Alex McDowell

Tall Boy in Silky Oak and Blue Gum
1380 h x 605 w x 565mm d

Materials
Each of the side panels and the top are made from 18mm silky oak veneered Brimsboard. Edge strips, cross rails and vertical corner pieces are made from blue gum sourced from the Woodage in Mittagong. The drawers are made from Victorian ash also from the Woodage. The drawer fronts and vertical edge strips are silky oak sourced from Lismore on the NSW north coast.

Joinery
Edge strips were glued with PVA (Titebond) and planed back flush. A rock maple strip was added at the top and bottom of the sides and the sides of the top as a subtle feature. The uprights on each corner were aligned with biscuits and glued with epoxy (Techniglue) add planed flush on the inside. The silky oak strip on the outside of these were glued with epoxy and the use of a vacuum bag prior to assembly. The cross rails between the drawers at the front and back were joined to the sides with dominos. Drawers were made with hand cut dovetails and the bottom is made with 8mm veneered ply. The drawer fronts are false fronts glued to the drawer frame with PVA. Blum soft close drawer runners were used to run the drawers.

Finish
All parts of the piece were given two coats of thinners based lacquer (Mirotone). The outside surfaces were then finished with a coat of Feast Watson Fine Buffing Oil.

Concept
This piece was designed to hold clothes with deep drawers at the bottom to allow for larger clothing items. The drawers are gradually increased in depth from top to bottom to give a flowing effect. The dimensions have been made to allow the piece to fit into a small room but big enough to hold a reasonable amount of clothes. The design has been kept simple to avoid any excess use of timber and labour time to keep the overall cost to a realistic sale price. This allows the piece to be made again easily with the same or different timber and the dimensions to be changed for future variations.

Photos: Alex McDowell