All the components necessary for building the tambour box are listed in the Material List and shown in the Drawings. The box is sized to be useful as a jewelry box, a case for storing watches, sunglasses, etc., or as a desktop caddy to keep pens, erasers and other office supplies organized.

The Sides and Tambour Track

To start this project, cut out the two sides of the box from any nice hardwood stock planed down to a final thickness of 5/8″. Cut out two partial discs that are exactly 7-1/2″ diameter by putting the point of a compass exactly 1-1/2″ from the square edge of the stock. After rough cutting the discs out with a band saw or jigsaw, stick them together using double-stick tape or adhesive transfer tape, then use a stationary disc or belt sander to sand them to final size. Separate the parts, remove the tape and mark the inside face and front-facing edge of each part.

Use adhesive transfer tape or double-stick tape to temporarily secure the template in place on the inside face of one of the box sides, carefully positioning the template’s bottom edge flush with the bottom of the side and its front edge flush with the front of the side.

With the plunge router set to take a 1/4″ deep cut, rout the track starting at the top of the template. As you move the router around the template, take care to keep the guide bushing tight against the template’s edge. When you reach the end of the channel, raise the bit and switch off the router.

Before removing the template, mark its angled end (just below where the channel starts) onto the side with a fine pencil line. Now remove the template, peel or rub off the tape, and attach the template to the inside face of the other box side, reversing it front-to-back so that you’ll rout a mirror image of the track. Rout and mark as before.

There’s one more bit of track routing you’ll need to do, to allow the tambour to be installed or removed from the assembled box. Make the second 1/4″ thick template following the pattern shown in the Drawings. Line up the template’s angled notch with the pencil mark you made earlier and set its lower edge so that it overhangs the bottom of the box side by 3/8″. Clamp the template and side down to a bench top, taking care to locate the clamps so they don’t interfere with the router’s base. Then rout the short exit track, starting the router at the bottom edge of the template.

The Bottom and Shelf

The box’s bottom and shelf are made out of 3/8″ thick stock. Cut out both of these parts from the same hardwood as the sides, so they’ll match. Bevel cut the front edge of the box bottom to 15°, so that it’ll match the slope of the sides.

To keep small items from rolling off the back of the shelf and interfering with the tambour, the shelf’s back edge receives a raised cap strip with a cove cut into its upper, front facing edge. Cut the cove into the strip using a 3/8″ diameter core box bit in your router table, then glue it to the back edge of the shelf. The shelf also receives a small bead strip, to keep small items from rolling off its front edge. Cut the 5/16″ diameter half-round bead using an edge beading bit in the router table. Set this strip aside for now.

The shelf and bottom are secured to the sides using # biscuits. Set up the biscuit joiner to center the slots thickness- wise in the ends of the shelf and bottom, locating them as shown in the Drawings on the opposite page. Cut the biscuit slots in the box sides so that the bottom and shelf will be positioned as shown in the Drawing.

Sand the parts smooth, leaving the edges of the ends crisp where they’ll join the sides. Also sand the inside faces of the sides, paying special attention to smoothing the inside surfaces of the routed track. Don’t round over the edges of the sides just yet.

The Drawer

The space formed by the sides, shelf and bottom of the box serve as a housing for the box’s drawer. The drawer is sized to fit snugly in this space, yet slide smoothly in and out of it. Cut out the parts for the drawer following the Material List. You can use just about any wood for the drawer box parts, but for the drawer front and pull cap, use the same hardwood that matches the rest of the box. You can cut the drawer bottom either from solid stock or 1/4″ hardwood plywood (which is typically about 3/16″ thick).

Cut a 3/16″ wide, 3/16″ deep groove on the inside face of both sides and the drawer front, using either a table saw or a router table. Space the lower edge of the groove 1/4″ up from the bottom edge of each part. Cut or rout a 1/8″ wide, 5/32″ deep dado into the inside face of the two sides. Space these grooves 1/2″ from the back ends of the sides. Next, cut the joints on the ends of the drawer back. Using a 1/4″ straight bit in the router table, rout a rabbet to form a 1/8″ wide, 5/32″ long tenon on each end of the back.

To create clearance where the tambour attaches to the drawer, cut off the back lower corner of each side at a 45 degree angle. Then, using a sharp chisel, trim the small triangular piece above the miter cut flush with the depth of the drawer bottom groove as shown.

To shape the drawer pull strip, first use a 3/8″ diameter core box bit to take a 3/8″ deep cut into the lower edge of the strip . Set the table’s fence so that the cove is spaced 1/4″ back from the strip’s front edge. Trim the strip on the table saw, to form the 1/4″ thick section that will be glued atop the drawer. Use a 1/2″ radius roundover bit in the router table to shape the top edge of the pull, then set the strip aside.

To join the drawer sides to the drawer front, I hand cut halfblind dovetails with 5/16″ long tails and 5/16″ deep pins. Although there aren’t many dovetails, it takes a lot of fussing and patience to get tight, clean joints, so you may opt to join these parts using a simple rabbet joint instead.

After sanding the inside surfaces of the drawer parts, do a quick dry assembly to make sure everything fits together correctly. Now glue up the basic drawer box, sliding the drawer bottom in place and tacking it to the lower edge of the back side. Check to make certain that the assembly is square before leaving it clamped up to dry for an hour or so. When the glue has dried rubbery hard (but not rock-hard), remove the squeezeout with a cabinet scraper or chisel.

After clamping up the dry assembled box, slip the drawer into its housing to check the fit. There should be about 1/32″ of side-to-side play between the drawer and the sides. If the fit is a little too snug, use a block plane to trim the sides slightly. Now set the drawer front flush with the edge of the sides and mark the sides’ curve on each end of the front. Use a hand plane to shave the drawer front until its curve matches the sides. After sanding the front smooth, glue the pull strip to the top edge of the front. After the glue has dried, cut away the outer parts of the pull strip on the band saw, following the curve shown in the Drawings. Use a spokeshave or cabinet scraper and sandpaper to fair in this curved cut with the drawer front, then finish sand the rest of the drawer. Round the top edge of the pull with a block plane and sandpaper, to increase the radius of its curve to about 3/4″ (which presents a more elegant look). Also, ease the bottom inside edge of the pull strip, to make it more “finger friendly.”

Making the Tambour

I’ve saved the most interesting task for last: making the tambour that forms the box’s retracting top. To make stock for the tambour’s slats, resaw enough 11-1/2″ long 4/4 boards to make twenty- four 1/2″ wide slats as shown in Figure 10. Plane each of the resawn boards down to 3/16″ thick, then crosscut the boards exactly 11-3/16″ long, making sure all ends are cut square. Rip the slats to 1/2″ width on the table saw, using a quality blade that leaves nice, clean-cut edges. To save time, I adhesive transfer tape the boards together, and gang cut four slats at a time.

Create a frame for assembling the tambour by nailing or screwing 1/2″ thick scrap strips to a flat piece of 1/2″ or 3/4″ plywood. Make the inside dimensions of the frame 11-3/16″ wide by 12″ long. Now set the best 21 of the slats you cut into this frame, with their “good” sides facing down. Add an extra slat, covered with masking tape after the last good slat. Press the tambour tightly together by driving three pairs of small wedges against each other between the last taped slat and the frame.

An 11-1/8″ x 11″ piece of lightweight (9-11 oz.) canvas duck fabric makes the flexible back of the tambour. Carefully spread a light, even coating of yellow or white PVA glue onto the slat assembly and press the canvas down onto the slats. Align it with the frame and wipe off any excess glue from around the edges. To set the glue quickly (to keep it from seeping down between the slats), use a household iron on a medium setting (no steam) to heat the canvas. Work the iron over the surface for a minute or so, applying only light pressure and keeping the iron moving at all times. Let the tambour cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the tambour from the frame and bend the joints between all the slats open, to assure they’re not stuck together. Now set the tambour aside overnight, to let the glue fully cure.

The next day, trim back the canvas at the sides of the tambour 3/16″ from the ends of the slats. On the band saw, trim 7/16″ off of both ends of the last slat (at the rear of the tambour), so it can be attached to the drawer. Also reduce the width of the first slat (at the front) to 5/16″ wide using a table saw or jointer.

To finish off the tambour, the front slat receives a cap strip, cut to the size and profile shown in the Drawings. Glue this strip in place, centering it on the length of the slat (Figure 15). Now sand the entire tambour surface smooth, easing the edges between slats and rounding their ends slightly. Wax the slat ends a little, so that the tambour will slide more easily within the track.

To attach the tambour to the drawer, dry-assemble the box and clamp the sides, bottom and shelf together (Figure 16). Slide the drawer into place and turn the whole thing upside down on the bench. Slip the tambour into its track with the capped end first.

With the drawer held fully closed and the tambour cap tight against the pull strip, press the last trimmed slat against the drawer bottom and drill a pair of small diameter countersunk holes into the edge of the drawer back, spaced about an inch from the ends. Drive 3/4″ long #6 screws into the countersunk holes, then flip the assembly over and make sure the tambour retracts smoothly when you pull the drawer open.

Assembly and Finishing

After taking the dry assembly apart, glue the bead strip to the shelf, locating it parallel to and 5/16″ back from the shelf’s front edge. Glue the shelf, bottom and sides together, applying just enough glue to coat the biscuits and slots thoroughly. After the glue dries, remove any squeeze-out and sand the entire box, rounding over all edges slightly with sandpaper.

You can apply any finish to the box, but an oil finish makes it much easier to finish the tambour slats, so that is my recommendation. Reconnect the tambour and drawer, and your box is ready for use. With any luck, you’ll hear a little “wow” the first time somebody opens it.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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Sometimes, I wonder why, too. In addition to the truism that good, solid chairs are hard to build is the corollary that attractive chairs are challenging to design. It is so easy to over- or underbuild, for the chairs to turn out clunky or spindly. And if that was not enough, even if a chair looks beautiful and is as sturdy as the Rock of Gibraltar, if it is uncomfortable, all the aesthetics and strength are all for naught. But like I said, building chairs is what I do.

These chairs were designed and made on commission, like most of my furniture. In this case, the client had a large black walnut in their backyard which had to be cut down. They had the tree cut up into lumber, and that is when they contacted me.

Starting Out

After the design was agreed upon, I began by selecting lumber for the seats, the component that literally holds the chair together. When you have a whole tree’s worth of lumber, that task is a bit daunting. The surfaced 8/4-boards (2″-thick) that would compose the seat blanks needed to be more than 8″ wide so that I could glue up the blank to a minimum of a 17″ wide piece, slightly wider than the finished dimensions found for the seat in the Material List.

As these seats are one of the main visual components of the chair, I took great care to select stock that had attractive grain that would be complemented further as I shaped the chair seats. Cut the pieces to 18-1/2″ lengths and then glue up the seat blank, taking care to align the pieces as perfectly as you can. After the glue cures, cut them to the exact size indicated in the Material List, and then sand them flat, up through 220-grit.

The next step is forming the notches that will accept the legs. You can find the locations for the notches in the Drawings. I find that the openings for the front legs are most easily cut using a crosscut jig (top photo, above) on my table saw. I clamp a stop block in place that locates the first cut, to make the back cut of the notched opening. If you are making more than one chair, as I did in this case, go ahead and make all the corresponding cuts on all the seat blanks. Following that, reset your stop block so that you can make the forwardmost cut of the leg mortise. Once you have made all those cuts, nibble out the waste to complete the opening. I clean up any tiny grooves or unevenness created by the nibbling process by paring the surface smooth with a sharp chisel. But here is an important point: because I used a saw blade that cuts a flat bottom in its kerf, I have very little cleanup to do — which makes the whole process more accurate.

Now it’s time to form the notches on the rear “corners” of the seat. As you can see from the seat plan Drawing, the seat’s shape will not remain rectangular. But the good news is, right now you will be working with the squared-up blank. I attach a large support board to my table saw’s miter gauge with screws and, once again, clamp a stop block to be certain of an accurate cut. There is a 15° splay to the rear legs, so I set the table saw blade at 15° before I cut. These notches come out clean with the second pass, so it’s a faster process.

Carving the Seat Contours

Now you are ready to shape the seat’s contours. I’ve seen many methods for forming these recesses, but as a guy who does a lot of chairs, I find my method to be the most efficient.

First, I make a template out of thin plywood that helps contain the shape of the contours. There is a template pattern for this chair’s seat above. Then I lay out a series of lines on the chair blank that locate the areas of the seat where the depth of the contours flow from one depth to another. Then I start machining the shape with a handheld grinder. I check and monitor the depth of my work using a straightedge and 6″ metal rule.

I rough out the shape with a grinder, then switch to an abrasive wheel that mounts on the same tool. I continue to shape the contours, completing the process with scrapers and rasps and finishing with a handheld disc sander.

By using the template and working to predetermined rough depths, you will get identical- looking shapes on your seats. As I mentioned earlier, these seats are really important to the overall look of the chairs, so take your time and get the contours right.

With that step in the rearview mirror, you have to cut the perimeter shape of the seat. Mark the shape using a template, and step over to your band saw to make your cut. Be sure to cut to the outside of the marked line — then step to a disc or horizontal belt sander to sand exactly to the line.

I use a handheld disc sander, hand sanding with a sanding block to complete the edge. I use a 1/4″ bearing-guided roundover bit to shape the top and bottom edges of the seat, staying clear of the leg notches. A touch more hand sanding, and then you can set the seats aside until you start to assemble the chair.

Shapely Legs

The front and back legs are next on the agenda. As is common with good chairmakers, I select riftsawn stock to make chair legs. The riftsawn figure looks pretty much the same on all four main faces of the legs — so the wood figure is not distractingly different on adjacent faces.

The front leg is 1-3/4″ square for its width and thickness. Cut them exactly to length, and then move to the table saw to raise the tenon on the end. This must fit tightly in the notch you formed in the seat blanks. I set the blade on my saw to 1/4″ high and sliced the shoulders of the tenon (see the Drawings).

Following that, I used a typical tenoning jig on my saw to form the three faces of the tenon (technically, they would be called the cheeks, but that term seems a bit out of place when you are looking at the legs). When you have done this on all the legs, divide them into rights and lefts and mark where the notches (again, technically dadoes or housings) for the footrest will go.

Mount a 3/4″ dado head in your table saw and make the cuts 7/16″ deep. Now taper all four sides of the legs to match the details in the Drawings. I use a shop-made tapering jig, but any method will do. When you are done with that, break the edges with a 1/4″ roundover bit in your router table. Keep it away from the shoulders of the tenons! I prefer to sand the front legs at this point in the process…it just gets the task out of the way. When you’ve carefully gone all the way up through 220-grit, you can set them aside and move on to the back legs.

The back legs are a bit more complicated, as they have a little dogleg bend in them. I make an exact template of the side profile of the back legs from 1/2″ plywood. Then I use the template to lay out the leg on oversized stock, trying to match the flow of the grain in the wood to the bend in the leg.

This detail makes the leg much stronger than if the grain ran off the leg shape (in other words, it avoids “short grain” issues). When you have marked out your legs on 1-3/4″ thick stock, cut them out, staying just a hair outside of the lines. A band saw will work well for this task, but I just use a good quality jigsaw to do the cutting.

Then, chuck a pattern-routing bit into your router table and use the template to perfectly shape the legs. I use short tacks to attach the template, because later the legs will be tapered and the tiny nail holes will be cut off. An important note: don’t attempt to rout across the end grain of the legs — it presents too great a possibility for chipping and tearout (which would be a huge problem at this point in the process). After you’ve pattern routed the legs to shape, use a crosscut jig on the table saw to slice the ends of the legs to their proper angle and length.

I chose to make notches (OK, they’re dadoes) where the legs join the seat for added strength and stability. I located the back notches while the front legs were fitted into the seats; see the note on the Drawings. I formed them on my table saw using my crosscut jig with a temporary fence screw in place. As with the tenons on the front legs, this is where you have to choose right and left legs, and machine them accordingly.

When that step is concluded, you need to finish tapering the back legs. This is a multi-step process for which I use a piece of plywood with screwed-on fences and a toggle clamp to keep my fingers safe. See the photos above for more details regarding this process. After the tapering is done, step back to the router table with the 1/4″ roundover bit and break the appropriate edges on the legs. Once again, after the major machining steps are done on the back legs, I get right to sanding them smooth.

Footrest and Crest Rail

Making the footrest is fairly straightforward — use the Drawing and the dimensions found in the Material List to get you started. I like to clamp the chair together and fit the footrest in place, just to be certain that it is working out as I planned.

Once the footrails are made, you can go ahead and assemble the chairs, minus the crest rails, of course (because you haven’t made them yet). Pre-drill screw holes as shown in the Drawings, both the through holes in the legs and the pilot holes in the chair seat. I use 2″ Kreg Jig® hardwood screws with their flat shoulders, because their threads grab exceptionally well and they are very strong overall. Use glue in the joints and screw the components together securely. Wipe away any glue squeeze-out with warm water and a clean shop rag. Allow the glue to cure. You will need to plug the holes, and I like to make my own plugs from the wood that I am using to make the chair, rather than purchase pre-made plugs. I use a plug cutter on my drill press and sort through the plugs to get a good color match. It is a small detail that makes a big difference in my mind. One trick that I do to prepare the ends of the back legs for the crest rail is this: I take a 30″ or so piece of 1″ stock and wrap 100-grit sandpaper around it in two spots that correspond to the distance apart that the end of the back legs are. Then, holding the sandpaper square to the ends of the legs, I sand back and forth to even the ends of the legs.

The crest rail looks rather simple, but it actually requires a fair bit of machining. The scooped-out and carved area on the crest rails is formed using my handheld grinder, then I do the dimple carving with a curved gouge. Then I trim the top edge of the crest rail to shape, so that I get a clean top edge. If you look closely at the lead image, you may notice on the back face of the crest rails there are a couple of triangular areas that are planed onto each end of the rail. This gives the crest rails a bit of additional shape, adding a degree of visual interest to the piece. I form them using a bench plane as shown.

Now it is time to locate the dowels that will join the crest rails to the back legs. As with many woodworking tasks, there is more than one way to skin this cat, but I take a small brad nail and tap it into the center of the top of each back leg. I nip it off, leaving just about 1/8″ exposed. Then I carefully position the crest rail and tap the top edge with a rubber mallet above each leg. This gives me the location to drill for the dowels. I pull the brads out of the top of the legs and use a brad point drill bit to bore a hole to accept the dowels. Then I take the crest rail to my drill press and bore the corresponding holes into the rail. I use a small fixture, just an angled piece of wood really, to hold the crest rail at the proper angle when the dowel hole is being drilled. Now it is time to cut the angles onto the ends of the crest rails. Sand the crest rails before you attach them to the chair — trust me, it is easier.

Test fit the crest rail to the chair, make any additional adjustments that might be required, and then clamp them in place using the dowels and glue. Wipe off any squeeze-out, then allow the glue to cure.

Final Details

Finishing is the next task on the docket, but not before you do a once-over final sanding. Check all the edges to make sure you didn’t dent or mar them durning assembly. With walnut, I like to wipe it down with a wet cloth to raise the grain, and then final sand to 220- or even 320-grit. Then I like to apply a good coat of Natural Watco Oil and allow it to dry for at least 48 hours. The Watco soaks into the wood fibers and really pops the grain. It also gets into the carved section of the crest rail and seals those exposed fibers. It is almost like it conditions the wood fibers and hardens them. Then I apply several coats of wipe-on polyurethane, with a rubdown of #0000 steel wool before the final coat. After the poly cures (at least seven days to cure completely), a rubout with paste wax and #0000 steel wool makes the finish feel like silk.

There you have it. The chair only has seven main components, but as you can see, that does not mean that it is a snap to make. Chairs never are. But this one is really not too hard, and if I do say so myself, it looks pretty good!

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

– Greg Wood is a professional woodworker from Howard Lake, Minnesota. You can see more of his work (lots of chairs!) by going to www.gregwoodfurniture.com.

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Scroll Sawn Bowl: This segmented bowl is turned out on a scroll saw, not a lathe. Learn a simple and versatile technique

Tall Kitchen Chair: Deceptively sturdy walnut chairs, built for use at a kitchen island

Tambour-topped Box: Open the drawer and the tambour top retracts, adding a “wow” factor to a handily sized storage box

Techniques

Design: Form and Space: It’s not the wood that makes the design of your project stand out — it’s the space around it

Finishing: How to tell whether stored finishes are still good

Skill Builder: Taking care of your band saw

Woodturning: Three ways to sharpen curved edges

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For the full-size templates of Sandor’s Tambour Box click here!

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