Woodworker's Journal 2009-33-6, страница 28

Queen Anne Highboy (Part 2)

By Kerry Pierce

Last issue, we tackled the base of this classic project. In Part 2, our author builds the upper case and all of the dovetailed drawers.

With any project, great or small, it is the details that make the difference — and our author succeeds well in that regard. Starting with high quality stock and stock selection and carrying through with shapely legs, custom moldings and hand-cut dovetails, these refined details are executed with excellent craftsmanship.

In an ideal world, I would have limitless space and time to describe the process of building this period-style highboy. As neither you nor I live in that realm, however, a reasonable compromise is this two-part tale of its construction. And this presentation has the advantage of allowing us to draw a breath in the midst of its construction. While my highboy's appearance varies somewhat from its historical predecessor — my moldings are more bold, my hardware of a different style — both the builder of yesterday and I, myself, are, in essence, after the same goal.

One way to look at the upper case and the drawers is that they are a study in dovetailing. A dovetail joint is more than a mechanical union of two pieces of wood. The joint also has a strong aesthetic presence, adding detail and an appealing visual rhythm to a joined corner. In

addition, because it's widely seen as one of the defining characteristics of fine craftsmanship in wood, the joint carries a symbolic significance of great weight in the woodworking world. (Is there any one of us who hasn't pulled a drawer from a chest to look to see if there are dovetails?)

For these reasons, many craftsmen with long personal experience with dovetail joinery have spent at least some time reflecting on the subject, thinking about how dovetails might best be used to join, to add detail and rhythm, to speak about craftsmanship. I

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December 2009 Woodworker's Journal