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Dresser in Arbutus (Madrone)
Oct 29, 2024
It’s been tough to find time for building furniture this past year. Too much travel and time away from home. But I finally finished a new piece for our house and it’s a big one. This dresser was a good challenge for where I’m at as a furniture maker.
This project began in January when I was sketching up a few ideas while sitting in a coffee shop in Medellin. Once back home I started by resawing the material to veneer the case panels. On the inside I used London Plane (also called Lacewood). The outer case and drawer fronts are made from some really beautiful straight grained Arbutus (Madrone).
Why use veneer and not solid wood you ask? Well, veneering the plywood panels makes the case much more stable and resistant to wood movement. It also means that the entire case is from the same board of wood. As a result, the colour and grain of the wood is nice and consistent and I could book match the sequential slices of veneer making for a much more harmonious final look.
Once I had the case together, I started on the drawers. Again, I used Lacewood for the drawer sides and Arbutus for the fronts. Because the case features such straight grain and consistent colour tones, I wanted a bit of a wow factor when a drawer is pulled out. For this reason, I chose to use Dovetail joinery and selected boards that show off the crazy medullary rays of the quartersawn Lacewood.
I turned the pulls for the dresser on my lathe out of an Australian hardwood called Jarrah. I really like the way the rich red pulls look with the warm colour of the Arbutus. Finally, I textured the pulls so that there is a tactile connection to the piece each time you pull out a drawer.
Overall, I’m happy with the design and execution of this build and I learned a few new techniques and lessons along the way.
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