I took advantage of the cool temps this morning and got out in the shop early.  I started off with trimming and flushing up the removable panel.  When it was just a piece of 1/2″ pine, it felt a little flimsy and delicate.  I was a little worried about how well it would hold up.  Now that it is completed with the addition of the decorative scroll panel and the top rail it feels very solid.  The center portion of the scroll panel creates a perfect finger hold for lifting the panel and whole assembly has a pleasing weight to it as you do.

Next up was the hardware.  I’ll be using knotted ring pulls on all of the drawers and I purchased a Japanese style latch (sneak peek in the above photos) for the large bottom drawer.  So I drilled all of the holes in the drawer fronts for the ring pulls and fitted the latch.  I’ll go into more detail on the latch when I post about the actual installation of the hardware.

Then I tackled the uzukuri treatment on all of the exterior surfaces.  Leaving the interior drawer fronts untouched.  I think it will make a nice contrast when the panel is removed to reveal the smooth interior drawers.  The uzukuri treatment is pretty straight forward and went fairly quickly.  I really do wish there was a way to allow you to touch the surface it leaves.  Very pleasing.  You can read more about the tools and the technique here and here.

All that remained was to slather on a coat of BLO, let it soak in and wipe everything dry.  Tomorrow I’ll add a coat of Tried and True and repeat the process over the course of the coming week.

It looks as though this will be my last project in this little shop.  A change of residence is imminent and a new shop space will have to be worked out.  The good news is that there should be a long list of new projects coming soon.

Part 13 Greg Merritt Part 15