The undressed chest – FineWoodworking

The matrix of drawer runners, guides, and kickers in a traditional chest of drawers has always delighted Italian woodworker Vasko Sotirov. But he thinks it’s a pity those functional parts are always in hiding. For this piece, he decided to erase the carcase from the equation so all the internal activity is revealed. A lover of symmetry, Sotirov made the frame of the piece a perfect cube and cut three way miters (with tiny floating tenons inside) at its corners so they would look the same from any angle. And when he resawed a piece of white oak for the box sides, he managed to create continuous grain around each box, but also from box to box around the whole piece. The boxes, which pull right out and have lift-off walnut lids, are trimmed top and bottom with ebony edging, and they slide on ebony runners. How to keep their alignment tidy? Magnets embedded in the frame and the box bottoms gently register the boxes, keeping them centered in the cube.

—Jonathan Binzen

Photos: Vasko Sotirov.

From Fine Woodworking #301

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