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Fine Woodworking Show Us Your Drawers Contest

Bird's Eye Maple Vanity with handcut dovetail drawers

comments (2) December 28th, 2010 in Reader's Gallery

oh2dovetail, member

9 users recommend

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My wife had actually convinced me to buy a simple vanity for our kids bathroom. I was swayed back to making it when I surprisingly found several beautiful bird's eye maple boards in the shorts I had bought to use around the shop. A quest to fill out the materials with more equally nice lumber took me to a supplier a few hours away ... and online to eBay! And I was not disappointed with the results, although the vanity wasn't installed that afternoon as my wife had originally negotiated!

The cabinet face frames are a combination mortise and tenon and dovetails, both cut by hand. Dust frames complete the drawer openings. The three drawers are hand cut dovetails and are fitted to close on a cushion of air. It's an odd application for a bathroom but my Alberta climate is so dry year round that it has not caused me troubles or needed extra tuning come summer.

We did a renovation of our kitchen following this bathroom. My wife ordered the cabinets from our local supplier. They don't have dovetails but I know when to keep my mouth shut! I'll put my efforts into cabinets that can go with us when we move!

Thanks for looking!

oh2dovetail

http://eyeofthebird.com

Design or Plan used: My own design - Barry Chatwin

posted in: Reader's Gallery, cabinet, dovetails

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Drawer Module for Jewelry Armoire

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Mission Style desk

Comments (2)

dfancy writes: It's beautiful workmanship. Inspired by our design - I'm building a similar piece for my kids bathroom as well. What finish did you end up using? I'm considering using Spar urethane given the moisture concerns in a bathroom but am not entirely sure. Any advice?

Posted: 4:01 pm on April 19th

Woodsmithy writes: I love birdseye hard maple and use it frequently too. It can be difficult to work with, as it can easily tear out on the face, and chip on the edges. However, you didn't seem to have a problem with it, nice work.

I think that your wife will want you to build the next cabinets after she lives with the store bought kitchen cabinets for a while.
Posted: 10:46 am on December 29th

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