Bombe Adventure - Project Status

[Don_M]

Well – as Norm Abrams was fond of saying – “We’re gaining on it”

I figured I ought to try and build one of these things at some point – so here we go. Bought the material earlier this year and had it in the garage for several months. My wife finally asked whether or not I was going to do something with this stuff (code for get it out of the way). I explained I was simply allowing the material to acclimate (for 4 months!!)

Any way got serious (i.e., motivated) about 2 months ago and started to organize the project and break down the material. I got a little lucky with the figure in the 12/4 case side material and it became pretty obvious how that should be oriented.

The harlequin banding at the top may not be completely period accurate – but I wanted to incorporate a little personality into the piece.
I designed the back panel so it could slide in from the bottom and installed later. I thought it would be easier to fit the curved drawer sides if I had access to both the front and back of the case.

Next challenge – serpentine drawers!

   

   

   

   

[RonB1957]

Well – as Norm Abrams was fond of saying – “We’re gaining on it”

I figured I ought to try and build one of these things at some point – so here we go. Bought the material earlier this year and had it in the garage for several months. My wife finally asked whether or not I was going to do something with this stuff (code for get it out of the way). I explained I was simply allowing the material to acclimate (for 4 months!!)

Any way got serious (i.e., motivated) about 2 months ago and started to organize the project and break down the material. I got a little lucky with the figure in the 12/4 case side material and it became pretty obvious how that should be oriented.

The harlequin banding at the top may not be completely period accurate – but I wanted to incorporate a little personality into the piece.
I designed the back panel so it could slide in from the bottom and installed later. I thought it would be easier to fit the curved drawer sides if I had access to both the front and back of the case.

Next challenge – serpentine drawers!

Sweeeeeet.
  How did you do the sides?

[Tapper]

Looking good and kudos for taking on this challenging project! Will look forward to following the progress.

Doug

[barryvabeach]

Looks great.   I did a project with serpentine drawers, and found it pretty challenging, but you are adding the curve of the bombe ,  which really kicks the difficulty up a notch.  Good luck.

[fredhargis]

Wow! I'm looking forward to following your build on this as well. Really nice!

[Bill Holt]

Wait a minute!  Hold every thing!  We need more detail!  Please show pictures of how you cut or shaped the sides.  Is this Mahogany?

[Don_M]

I started with 12/4 material and roughed out the basic shape of the sides using multiple passes with a dado head cutter on my table saw - adjusting the height with each pass  (basically to within about 1/4" tp 1/18" of the final shape).  I suspect a fairly standard technique for this type of project.  I then finished shaping using a planning sled setup and router for both the concave (outside) and convex inside curves. Not a lot of hand work/carving (Hey - my philosophy is if there is a way to do the work with a power tool - I use the power tool!)

Honestly the more complicated operation was cutting the beading detail on the drawer dividers and case sides. I thought about going w/o the beading - but I figured I am only going to build this once so might as well go for it. The dividers are set into the case side with dovetail joints and the milling operation to allow for the (45 degree) intersection of the divider and side case beading detail is complicated (it took me a while to figure it out)

The other issue was plans. I could not really find any good ones so I ended up producing my on from different online photos and images - then scaled off these to get proper/aesthetic dimensions

The material is Mahogany purchased from Irion Lumber Co (https://irionlumber.com/). Really good guys BTW. It was about 60 bf total (so you can see not an inexpensive project).


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[Derek Cohen]

Really beautiful ... exacting ... work! Absolutely brilliant!

Regards from Vienna

Derek

[Bill Holt]

Don, thank you for the added info.  I love the bead detail. And you have done an excellent job.

Good luck on the drawers and please keep the photos and detail coming.  Hearing about the challenges helps all of us.  And it goes without saying "we are pulling for you".

[jteneyck]

Yep, this is going to be fun, and informative. to follow.  Great start, Don.  Love how you shaped the sides with the router sleds.  


John