Block front chest drawers

[HSteier]

I am attempting a block front chest from Gottshall's book Making Antique Furniture Reproductions
There are two block front drawers topped by a third drawer which has the typical Newport convex/concave shells.
I would like to make the block fronts from full thickness 12/4 mahogany and not by applying blocking to thinner wood.
My question is how do I relieve the drawer fronts to get even margins along the blocking and a truly flat surface in the center relieved area.
I actually made a block front chest with Gene Landon about 15 or 20 years ago and I have forgotten how we did the blocking.
I don't think that bandsawing would work as any slight deviation would be magnified over the width of the drawer.
All help appreciated

Howard Steier

 

[macchips4]

Make a cradle/jig that holds all parts in alignment and define the blocking with a router? either electric or manual??

 

[Don Curtis]

I am attempting a block front chest from Gottshall's book Making Antique Furniture Reproductions
There are two block front drawers topped by a third drawer which has the typical Newport convex/concave shells.
I would like to make the block fronts from full thickness 12/4 mahogany and not by applying blocking to thinner wood.
My question is how do I relieve the drawer fronts to get even margins along the blocking and a truly flat surface in the center relieved area.
I actually made a block front chest with Gene Landon about 15 or 20 years ago and I have forgotten how we did the blocking.
I don't think that bandsawing would work as any slight deviation would be magnified over the width of the drawer.
All help appreciated

Howard Steier

I have one of these on my bucket list! This is a youtube link to a fellow SAPFM member…

it might be of interest to You.

 

[Antiquity]

Howard,
I have made 4 B&S bureaus and this is how I made them. Draw the shape / outline on both top and bottom edges of the blank of wood. Using a new and sharp 1/2" band saw blade I made many kerf cuts up to the layout line but 1/8" away. I use a right angle block to hold the board square to the table. Then saw to remove these thin pieces made by the kerf cuts. Finish with chisels, files, rasps, scrapers and sandpaper to the layout lines. I once was at Iron Furnituremakers Shop and I saw that they used a dado blade in a table saw to remove the excess wood between the blocking.

I carved the shells out of the solid block and not added on but you can carved them separately and add them on, Iron Furnituremakers did it this way. An old-timer told me to carve them out of the solid because then they will not "fall off".

Dennis Bork

 

[HSteier]

Howard,
I have made 4 B&S bureaus and this is how I made them. Draw the shape / outline on both top and bottom edges of the blank of wood. Using a new and sharp 1/2" band saw blade I made many kerf cuts up to the layout line but 1/8" away. I use a right angle block to hold the board square to the table. Then saw to remove these thin pieces made by the kerf cuts. Finish with chisels, files, rasps, scrapers and sandpaper to the layout lines. I once was at Iron Furnituremakers Shop and I saw that they used a dado blade in a table saw to remove the excess wood between the blocking.

I carved the shells out of the solid block and not added on but you can carved them separately and add them on, Iron Furnituremakers did it this way. An old-timer told me to carve them out of the solid because then they will not "fall off".

Dennis

Howard,
I have made 4 B&S bureaus and this is how I made them. Draw the shape / outline on both top and bottom edges of the blank of wood. Using a new and sharp 1/2" band saw blade I made many kerf cuts up to the layout line but 1/8" away. I use a right angle block to hold the board square to the table. Then saw to remove these thin pieces made by the kerf cuts. Finish with chisels, files, rasps, scrapers and sandpaper to the layout lines. I once was at Iron Furnituremakers Shop and I saw that they used a dado blade in a table saw to remove the excess wood between the blocking.

I carved the shells out of the solid block and not added on but you can carved them separately and add them on, Iron Furnituremakers did it this way. An old-timer told me to carve them out of the solid because then they will not "fall off".

Dennis Bork

Thanks for the help

 

[Michael Stiennon]

I used a dado sled to waste the center and ends (and the back). carved the concave with a #7 x 20 gouge and planed the convex with a rabbet low angle block plane. Used scrapers to smooth the curve. Strongly advise using hold down toggle clamps on the sled to avoid mistakes/disasters.

 

[Michael Stiennon]

Dennis,
I would like to try carving a convex shell from the solid but when I carve one on a backing board, the chisels cut into the backing boad when I shape the perimeter. How do you avoid this? Incannel ground chisels? fingernail ground chisels? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Antiquity]

I had this problem and I knew I would. So I left the background a little thicker (1/32-1/16") and then re-leveled the background to get rid of the marks. Yes, it is a lot of work and that is probably why must woodworkers carve the shells separately and then add them on.
Dennis Bork

 

[macchips4]

I had this problem and I knew I would. So I left the background a little thicker (1/32-1/16") and then re-leveled the background to get rid of the marks. Yes, it is a lot of work and that is probably why must woodworkers carve the shells separately and then add them on.
Dennis Bork

So that brings the question....on original chests were the shells applied or all three carved from/onto one board?

 

[Antiquity]

Perhaps both methods depending upon their skill level. Do whatever is easiest for you. Or try the harder method and test your skill level. You will never know until you try! I have seen very skilled carvers apply the carved shells.
Dennis Bork

 

[Whitnall Gardens Studio]

Late to the party, and this is my first attempt at a Goddard style block & shell secretary, so take my comments for what they are worth. Maybe they will be of use to another newbie.

I found that using a single 20" wide, 8/4 plank of mahogany for the drawer fronts worked for me as follows.

I first ripped the plank into the three required drawer widths, keeping them in the correct order (top, middle and lower drawers) for best grain match purposes (I don't know if this practice was common back then or if each drawer front was made from an individual narrower piece of wood, but since I had the wide stock, I chose to do it). As the pieces were now within the resawing range of my bandsaw, I resawed each to yield stock for (a) the drawer front and (b) the two blocks plus the piece that is typically glued to the center of the back of the drawer front to increase the strength of the drawer front and to allow fitting of the half mortise lock.

I then crosscut part (b) above to yield the two blocks as well as the center piece to be added to the back of the drawer front, again keeping them in position for grain matching purposes. When the blocks were later attached to the drawer front, the grain matched quite well, almost (but not quite) as though everything was carved from the solid.

I then used a core box bit and dado head to rough out the central concave areas. (Note that the top drawer must be roughed out with stop cuts, since there is a flat area above the concave portion.) This area still needs to be cleaned up with hand tools - primarily carving gouges, a toothing plane, riffler files, and abrasives in my case. I also had to carve/blend the corner detail of the recess in the top drawer.

I realize that the end result isn't the the same as carving entirely from the solid, but 8/4 stock is what I had available to me, and it also saved a bit of material (there was almost no waste). I guess we sometimes have to consider making allowances for available material, ceiling heights, etc. In my case, since the original Goddard secretary I liked the best with regard to proportions is right at 9 feet in height, I decided to build a 7/8 scale reproduction. Although we have 9 foot ceilings in our home, this allows it to just fit in a room with 8 foot ceilings, as it may well need to at some time in it's life. The only other consideration in building a 7/8 scale reproduction was the resultant height of the writing surface, which worked out fine - writing surface heights in the 18th century tended to be higher than optimum from an ergonomic standpoint, especially since it will likely be used with a laptop (until they, too, are replaced by technological advancements like AI powered headsets).