Bedroom Suite

[steve-norrell]

Well, the bedroom furniture is finally finished and ready to be allowed into the house. The wood is poplar, stained with Minwax "Special Walnut" and finished with three coats of Minwax "Brush-On Lacquer". The drawer inserts are also poplar, but finished with two coats of water-based polyurethane.

I had some questions about dowel joints and some glue-up issues but, as usual, this site came through and all turned out well.

Thanks to all who offered suggestions.

Regards, Steve

[atgcpaul]

Yowza! Very nice Steve. I never could get the hang of dowels but you sure
have!


Paul

[JR]

It came out great, Steve! I really like those divided drawers, but you must have a lot more pocket change and buttons than I!

JR

[mater]

Very nice. Beautiful work.

[jhart]

Looks like they turned out super. Nice job steve.

[DonHo]

Those look super, great job.
DonHo

[lrogers]

Very, very nice!

[Garasaki]

Looks good!

You appear to have used dowels (and I"m sure glue) to join the panels to the legs??? That's always a ... weird? tough? ... joint to make, as the gluing/joining surface is so long.

I think they look very classy, and not at all as if you used a cheap(er) wood to make either.

The inset drawers look great too...were those hard to do? What kind of slides are on them? How do the slides mount to the "carass"?

[steve-norrell]

Thanks for all the kind comments. I will try to answer some of the questions raised; most of the answers came from this forum (over the course of several posts).

Doweling: The doweling was done with a doweling jig similar to this one from Rockler: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...er=dowel%20jig. The jig works quite well in centering the dowel holes and marking the spot for its mating hole.

Glue-Up: Glue-Up was done after staining, but before final finish (three coats of Minwax Brush-On Lacquer) was applied. I taped the joint sites on the legs with the blue painter's tape and that was quite effective in blocking the stain. Glue was applied directly to the dowel holes and very conservatively to the mating surfaces. I caught the few glue over-runs, but if I missed any, at least the wood was pre-stained.

Drawer Inserts: The frames for the inserts are 1/2 inch poplar; bottoms are 1/4 birch-faced ply; finish is two coats of water-based poly. The grid is 1/4 poplar, also finished with two coats of the poly. All cuts were made with a dado blade rather than a router (better fitting slots). The lower insert fits snugly into the drawer and lifts straight out; the upper insert is about half-width and slides back and forth. They are for the LOML's baubles and beads.

Drawer slides: are "L-shaped" pieces of wood with "slick" (UHMW) tape for the drawers to slide on. I used plastic drawer stops from Rockler to keep the drawers from accidently pulling out. I would have preferred "Euro-style" slides, but the tables are less than 12 inches deep and short slides were not available locally.

"Monday Morning Quarterbacking": Although poplar is nice to work with, next time I will use a species that takes stain more evenly. I also am not thrilled with the lacquer finish and probably will go for a rubbed oil finish or a wipe-on poly.

As noted earlier, most of these techniques were learned from this website and I again want to thank those who offered suggestions.

Regards, Steve

[movnup]

VERY NICE JOB !!!! One quick question, why do you use two different finishes e.g. laquer and then the poly on the drawers ????

I guess I have two ... can you see the differnce in how it reflects light and looks ???

I'm a newbie at furniture finishing and after reading Jeff Jewwits (sp. ??) book I'm soaking this up with finsihed product examples of what works well and the why behind it.

[steve-norrell]

VERY NICE JOB !!!! One quick question, why do you use two different finishes e.g. laquer and then the poly on the drawers ????

I guess I have two ... can you see the differnce in how it reflects light and looks ???

I'm a newbie at furniture finishing and after reading Jeff Jewwits (sp. ??) book I'm soaking this up with finsihed product examples of what works well and the why behind it.

LOML wanted a high gloss on the outside and top and read that the lacquer dries quickly, was easy to apply and does not require sanding between coats, I like the water poly because of it is virtually odorless, easy to clean up and also dries quickly. Also, I think (but don't know for sure) that the poly would be a little more durable and less subject to scratching.

Actually, I feel that the lacquer dries too quickly and it is easy to leave brush marks when doing a large surface (the library table is about 13 deep and 62 long). Also, it does require sanding -- not for second coat adherance but for smoothing to get that very glossy look (which we did not do -- and it shows). Don't get me wrong -- the lacquer finish would look super if you take the time to sand smooth (at least 220 grit, if not 300 grit) between coats.

The poly I used is semi-gloss and the lacquer that the LOML used is gloss so there is a distinct difference in how they reflect light. I suspect that there would still be a difference, though not as pronounced, even if I used gloss poly.

Regards, Steve

[JimD]

I like wipe on poly. I used Deft brushing lacquer on kitchen cabinets of oak and it was not durable at all. I think it will work better in this application but still not as well as poly. Wipe on poly can easily be made by thinning regular oil based poly with about 1/3 mineral spirits. I think it is the easiest good finish for a beginner. All you need is the poly, sandpaper for between coats, and paper towels or fabric for application.

I also like resisthane, a water based lacquer rated for kitchen cabinet application. It is more durable than the Deft solvent based lacquer I used but shares the application difficult for large surfaces with a brush. You cannot maintain a wet edge, at least not very easily, so it is difficult to apply to large surfaces with a brush. Little projects or touch up are easily done with a brush. It is easy to spray but you need a spray gun (I use a Wagner conversion gun from Gleem Paint).

Your project looks very good and better than a lot of my early projects, by the way.

Jim

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[crokett]

Those look really really good. Beautiful work.

[ironhat]

<snip>
As noted earlier, most of these techniques were learned from this website and I again want to thank those who offered suggestions.

Regards, Steve

Here's a suggestion for ya - *Do more and post pics* Those pieces are absolutely beautiful and not to be had in a furniture store.