Stickley #913 Harvey Ellis Dresser, Part Last

Well today was the day, this project if finally done. I have to say that this has been the most complex build I've even done. It was my first dresser and I learned some important lessons about making drawers. I had done my research on drawers and dressers and most of the experts said to cut the drawer faces to fit the carcass, then cut the dovetails, and plane them to fit. I think next time I am going to cut them to the size I want which would be the opening minus 1/16th of an inch all the way around for clearance. I ended up having to plane the sides of each drawer, spending about 6 hours fitting the drawers. They do fit nicely now, but while cutting them smaller to start won't give you that "piston fit" described in the literature it would save quite a bit of time and inches of plane shavings from the shop floor.

I ended up not needing center drawer guides with the snug fit of the drawers but I did install stops on the rear drawer rails to keep the drawers closing flush to the frame.

One more coat of Danish oil tomorrow and let it dry for a few days, finish with a coat of clear wax and its ready to be crated and shipped off.

The contrast between the dark, rich cherry and the light highly figured curly maple make this a very pretty piece. The cherry knobs bring it all together, tying the drawers to the carcass nicely. The knobs on the bottom drawers will darken to match the top ones that have been getting sunlight for a few weeks while the bottom knobs sat on my countertop in the back of the shop.

This piece was originally designed by Harvey Ellis in his short but fruitful tenure with Gustav Stickley and has been produced by the Stickley company in its various itterations since then. The original was made in Quartersawn White Oak with a back splash on the top. This version is closer to the modern product produced by the Stickley Company.

I hope it finds many years of use in its new home, it was fun to make and quite the learning experience. Now for something less complex and a little easier......

"Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product." Eleanor Roosevelt

The Golden Rectangle

In furniture design some things are universal, waiting room chairs must be uncomfortable, the 1970's had the ugliest furniture of any period, and hotel room art must match the sofa. Another thing that is universal in design is that the golden rectangle is visually appealing. It shows up in every aspect of design, architecture and art. The so called golden ratio was first described by Euclid (c. 325–c. 265 BC), in his Elements , he defined the ratio and called it the "extreme and mean ratio".

Now for all your math geeks here is the golden ratio, "phi" expressed as a numeral.

Now if you are more visual than mathematical here's a way to make the

golden rectangle:

1. Construct a unit square.

2. Draw a line from the midpoint of one side to an opposite corner.

3. Use that line as the radius to draw an arc that defines the long dimension of the rectangle.

Now, what this means is that if you have a dresser, such as this Harvey Ellis designed Stickley 9 drawer chest, and you have a width of 34.5 inches, and you multiply that by 1.6180339887... or if you don't have that many digits on your calculator, 1.6, you get 55.5

almost... now, lets not quibble over fractions of an inch but its pretty damned close. What is important is that it looks right, you know when you look at a piece of furniture if it looks "right" to you or not, this ratio is one of the reasons that something will have that look.

There are people that spend their whole careers studying this ratio, this is not meant to be an exhaustive dissertation on it, just a quick overview for you. It has been found in music, nature, genetics, biology, poetry, and popular fiction (The DaVinci Code).

Now, not every piece of rectangular furniture follows this ration, but I think you'll find as you look, that pieces that appear "balanced" to your eye will follow this 1:1.6 ratio.

Nothing can be beautiful which is not true. John Ruskin