Photo 8- To rout a curved groove along a curved piece, you can't use a straight fence. This point location fence (upper portion of photo) keeps the bit a uniform distance from one of the two curved edges. The featherboard (lower portion) keeps the part against the fence.

Make 14 slats at 1/4 x 11/16 x 8-13/16". Rip them out slightly wider than 11/16, then use a block plane to evenly reduce their widths until the seven slats fit on either side of the top mid rail and the top corner rails. Use the block plane to smooth the faces of the slats, too.

Assemble the front and rear frames. At the drill press, bore 1/8" holes through the bottom rails and post tenons as shown, and push 1/8" dowels into these holes. Trim the dowels flush with the rail surface with a chisel. You don't need glue in these joints so long as the dowels are snug.

Next assemble the whole frame by installing all the mid rails and the slats, and pulling it all together with clamps. Custom make wedges to fit the other mortises as shown. When making small, thin parts like this on a table saw, always rip out long pieces and then cut them short later. Or, cut the parts on a band saw, which is safer to use for small parts. Adjust the thickness of a small, short wedge with a block plane.

Photo 9- Hand shape the wedges with chisels, and leave the facets from the chisel cuts on the wedges for a hand-cut look.

Make drawers for the cabinet using a simple dovetailing jig, or use an interlocking joint as shown in the article on this site titled Floor Standing Router Table. Note that you must very carefully cut off the ends of the curved top drawer face and rear so that the curve of the drawer matches the curve of the rail. For the rear drawer piece, trace the curve of the rail onto the wood and cut it out on the band or scroll saw.

Photo 10- Use a straight flute bit at the router table to cut a groove in the sides of the drawers so that they will slide upon the frame rails. Carefully locate the grooves to ensure proper alignment of the drawers.

Cut grooves in the sides of the drawers as in photo 9. Locate these grooves very carefully, since they not only hold each drawer in place, but establish the clearance between each drawer. Stop the grooves at 3/4" from the front of the drawer, and chisel the end of the groove square. Begin by fitting the bottom drawer in place, measuring from the bottom rail to the mid rail that holds the drawer. Fit the bottom drawer, then measure for the next from the top edge of the bottom drawer. Use a block plane to reduce edges where necessary to keep clearances uniform.

Round all sharp corners with fine sandpaper, and give the entire box a couple of coats of wipe-on oil. Applying a film finish on a box like this with numerous tenons and wedges would not look very good because the finish would tend to pool in all those little corners. You want all those corners exposed, so people can see the work you put into it.

Resources for building an Oriental Box of Drawers