Dovetailed drawer learning curve

The too massive chest of drawers

    I got a message that there was an estate sale on Jefferson, a high street of Huntington, three days beginning on Friday. I managed to stop by Saturday forenoon. The historic residence was used as a warehouse for an antique dealership. The modest house was still stuffed with sundry, unsold items: lots of laboratory glassware, empty picture frames, items that didn't move as well as hoped, along with the books of the trade and many. many detached pieces of marble and alabaster.

    The first piece that caught my eye was a chest that suffered some broken off veneer, coated in high sheen shellac, by eye, and was labelled as dated from 1820.  What captured my attention with this chest was the orientation of the bottom boards running front to back, consequently, with large gaps at the seams. Yes, I should have taken a photo but this chest was indoors with low lighting and I determined that I wasn't interested in purchasing and that it was more likely a British piece from the 18th century.

I suspect this was a dealer's or owner's name 

      The second even larger chest held my attention much longer even though I also, more reluctantly decided against purchasing it. The chest must have once been an imposing piece of furniture in a 19th century bedroom and a stunning example of workmanship. I didn't ask directly but I overheard the cashier telling another shopper that the piece came to them as is. I imagined that a previous dealer/restorationist likely pulled off the hardware with the best of conservationist's intentions. Equally the absent columns and the missing finials as evidence by the holes in the top of the chest would have likely been reflective to maximize candlelight. 

    The telltale scored circles of missing drop pulls and feet caps set me to imagining what splendor once was. Were the items simply removed for polishing? Or rather, given the high overall quality of craftsmanship and veneering, were the detached fixtures more valuable, at least at one economic moment of time, as scrap metal? Silver? Ormolu? Gilt Bronze? It boggles the mind to ponder what is lost, Perhaps all items were cast and fabricated with a unifying motif for this piece alone. In the same manner, we gaze in awe upon Greek temples without their roofs.

 

Accommodating the groove for accepting the bottom panel

    On Sunday I had time on my hands and so I returned with a plan to doublecheck the drawer interioprs (on Saturday they were all closed) whether any of the fixtures had been stowed therein. Nope, the drawers were empty. And yet I saw more details indicating the majesty of this piece: oak drawer sides and back. No horses were spared in constructing this piece. And yet what further caught my eye is how the cabinetmaker laid out the dovetails. I don't know whether there is a definitive best practices for dovetailing drawers but I doubt that this is it. Again, I am forced to ponder whether the cabinetmaker was still trying to figure out how to best construct a drawer. Was this arrangement settled or was he perhaps still trying to work out some unsettled arrangement?   

All great craftsmen learn from their many mistakes    

    And yet it reminded my of my early struggles to adapt the dovetail joint with a grooved bottom. I eventually came to settle on what both looks right and serves as best practices

best practice for halfblind dovetails

     When I returned on Sunday, all items were reduced by half. I could have, therefore, bought the stripped down chest for $25 if I had had a vehicle to cart it away but I did not.  And I still don't. I am confident that the chest went into a good home (I actually pondered knocking it apart for stock) I'm researching reasonably priced short bed trucks, perhaps a Kei truck. 

Hiding a grove with through dovetails

 The 1st street woodshop is slowly coming into form. A dust collector has been ordered And saints be praised, Veritas has decided to put back into production its discontinued Plugger, but now sold only as a grafting tool. Goofy Canucks I've ordered three of them