Miraculous Restoration of a Badly Warped and Split French Commode

This commode, a French chest of drawers, was either the best (or the worst) example of solid wood being glued to perpendicular supports that I've ever seen. We are constantly dealing with cracked tops and panels that were inhibited from moving, even though wood will expand and contract with the seasons. Sometimes the construction didn't matter until the piece was brought into environments with central heating. Sometimes the panels are kept from moving by the finish, which can act like glue along the edges. But on this piece, the panels were glued down on purpose, and did they ever use a lot of glue. The results were disastrous. It took a lot of work to reverse the damage, but ultimately, it was worth it.