Dresser Reborn… or something like that.

Turning blocks in mahogany from that dresser – the damned thing weighed a ton! It’s a LOT easier to haul around in this form.

Picked up an ill-used 1930s dresser at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore Shop a few weeks back with the intention of taking off the “after market” modernization (badly applied gaudy fabric, cheap drawer pulls, and spray paint.) and restoring it.

The solid mahogany top was what attracted me as well as the book-matched dresser drawer fronts.

After a few weeks languishing in my basement due to some unavoidable family medical issues, I finally decided, “Feh!” and had my offspring demolish it for me.

Which is when we learned: the sides are also solid mahogany.

Seeing as there were knots in the wood, I suspect that the entire dresser was once veneered with a more fashionable laminate to match the drawers.

However, somewhere along the way the veneer, as veneer improperly cared for generally does, had peeled off.

Six drop spindles I turned and assembled over the weekend – either locally harvested natives or wood salvaged from broken, discarded furniture. I should have another spindle or two to work thanks to that dresser.

The mahogany beneath, by the standards of the day, was inferior. Today? It’s old growth and nearly an inch thick. I salvaged the drawer fronts even though the book matched veneer is literally paper thin mahogany, but with some cautious handling, I might be able to use it as the surface of a drop spindle or two. The wood backing the surviving veneer is some sort of pine. I know this because when I did some test cuts yesterday, the blade of my table saw released the ghostly breath of a long ago pine forest.

The rest of the wood was spongy and brittle.

This morning I took one of the sides (which had a lot of notches for drawer slides in it) and cut it into blanks for drop spindles. I think it should work up pretty good, a sort of rust red.

Tags: #scrounge #upcycle #springcleaning, blog, decor, diy, dresser, drop spindle, furniture, woodturner, woodworking