STEAMPUNK DRESSERS

My first truly large furniture project! On commission from a family member, in the spring of 2016 I built a pair of steampunk-themed dressers. They were made mainly from mahogany, with copper and brass details, and were  constructed using pocket-hole joinery. Mahogany is a very dense wood with beautiful grain patterns, although the dressers did end up being heavier than I would have liked. 

The first dresser, which was the larger of the two, had a barometer mounted to the riser in the back, and featured an ornate compass rose stenciled onto the top. While these dressers were destined for a bedroom, I like to think that this one would have worked equally well in the captain's quarters of an airship. Perhaps this dresser could be used for storing navigational maps?

The second dresser, which wasn't quite as long as the first, sported a built-in brass lamp fixture, flanked on either side by copper "steam chambers". In the photo above, there is a LED "filament-style" bulb in the lamp socket, but it would work for any type of lightbulb with a standard screw base. Once the dresser was positioned in its final location, we added a sliding dimmer switch to adjust the brightness of the bulb (as it was a bit brighter than I anticipated).

Both dressers had vertical drawer handles made from soldered copper pipe. After doing some research, I found that vertically-oriented handles are fairly uncommon for drawers, although they feel much nicer in the hand and are easier to grip. On the sides of the dressers are more soldered copper pipes, heat-treated to look as if they're full of piping hot steam.

The fronts of all of the drawers are covered in ornate CNC-cut gears. Each drawer front has a unique design, and no two gears are exactly alike. The gears are made from a wood composite material and painted to match the rest of the brass accents.

I had a blast making these dressers, and I hope I have the opportunity to make more steampunk-inspired furniture in the future. The basic carcass design is loosely based on a chest of drawers build by Jay Bates (link to the build article), although the rest of the design is my own creation.