when I am not working on the computer. My design utilizes loose tenon joinery, which is typical for my work. My design sketches are usually isometric and often are a mix of exploded views, duplicated pieces to show joinery details, etc.

Once I have the basic concepts worked out on paper, I switch over to CAD and lay out the parts to scale. This allows me to double check clearances, verify proportions and work out the exact sizes and locations for mortises. I typically work in traditional three view drawings, but will create 3D models in Sketchup if necessary (for this project, it isn't).

With the majority of the design work completed, I print a few 11×17 copies of the drawings. I usually print a clean copy showing just the overall piece, another with dimensions, and additional drawings as necessary to show the details of joinery, etc. I tape these drawings up on my tool box so they are always handy.

With the drawings completed, I'm ready to start cutting materials. A quick look through my lumber rack tells me I should have enough Sapele left over from previous projects to make all of the solid wood parts for this sideboard. I'll need to pick up some Baltic birch plywood and Sapele veneer.

Next steps: pick up materials and start rough cutting material.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Sideboard Design

For the design work on this sideboard, I start by purchasing a copy of the original Greene & Greene drawing for the Thorsen House Furniture from the digital archives at USC. There are no dimensions, but having visited the Huntington Library last year I have the overall size of the piece which allows me to scale the drawing and get very close. Combined with the photos I took of the original, I am able to draw up the sideboard in CAD to the point of being able to create the drawings needed to have the routing templates CNC cut.

Without drawings or photos of the interior construction, I am on my own for the inside details. Behind each door I add an adjustable shelf. For the drawers I originally planned to use a traditional web frame design. After consulting with my wife regarding what she is planning to store in the drawers (LOTS of very heavy stuff…), I decide to break from traditional construction and utilize Blum undermount drawer slides. This 'non-traditional' approach doesn't feel right at first, but I justify it to handle the weight and achieve smooth action. Besides, if these slides were available in 1908, Charles may very well have spec'd them for this piece!

For the interior construction and joinery, I start by sketching up a few options until I land on a concept that I am happy with. For this early conceptual work, I prefer to hand sketch. I find I am able to focus better on the design elements when I am not working on the computer. My design utilizes loose tenon joinery, which is typical for my work. My design sketches are usually isometric and often are a mix of exploded views, duplicated pieces to show joinery details, etc.

Once I have the basic concepts worked out on paper, I switch over to CAD and lay out the parts to scale. This allows me to double check clearances, verify proportions and work out the exact sizes and locations for mortises. I typically work in traditional three view drawings, but will create 3D models in Sketchup if necessary (for this project, it isn't).

With the majority of the design work completed, I print a few 11×17 copies of the drawings. I usually print a clean copy showing just the overall piece, another with dimensions, and additional drawings as necessary to show the details of joinery, etc. I tape these drawings up on my tool box so they are always handy.

With the drawings completed, I'm ready to start cutting materials. A quick look through my lumber rack tells me I should have enough Sapele left over from previous projects to make all of the solid wood parts for this sideboard. I'll need to pick up some Baltic birch plywood and Sapele veneer.

Next steps: pick up materials and start rough cutting material.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Sideboard Design

For the design work on this sideboard, I start by purchasing a copy of the original Greene & Greene drawing for the Thorsen House Furniture from the digital archives at USC. There are no dimensions, but having visited the Huntington Library last year I have the overall size of the piece which allows me to scale the drawing and get very close. Combined with the photos I took of the original, I am able to draw up the sideboard in CAD to the point of being able to create the drawings needed to have the routing templates CNC cut.

Without drawings or photos of the interior construction, I am on my own for the inside details. Behind each door I add an adjustable shelf. For the drawers I originally planned to use a traditional web frame design. After consulting with my wife regarding what she is planning to store in the drawers (LOTS of very heavy stuff…), I decide to break from traditional construction and utilize Blum undermount drawer slides. This 'non-traditional' approach doesn't feel right at first, but I justify it to handle the weight and achieve smooth action. Besides, if these slides were available in 1908, Charles may very well have spec'd them for this piece!

For the interior construction and joinery, I start by sketching up a few options until I land on a concept that I am happy with. For this early conceptual work, I prefer to hand sketch. I find I am able to focus better on the design elements when I am not working on the computer. My design utilizes loose tenon joinery, which is typical for my work. My design sketches are usually isometric and often are a mix of exploded views, duplicated pieces to show joinery details, etc.

Once I have the basic concepts worked out on paper, I switch over to CAD and lay out the parts to scale. This allows me to double check clearances, verify proportions and work out the exact sizes and locations for mortises. I typically work in traditional three view drawings, but will create 3D models in Sketchup if necessary (for this project, it isn't).

With the majority of the design work completed, I print a few 11×17 copies of the drawings. I usually print a clean copy showing just the overall piece, another with dimensions, and additional drawings as necessary to show the details of joinery, etc. I tape these drawings up on my tool box so they are always handy.

With the drawings completed, I'm ready to start cutting materials. A quick look through my lumber rack tells me I should have enough Sapele left over from previous projects to make all of the solid wood parts for this sideboard. I'll need to pick up some Baltic birch plywood and Sapele veneer.

Next steps: pick up materials and start rough cutting material.

Click to expand...

TungOil said:

Material Prep

With my design work essentially complete, it's time to start rough cutting the Sapele for the solid wood parts.

I start with the lower stretchers. Using the pattern routing templates, I lay out the parts to align the grain on some 8/4 stock.

After rough cutting the overall shape on the bandsaw, I joint one face and one edge of the boards, then plane to clean up the other side. Then, it's back to the bandsaw to resaw the parts, followed by another trip to the planer for a final cleanup.

I lay out the shape, tracing the routing pattern onto the parts. For the slotted cut-outs, I drill out the ends slightly undersized and clear the majority of the waste with a saber saw.

Once the blanks are roughed out, I attach the routing templates with double sided tape and pattern route the final shape.

Most of the remaining parts are fairly standard to prepare- rough cut slightly oversized, joint one face and one edge, thickness plane, cut to final width on the table saw then clean up the cut edge on the jointer.

The drawer fronts and veneer for the doors are cut from the same piece of 8/4 Sapele. Because the parts are wider than my 8" jointer, I start by setting up the jointer to cut a wide, shallow rabbet. A single 1/16" deep pass is enough to provide a flat reference plane.

I place the reference face on a piece of MDF, then pass it through the planer to clean up the opposite side.

Once one side is cleaned up, if flip the parts over and plane off the remainder of the rabbet.

I head to the bandsaw and resaw the drawer fronts, then adjust and slice the veneer for the face of the doors. The drawer fronts are cleaned up at the planer while the veneer is brought to final size with the drum sander.

Next steps: layout and cut the loose tenon joinery and begin veneering panels.

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