Curly Cherry Chest on Chest of Drawers

This was a recent project made for my daughter.  The case of the piece was made from some old growth, local grown cherry that was cut down by a South Georgia farmer back in 1979 when he was clearing land for a center pivot irrigation system.  It sat in a barn air drying from 1979 until I purchased about 300 bd ft of it in the summer of 2002.  Most of the boards were wide - 10" - 12" and 16 ft long.  The curly cherry used for the drawer fronts was purchased from Maple Leaf Hardwoods - some really fantastic wood!  It was finished with Smooth & Simple stains from the Clearwater Color Company - because there was a considerable variation in the color of the natural wood, I had to mix several colors to get the color to match across the entire piece.  It was then top-coated with several coats of Waterlox finish.  The hardware was purchased from Horton Brasses.  This is probably the most complex piece that I have made to date.  All of the moldings were custom made in my shop and the piece has over 200 hand cut dovetails in it.  Secondary woods used in the project were poplar for the inside frame work and back and ash for the drawer sides.  This piece was finished in the fall of 2003.

e-mail: krucker@friendlycity.net