I was going through my back issues of "Miniature Collector" magazine No. 19 and found a Duncan Phyfe dressing table pattern to try.
All the wood pieces have been cut, sanded and stained with Minwax dark walnut. The wood used is from Popsicle sticks or basswood purchased from Hobby Lobby.
So, I'm going to take this jig for a drive right now and blog tomorrow on how it all went.
December 19, 2014
The Learning Curve
This project is finished and I would not hesitate to display this Duncan Phyfe dressing table in a dollhouse. The jig worked very well for gluing up the parts. Thank you to Tiff, who mentioned using plastic wrap under the pieces being glued on the jig. Wood glue (and the wood piece) does stick EXTREMELY well to the aluminum base.
I would also change how I stained the wood. If wood pieces are glued side by side, I'd stain the edges, glue the pieces together, and then sand and stain the entire glued up section.
The drawers fit very well.
The drawer pulls are made out of conical shaped brass beads. I added brass wire to these to make the pulls. The knobs are attached by drilling a 1/8th inch hole in the drawer front and using Epoxy Weld to glue the pull in place.
Completely finish the drawer front, including the paste wax final finish, before drilling the hole for the pull.
Next time I also will NOT use my household drill to drill holes in the wood of miniature furniture.
I will use my Dremel tool and a diamond burr drill tip.
For the final finish I used Minwax brand Paste Finishing Wax. Rub it on the wood, let it dry for about 10-15 minutes and then buff it with a soft cloth. The paste wax made this piece have a very nice luster and look like a real piece of furniture.
It really brought out the beauty of the wood grain.
I got a 1 lb can of the furniture paste wax at Lowes. This pretty much gives me a lifetime supply for making miniature furniture.
My thought is to do this project all over again using the techniques I learned.
My next thought was that it is time to move on and do a different piece of furniture and use my new techniques on the new project.