Adding the Base
Use a miter saw to cut out the base sides to fit the joints perfectly, before marking and cutting out the shape of the feet.
The dresser’s base consists of a front and two sides (pieces 8 and 9) joined at the corners by miters. Cut overly long stock for these three parts, and miter the corners to refine the fit of these joints. Once they’re airtight, cut the extra length off of the sides and create a template for marking the curved cutouts that form the foot shapes. I cut these out on my band saw and smoothed the edges on a spindle sander.
Assemble this miter clamping jig to pull the base joints together, along with a square back-up block, pin nails, and C-Clamps.
Glue and clamp the three base pieces together; a miter clamping jig, square backup block and a few long pin nails will ensure tight-fitting connections.
When the glue and cleats have been set, start routing the cove profiles on the upper edges of the base with your router table.
The dresser carcass rests on three long cleats (pieces 11 and 12) glued and screwed inside the base. Make and install those next. Now, reinforce the miter joints from behind with four small triangular glue blocks (pieces 10) — one pair butted under the cleats and the other two located 1/4″ up from the bottom.
Mill a 1/2″-radius cove around the top outer edges of the base to add an attractive shadow detail here. Give the carcass and base a good sanding up through the grits to 180, and fasten the two components together with 1-1⁄2″ screws driven into countersunk holes in the cleats.
Screw the base into the carcass through the base cleats, then add blocks to reinforce the back feet of the piece.
A last reinforcing step is to add triangular support blocks (pieces 13) behind the rear feet. I installed these flush with the back edges of the web frame stretcher, using a combination of pocket and countersunk screws driven into the feet and down through the stretcher.
