Susan's Dresser

This Shaker-style dresser is similar to the other 6-drawer dresser, but it's smaller and made of different materials.

The case is made from birch plywood, trimmed with alder. The drawer fronts, top, and my first attempt at feet are solid alder. The side-hung drawers are 5/8" thick poplar. I used half-blind dovetails in the fronts and through dovetails in the backs. Notice that the drawer sides are cut slightly shorter than the drawer fronts from both the top and bottom; I cut the dovetails with full-height sides and then trimmed the sides. The drawer pulls are from Restoration Hardware.

The drawer boxes are finished with a coat of Zinsser Sealcoat shellac followed by two coats of Daly's satin CrystalFin, a water-base acrylic polyurethane. The exterior finish involved numerous steps: I started by spraying a coat TransTint honey amber dye to even out the differences between the plywood and solid alder, and then sprayed a coat of SealCoat to lock in the dye. Next came a coat of fruitwood WoodKote gel stain, applied by hand, followed by another application of SealCoat. I sprayed four topcoats of satin CystalFin: the first and last two were clear. For the second coat, I added some TransTint brown dye to darken the color slightly.

August 2004.