You Want Me to Build What?

I've got a new small project in the works, but I've been a little under the weather lately and need some more Black Walnut to complete it. So I'm going to share a little flashback with you...


Back in November of 2004 I was asked the question that I’m sure all woodworking fathers would love to hear. My oldest daughter, Jasmine, asked me to build something for her!

Not just a random thing, but a specific request. At the time of this request, Jasmine was 10. She’s a smart girl, but she has a habit of proving that common sense just isn’t all that common!

So, I’m in the hallway upstairs one night putting my programming books on a shelf. I had to move them up there to get them out of the way in the dungeon. Jasmine came out of her room and following conversation took place:

Jasmine: “Can you build me a drawer for Christmas?”
me: “You want a drawer?”
Jasmine: “Yeah, you know, to put my clothes in.” (...like I’m some sort of idiot.)
me: “Where are you going to put it?”
Jasmine: “In my room.”
me: “A drawer. Just a drawer?”
Jasmine: “Yeah.”
me: “You realize that a drawer is the box that that goes in a dresser, right? Do you want a dresser?”
Jasmine: “Oh yeah, that! Can you build me one of those for Christmas?”
me: “Yeah, sure.”




It ended up being ready for her birthday in April!





I built it with Eastern White Pine. It's finished with a couple coats of Ipswich Pine and a few coats of clear semi-gloss polyurethane. My father-in-law was nice enough to do the finishing for me. Though I had tofight to get him to use the stain I wanted. He wanted to go with more of a Dark Walnut. I'm not really a big fan of dark stained wood, and since I bought the stain, he did it how I wanted. I also chose to not use any mechanical drawer slides, figuring that they will only be the first thing to wear out anyway.

And I think this picture was taken the last time all of the drawers were shut at the same time! Soon after, it went up to her room and has had clothes sticking out ever since...