Last Week's Work

I finally concluded my dressing table/work desk or whatever use you care to put to it that names it. Realistically, it's about two weeks work, so no point starting it as a Christmas present now. My weeks are around six day-weeks of 60 hours. This piece comprises three units though, so it is possible to get the basic table part together if you jump on it today!

It's really a suite of three pieces; base unit, storage bins and mirror unit. Whether used as a desk or a dressing table, or, of course, both, this piece will suit any room in the house and is scaleable too. I wanted something that exemplified good joinery. This tackles just about everything we hand tool woodworkers want.

I created it for the joinery demands I factored into the opening design. All told, it has about 40 hand-cut joints, of mixed complexities, throughout. And by hand cut joints, I mean hand cut in the sense that they all came about through my using hand tools only. If machines cut joints, then it's not hand cut but machined. And I didn't include the mitred corners to the beads holding the mirror in the frame because technically a mitre, though erroneously called a mitre joint, is not a joint as such.

This is one of my brilliant solutions to many projects needing wide spans with minimised shrinkage. A good grade of plywood made from birch takes some beating. Embrace it! But if you see me using MDF . . . take me out . . .

I applied the final coat of finish over the weekend because I want to put it into Sellers' home this week to close out my making year of pieces. It was in January that I started making all the pieces for this last bedroom in the ``sellers' home. Of course, I have made many other things in the year's mix too, but this room now has the bed, the bedside tables and the clothes' storage/wardrobe cabinet too. I still have wood to make a shelf unit, but the dressing table looks to me at least as though it will be the pièce de résistance.

Hard to believe a year has passed and what a year. Broken ribs caused by a cowardly assailant and MRIs. Who could have predicted that. Just waiting for a court date now. I scaled back for recovery and slept upright in a recliner to get my breath over a three month period. Thankfully, I'm fully recovered.

This bed was well under way by January 1st 2024. It's another radical piece in that it's made from construction softwood. I wanted something affordable that looked good and it worked.

I wanted simple and simple is what I got. Of course, the joinery is mostly hidden inside and will never be seen again. Sometimes I like that and sometimes not. It's a mood thing and a mood swing in that in a moment I might change my mind.

The clothes storage came out well too. It's very different in regard to construction too because of my using plywood panelling as part of the superstructure tied to the frame in a way you've never seen before. That second image above is one method. There was a little pushback, but at the end of the day, you have to go ahead with your ambition.

It's mostly plywood, but a good grade of birch and many plies. I think it's a remarkable concept and, of course, good plywood is designed to last and in a domestic setting like this, it will likely last for centuries. The frames are all mortise and tenoned and the drawers are dovetailed as per normal.

Delivery is a short move away. The garage, a flight of stairs and a new home in the bedroom.

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