One e-mail message led to another, and I closed after several days by asking Al to provide photos of the nightstands he will be finishing soon. Recently, a new message from Al arrived, with the the following postscript (I added the links, as I know many of you are interested in further details):

…PS:  since you are obviously a passionate woodworker I thought I might share this with you ….  here’s a photo of my last major project. It’s a cradle I built for my new grandson. The design and blueprints came from Jordan Wood Boats in Oregon. The davits, gunwales, stem and keel are African Mahogany, the planks are steam bent Eastern White Cedar, the ribs are Ash, the transom, breast hook and quarter knees are all Makore. My grandfather built boats in Maine, my dad was a carpenter & stair builder.  The cradle was built using primarily their old hand tools and traditional boat building techniques. There are approximately 300 copper rivets that hold the planking together…

Al's cradle for grandson.

Thank-you for sharing the photo, Al. The cradle is a stunning heirloom!  Note: Al’s project was showcased on the Jordan Wood Boats web site, at this link.

— Al Navas

..here’s a few photos of the old maple dresser with the Knapp joint drawers …. someone over the years had previously refinished it and put cheap Chippendale style bail pulls on it but they don’t belong …the finish was in sad shape so I had to refinish it again … the escutcheon plates appear to be original except for the brass nails … the plates themselves appear to be stamped copper. A local antique dealer said he thinks the plates are what was called a “Rice” design but I’m not familiar with it and he wasn’t positive …. Any info you or your readers might have on what type of pulls should go on this piece (will be) greatly appreciated.

The photos he submitted are as follows. First, the drawer with the Knapp joints:

And the dresser looks like this:

The lock detail – although a little out of focus, I hope it can help narrow down the search:

Knowing that Al is also an avid woodworker, I requested additional information about his hobby. He wrote:

The pair of night stands I built to accompany this dresser are almost  ready for finishing.

A photo of one of the nightstands he will be finishing soon – (gorgeous work, Al):

Friends, Al needs your help. I am not an expert in this period furniture (or any other period, for that matter). Please leave a Comment, or let me know via e-mail, and I will pass the information to Al. Many thanks!

— Al Navas

Darrell said:

I drilled some holes, added T-Nuts and Levelers to the bottom of the legs:

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I milled up some dimensional lumber to build it on. Helps keep everything flat. This is my youngest “Hayden”. He generally doesn’t last this long out in the shop…Still trying to work with him:

The supports are half-lapped so they interlock. Made glue up go sooo much smoother this time. I cut them to final length as I was assembling a dry fit, in case there were issues with them lining up:

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This is it in all its glory. I attached the top with L-Brackets (easy to take apart. Too heavy to move by itself anyway). It’s 73″l x 42″w x 34 1/2h. The top is 3 1/2″ thick. The bottom shelf is notched into the legs. The corner legs were tricky, but any error is concealed by the bottom stretcher. The legs are 3″ x 3″ x 31″. Heavy!! I sprayed on 3 coats of poly for protection, and 1 coat of wax to make it nice and slick. Cuts are sliding much better now:

I replied to him, and he wrote as a follow-up:

Thanks for the compliments.  I am very pleased with the results. The base was one of the most challenging glue-ups I’ve had to make sure everything was square. I used Titebond II Extend glue because of the complexity and the numerous parts involved. When it was dry, I took off all of the clamps, moved it to the floor and measured for square (corner to corner in an X pattern) and they both read 67 3/4″!! I was pretty proud of that.

I got going a little too fast and forgot to take pics of the middle slats for the table and how they interlocked. Sorry . If you do make one in the future, I would definitely take the time to interlock them. It makes the glue-up sooo much easier. I used little 6″ slats last time and toe-nailed them in but it was a royal pain. As for the table itself, the design is rock-solid. It’s definitely not something that will be moved around.