Woodsmith - 034

,

BEDROOM FURNITURE "

•

BACHELOR'S

CHEST

•

NIGHT STAND

•

HEADBOARD

$2.50

NOT

E

S FROM

T

HE S

H

O

P

NO. 34

WOOOSMITH

2

Editor Donald 8._Ilk. OeslgnOlreclo, Ted Kralicek "".rstan, Edlto, Stlve Krohmer Art Dlreclor KIYMulder Tod1nicat IItU5l1al0<8 O•• ,d Kreyllng Mike Henry Su_pllon Manager Sandy J. Baum S_pbOOAssIslant$ Chrt.telMlner VIcky RoblnlOn Jockle Stroud ShlrloyF._ Ann William. Diane Starr Computer Opet'8t1ons

Ken Miner CIICtltationManage' Jeff Farris AdmlnlstrallveAsSlslanl Cheryl Scott Building Maintenance AfChl. Krause WDODSMITlf (ISSN 0164-4114) Is P\IbIisl1ed bimonlhly (Janu.'Y. March. May. July. Sc p-_, November) by WoodsrnI1Il PlJbishIog

Co..2200 GrandA.e., DesMoines,lowa503'2. WOOO5Mmt IS a r_,ered uademarl< 0I1he WOocismtll PuI>ksIWlg Co.

'Copyright tN4 byWoodsmttll PubIisIling Co.

AI Rlgh" R... ,.,ed.

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IOW8.

POltm•• ter: Sond chango of address notice. Fo"" 3579, 10Woodsmllh Publishing Co..2200 Grand Ave .. Dos Moine., Iowa 50312.

8ACKISSUES

A,..,at the"""'Gnl. 01 allback _

awe"'"

on the wrappe<

ot .,..

ISSUe. IIIheWflIIIpe1is

m"".ng,

yw

can

send

to<

•

bookie' des<:ritIing the"",,'enlS and _

ot

.tbad<

eeoes

.

SAMPLE COPlES

Ifywhave • friendwho-.f<jbkelo..,. acopy ofWoodamllh.jusl sendIhename and address. and ,..'11senda sample (al no 00$').

JuVAug, 1984

Number 34 smooth action of the wooden gnid es, AU

that extra work to make wooden guides quickly melts into pure l!aw.faction. You Dod and say, "That feels just right."

CHANCt:s. Along with the chest of draw-ers, we also built n night stand, a wall mirror and a headboard. These foul'

proj-ects represent

t

h

e. fi

l

'St

time we've shown a group of pieces with the same design and Intended to 1)0used "6 " set.

However, fiM we \\'OJ'(! working on the design, one thing

became

clear: There is no

wa

y

to

p

lease eve

r

yone.

The chest ofdrawers was the first piece we built. As IIOOn118it W88 complete, the s"""stions began. "It's nice but it should be wider • • • it really needs two small drawers at the

tcp ... it.

should have one or maybe two more

1a.rgc

drawers ... it

should be built out of oak instead of mahogany.

AU of these are legitimate suggestions. And any of them could easily be incor-porated into the chest without much

trouble .tall.

In fact, that's why we show

as

many of details for building each project aswe can

- in hopes that you dOIl't followthem. By

I~

1

that I mean that

w

e I

n

cl

ud

e al

l

the details

about a proj''01 to provide enough infor -mation soyoucall change the design tosuit your needs. Add anolher large drawer.

0

r two small ones,

One change that's easy to make and can produee dramatic results is to build tbe..se projects OUt of. different wood. "'e used mahogany. but think of the

difference

in appearance if the che.t were built out of

oak,

\lith rift sawn pieces for the drawer fronts. Or maple with spatted maple drawer fronta.

Or

the headboard had • burled veneer on the center panel.

Feel free to change the design, the wood, the dimensions. Change it and make it your Own,

~I01'E TAI,K. With this Issue we decided to increase the Tnlklng Shop section 80we could Include

more

comments from

r

eaders

and expand the

question-and-

an

s

w

er

format.

If you have R comment 0" question, please feel free to send it In. We're anxious to hear from you, and we hope this

ex

-change information and ideas wiD benefit all

or us.

SEWFACES. Ola""

Starr

has joined us to "help open,

sort

and process the volume of

mail we reeeive each day. She "i1l8lso be

working on the other end: """king and

I

All

seodingout the orders for back issues.

I

.

.

~

NEXT""'L'SC. The September/October issue of

WoocUlllith

(No. 36) wUIbemailed during the week of September 24, 1984. ABOL'T TIllS ISSUE.A. the years go by, I'm

becoming more and more fascinated with

the details of cabinetmaking. Infact, this

fascination has changed my whole ap-proach to some aspects I used to dread. Building

drawers,

for example.

Building a drawer is not an easy task. A drawer hnl! to be

stro

n

g

,

it

h

as

to fit • certain opening inthe cabinet, and it has to

o

perate

~rnoothly. 'I'lus requires a lot of

planning, and it menns a lot ofdetails have

to be worked out &0 the drawers and the cabinet work together.

The more eablnets and the more

draw-ers

1 build, lhE' more I've come to realize

that I'm not ju,t building the same basic drawer over and over again. \Vitb each

new cabinet, comes new drawers with their own problems and design ehaIIenges.

In fact, as Iw.. looking back in the past

issuesoflVood,m;th,1 realized that no two

drawers were built the same \\~a}·.That's a lot of different way8 to build drawers.

Question:

So

why are you going on and on about drawe ...? It sounds like you're trying to mnke a point. What is it?

Ifyou're gning to build a cabinet with a drawer

in

it, YOlLhave to plan

ah

e

a

d.

Tak

e

the chest ofdrawers shown in this issue for example.

Thel,(!'sno way to build this chest with-out first knowing exactly how the drawers will be eonstrueted and mounted. Which means you have to design the chest from

the inside out.

The interdependence of the drawers and t-he chest involves dozens of details that have to be worked out. Like a game of chess, each detail determines the ones that follow and have to be planned weU in

advance.

"~'TAI. ORWOOl)!Among the details for

the design of the drawers, one decision

was

critical (01' determining the overall a p--proach fOI'building the chest.

I wanted to build drawers without using

any hardware. No drawer pulls, No metal

guide system. This decision was based on a little quirk that most woodworkers haverif given • cholee they'll figure out a way

to

u

sc

wood

r

ut

h

e

r

t.ha

n

metal -

n

o

mat

ter

how much

m

o

r

e

work it involves,

True, by avoiding metal hardware there's a little extra work and a lot more

planning. But it makes the whole project

an interesting design challenge ... and eert2inly more interesting to build.

The

res

ult I. a chest with drawers that are a pure pleasure to open. As you open

each drawer, your finger-tips fit comfort-ably in the coves on the bottom edge of the drawer front. Then

as

the drawer slides open, you immediately feel the silky

3

WOOlDSMITH

II')fou'd like to share a woodworking tJpwi-lhother rea,dGr$of Woodsmlth, send your Idea to: Wood$IfJim, TIps& teChniques, 2200 Grand

Ave.•Des Moines, Iowa 50312.

Wo pay a minlmu", of $10fotUps,andSl5 0( more rorspecial techniques (that arBaoc&plad for publication). Please give a complete 8X· planailonof yoor idea. II • sketch Is ~eed.~, send It along:we'll draw a new one.

SIND IN YOUR IDEAS

Fina,ly, r came on the idea ofcombining t],e corner Cllk>ffs with two C·cl.amps to form a corner clamp. 'l'h~ corner clamps can he used

to

squ

a •

..,

up

case wo

r

k,

or to just clamp

togethe

r

the

cor

n

ers

on

a

mi-tered (11Ime.

To make the clamps, Iglued

.

two

of the %" thick

co

rn

e

r

cut-orfs tegethel'

to

produce

a

I\1t"

t

hi

c

k

b

ra

cket,

Then

T

!;>oredtwo holliSfor the C-e,lamj) pads, and cu~ off

the

sharp corners on the ends of the

br

ac

ket

,

Fin.ny, the edge~ are trimmed and sanded so they're smooth and perfectly

square,(lfthe stock usedfor the I•• ysusan is square to begin with, having tc square the clamps can he eliminated.}

P

et

Ty lio

·

,

Ii

O>

1

Wal/wila, NotIJ. Dakota

S

teve

..

Jotmeon.

Des

M

oi

"

ss,

Iowa

SCRAP WOOD CORNER CLAMPS Not too long ago, Ihad

to

make a large number of Lazy Susan shelves. Every-thing went together just fine until I real-ized I

was

Producing a mountain of cut-off

corn

e

rs

that were

t

akin

g

Over my shop.

I

haled the thought of feeding.all tliose cut

off

.

into

m

y

wood heatel; so I decided to

com

e

up

'\.lith

s

om

e

"

'

a

y

to

use t

h

e sc

r

aps

.

The advantage to this system isthauthe screen in no way effects the air flow from the fan, yet it prevents large debris from faDingintg the router. I'veused my router

this way (or 1~ years, and have had no problems.

table, Iprotected the molor with" small piece of fiberglass SCreen<~at "overed the air intake diJ~ctly above the fan.

Toattach the screen to the

m

oto

»

hous-ing, apply a small amount of super glue where Ute screen and the motor housing come in contact with eaeh oth,er.

J..

R.

,

H

ack

'

''Oer

ry

Sa.g

e

nou""

Petl1lsylw7tia DRILLING DOWELS

£n

lV

o

od

e

n

ti

~h

No. 33, )'OU showed a method of marking the center point on the end of long dowels that works' well. For short dowels,

r

use • slightly diffetent melbod that not·.nly finds center; but also assures the hole isdrilled parallel with the sides of the dowel.

Sam",,/

FiaUwuYlY

S1«Jbury

,

M

assac"u

s

e{u

A HOT TIP

Lread the alticl

e.

in IVooMmiU•.No. 88

On

sharpening toolswith asllltional'Y disk and

helt sand....This does work well, but ... Please tell your readars

to

be sure that allthe Sllwdustis removedfrom the sander before it's used

to

sharpen tools. Themetal sparks from thegrinding action can start

the sawdust on fire.

the pad and you'll find the othel' edge cw'lrng around the pad, pojnting directl~

wherethe clamp

w

ill

open. RaiS<l:theclamp and push ill the edge. Then tjghten the

pap

e

r

across the pad, and release the clamp.

'J:hen keeping the block clamped to <he mill press table, remove the bit fJ'omthe chuck and insert the dowel in tile hole.

B

y

keeping the block clamped in it. origi","

position, the (IriU press chuck is auto

-matically centered over the sbot!. dowel. Drilling a hole that's pe!'fectll' centered on the end of the dowel simply requires cfiucking the correct size drill bit in the drill .press, and drilling the dowel.

Pa

t

rick

IV

qr

'

!el

'

S8condidQ, Cali/omio. FIBERGLASS SCREEN

I'd

liketo

s

bar

e

an idea Ihave forthe

Scars

routers. In}l'ooM",;I" No.

a

l

and other issues, you've mentioned that debris fall-iog into the Scars router may have been one of the

cause

s.f

or

the fan blades break-ing off, and damaging the motor.

I

roo

Own8Seal

-s

tJ),

H

.

P.

router that's mounted upside down on a muter table. But before I mounted it on the

router-kElP SCRAPCLAMPEO'10 146lf

First, clamp a piece ofscrap stock tothe table of the drill press, and drill a hole that's exactly the same diameter as the outside diameter ofthe dowel.

r

drill this hole about t"'o·thirds the way through the thickness of the block.

A NEW TWIST

In

Woo~",itll

No.

33

,

you complained about the problems of loading paper in palm sanders. Thel..,'s a simple trick that will alleviale about

99%

of the problem, and all you need is an ordinary pencil.

After cutting ~he p~per

1:0

sise, lay the paper abrasive side down. Then lay the pencil on one of the edges t,hat will he clamped in the sander, androll the edge of

the sandpaper around the pencil.

When the paper is released, it will spring back with a nice semi-clreular up-ward curve on the edge. Then cu.1 the opposite edge of the sandpaper,

To

load the sandpaper, sirnply raise the clamp spring and insert the first curved edgeofthe papel' Smooth the paper

a

cros

s

WOODSMITH

4

hardwood edging strips. see Figo.

4

and

6.

The tongue on the top edge is used later to attach the top panel.

These tongues

mU

fit into grooves that

are

routed in the edging strips. To gouge the thickness of the tongues, first rout a groove in 3 test piece with a ~. straight bit.. Then the tongues are cut on a router table to fit thi$ groov •.

Set up the router table with • %" straight bit to rout V.··,,;de rabbets on both faces of the plywood to produce the Y.. -long tongues, sec Fig. 3. Adjust the depth of cut until the thickness of the tongue fits the groove in the

test

piece.

IlECORATIVE SIIOULDER. Aft." the

tongues are cut, 1added a Yo'-wideshoul-der onthe front, back, andtop edges of'the plywood

to

set off the panel in the frame, the web fi-..mesin one pass, see Fig.2.

This

assures

the grooves

are

routed in the

same

position on both

sides

.

aocr

GROOI'PS. To rout the grooves, clamp anauxiliary fenee to the plywood anrl usc a hand·held router with a YI' slraight bit,

see

Fig. 2.

I

started with the top groove. This groove should be "iI,"down from the top edge of the plywood.

see

detail in fig. 2.

(Alter Ihis measurement 10 equal the thickness of the stock for the web frame.) The position of the next four grooves is critical because they determine the siU!of the openings for the drawers.

To preduee the COlTeCt height for the

drawer openings, rout these four grooves 80 they're exactly

7¥.r

apart, measuring from the top of each groove,

see

Fig. 1.

AlWr the grooves are routed, rip the double-wide panel in half and trim it to

form

two

panels, each 16~'wide.

RO~'TTONGUES. The next step is to rout

tongues on the front, back, and top edges ofeachplywoodpanel.The tongues on the front and back edges are used to attach This chest of drawers is built

exactly the opposite Of the way it was d.signed. That may not make muchsense. but that's one of the problems you fa"" wh.n you set out to build a chest of draw.rg- you have to design the

deawe rs

Ii

rs

t 3nd then destgn the cabinet around them.

This is O$peeiallytrue Ofthis chest because we wanted to build it with draw

ers

that

a re

a tittle out of the ordinary. There's no hardware on the drawers - no pulls, 110metal guides. Instead, these draw-ers are designed with • eon-cealed cove

as a

finger pull. and a guide system that's

made completelyof wood.

In order to make

all

of this

work,the cabinet hllJ!to tAke into account the

eoved

lip

(Ie· sign on the drawer fronls, as

well as the method used to "WUOL the dra wers in the

c

ab

i

n

et, and t

h

e final

SilA}

of

the

drawers.

Inother words, the cabinet is deslgned to nt the drawers,

These design considerations are discussed in more detail in the article on building drawers

that begins on page

13.

OnC<)---~ the drawers arc designed and final mea-surernents are determined (or the cabinet. lstarted work by building the two side. of the cabinet.

THE CA8IN(J 51DE5

The sides of Ihe ch.st con.;"t of plywood panels with hardwood edging on the front and back edges, see fig. I.The plywood panels also have

a series

of Y," groove. routed on the inside face for the cabinet'. web frames. ('The.. frames are used to connect the cabinet sides. and lhey al

so

SUpport the drawers.)

CLT SIDES. The

n

rs

t step

is

to cut the

plywood panels (A) to size. The length of these panels i,determined by the spacing needed for the drawers and the web frames, This works oul to 32"i1'". (The details of this measurement are discussed in the drawer article on page 13.)

As for the width of the plywoodpanels, rbey should be IGVl\" wide, However, rather than cutting the plywood to this

width, I cut it a tittle more than doubl

e-wi

de (3214') so

I

could rout the

groo

v

es

for

CLEAN

,

CONTEMPORARY FOU

R

-

DRA

W

ER

CHES

T

,

1/..... WIDE, " •_,• DEep REUlif

vr

.

~

.

·

IlAB8Er [0' PLYWOOD 8ACK_ ij••'WID!:. V~OEl' .- REUlE'

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-'T

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rr"""';~,..,..,..,..,...,-:~

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'

T

~'"-"

I-

r

'

o"." -(8._O,S'!;$l:crlON WOOOSMlTH

5

.J.. CUT9ACt( I:OGI,..G ''';1'' THIC~flt

l"['oN ,PANE\.

-' ,I

1

If) BACKEDGJNG

-

-" - -

..

l

:

DJMINSIONS GIVI!N ?"'" TO lOP 0': GROOVeS I ~

i

@ CAalN(r SIDE tANEl I 7r

'.

,

1

1

AU GROOVlS '1~"Wtl)e-, y.~OE-lP _7'1'.

I

_,

_I

t

". lONG rONGUES CENTERED

I

_7"

ON THIC1(NBS 01 sroc~

,

I

i

,

-

-

_11f~"

.L NO TO~®E O~ BorrOM EOQ~~)t,_

..

...J ~THIC~NESStOF 4t4'STOC~ T (S£E,oriAlt) I PO,SlnON GROOvr SOEDGING IS'/;q" A60VE PANEl

'---@ fROtir EDGING' cur lIeUEF ON TOP AND SIDEEOGES ONlY

-- %0"" STRAlGHT an

1//' 110v:.eYONGUECE:NttiREO ON Pl..yWOOO

FfOUJI£ 3

see Ftgs. 4 and 6.Rout this shoulder Yio" FIGURE:, wide and Vo°deep onthe outside face of the

plywood panels. seeFig. 3.

THE EDGING STRIPS

Now the 'solid-wood edging strips can be

added to the front and back edges of ~he plywood sides. AU of these strips are cut from 5/4 stock (1110.'thick actual).

BACK &OGlNG. The back edging strips

(C), arc ripped to width so they're just slightly (~.) wider than the thickness of the plywood sides, see

em ss

Section ill Fig. 1. 1'his extra width provides just enough material so the surface ofthe strips can

be

planed and sanded down perfectly flush with the plywood.

Then these strips are

ell~

to length

so

Lhe)'r. equal to the distance fron\ the

bot-tomofthe plywood panel to the Shoulder of

the tongue on the top edge, $COFig. 1-ROljTGROOI'&.AfOOrthe strips are eut to

size, rout,a

Vi"

x

V

,,

"

groove on the edge of

the strip to match the tongue on the back

edge of the plywood panel, see Fig. 1. I routed this groove on the router table,

making sure it waspositioned so the extra

~ ...in width

was

sticking up above the

oul.id~face of tbe plywood.

R..\BBt.VJ' FOR BACJ:\. Al$o, cut- a o/lt;I!'-\vide by W·.dcep rabbet 011the back edge of the

edging strip for the 14' plywood back. see Fig. 5. Shop Note: J used

a

labJe saw rather than the router ,able to cut this rabbet-because the saw produces a cleaner edge along the shoulder of the rabbet.

FROl;T EDClNC.The front edging strip

(B) is ripped J%O wide

a

nd cut

to tbe same

length as the back-strip, Sec t'ig. ,I.Then a

Y,,"

x

l/.tll' groove is

route

d

on the inside face to fit the tongue on the front edge of the plywood panel, see Fig.

I

.

This groove is positioned exactly the same distance f

r

om the oUl$ide edge

as

the groove on the back edging strip. (That is,

.so

ihe.edge ie V",' 8bo.Yethe surtace Ofthe plywood.) Since this groove is in exactly We Same position, it

c

all

be cut US",g the Same set-up on the router table.

ASSEMBLY. Finally, glue the e"lling strips- to the tongJ.les on the plywood. Be sure the top end of each edging 5t.rip is 6ush with the$oulderoflhe tongue on the top edge of the Side, see Figs 4 and 5.

6

MIDDll WEe. flAM!

f

_

NT

(OGING WI"UJa fltONllAl1 "\._{••-ft'l'WOOO"} I AI$.Of MN It

,

19Ln1W ClOSS StcnOH UtI. A,ll CROOV'S 'I."IIV. @ , .. C.lt RAll__

&ACKRAil CROSS SIC[ION ~

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WOODSMITH 10 'lNO SflU' U'N'GtH MEASURECAIlNfTT

-+

4

1

Stor 10 BACXII:AIItt. SYIUACl WlDTH

-Of

m

'

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tArLS, ADO''1

10.

TONGUES

,

LtNGTN Of WE' 'IAMI

RAlI.$EQUAlS INSIO( OlM(NStQHS Of CAaIN£Y (301,;,-)

:

.

~Hn to.P: PANfl 19J:f~Yl_t:W

.,

.

Ill' ItABID llAac fOGlNG

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cur

It.~a 1,',"JONGUI$ CfNllJlIO ON STOCX--.".

9

.

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n

'STOOPEO

_GROOVES

.

'J

l

flGUIlE 6 _{TOP PANEL}

To complete lhe basle cabinet, the sides

1t

are joined together with. top frame and

five web frames.

PLYWOOD PANEL. The first step on the

top frame is to cut the """ plywood panel (D)tosize. 2914'long by 15"wide. Then eut rabbets on both

raees

to form yo·long tongues on aU four edges. Also rout a

Y...

-wide, y....-deep shoulder on the out,ide

face o( the plywood.

see

Detail in Fig. 7.

FR.'-'lE. After .he panel iscut. the four

frame members

can

be cut to size. Cut the frontlback rails

(

El

to length SO they're equal 10tbe shoulder·la-shoulder length of

the panel.

see

Fig. 6.

The width of these rails should be 1

to

·

.

However. this width may have to be ad-justed because you want 10be sure lhat

r

~¥

;=~~=:f=:=:===;;~=;

1~\"

"'t~

t':,

~

~.~r

O

N

~~

~

==~~~~

l&-'.·__.J

I

wbettbeo thtnotal wie wi

~

these

~=:

dth ofdrathils areof tthe cabinet. side~ .his

==;~

atop a"""mbly i. equalnaebed to lhe panel,

=

:f~

:

.f

:\.OWJ'),.o,:1l

As for the stiles (F) for the top (ramc,

they're

cut H"

wide and Mlong

as the

cabinet sides are wide (17'Y').

GROO\'f;S.Next. grooves are cut in the

frame members to match Ihe tongues on the plywood panel. On the ti'Ontiback

rn

il~

(E), rout a

Y"

groove on the edge of both pieces SO tho (ace of the rail~ i. slightly

above (~") the surface of the panel, see

details in ~'ig. 7.

On

the

stile

s

(FI, the

gro

ove

has to be

stopped W' (rom both ends of the stile to prevent it from showing. see F'ig. 6. I routed this stopped groove on the router

table, making a plunge cuL to .ta.i the

groove and lifting the stile offthe bit to end

the cut.

Then I routed an identical

y,.

"toPlled groove on the bottom edgeofthe stiles, see

cress

Section in Fig. 7. This groove is for

att

a

c

h

i

ng

the top frame

to

the cabinet

sides, see Fig. 8.

BE\t£L EDGE.After the grooves are cut, glue all four frame members to the top panel. Then rip a'1'."\\;de.

45

·

bevel on the front edge of the top frame,

see

Fig. 7.

WEB FRAMES

To complete the ~inel. five web t'ramco

are built to connect the cabinet sides. In

order to determine the size

or

the~

frames. dry-clamp the completed top frame to the cabinet sides.

mE RAJl.S.Nov.',measure the distance between the cabinet sides (this sbouldbe

aoW') to find the length o( the frontJbaek

rails (G.

H.

and I),

see

Fig.

8.

The width o(

the..<erails varies with each frame: the rails (G) on the topframe are "!'if wide (see Fig.

9),the rails (H)on Lhe middle three frames are 1'1''''wide (see Fig. 10),and the rails (I) ~~

on

the bottom frnme arc

2.y.

"

wide (see

,

,)1

'

Fig. 11).

mE STILES.To find the length (0" the stiles (J), you have to do n little math:

7

~fJit~ED

ON

~

~__~

FRONT RAil ____ FIGURE 1:1 NOTCH DEtAil I.. ' WI.'. '~. OfE' ) GE"""O'ON .AIl(S" ,131~

r-

--,

,

'5'1." Q)

~

'

i

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I

80JTOM we FRAME 'I." • 1/." TONGUE ..-- flfS IN GROOVE ,..r ON SiDE p~Nn

I.

-

t'll , __ .-

~

'-

""'"

r

_-.:.

'

(

·:...

·:...

..

.:.yw.:.o:...o:.:o.,

THill! MIDDLEf.!AMES

r

b - n

j

• .(.:". V<:lONGUE ON OVTSIDf EDGE

)

"""-;OltNEi DETAil

,

-

tOe Y'E~ WOODSMITH

'"

,

"

TOP WEB"flAME ---- -% 30'h ·

i

-_ 7..%;;;:.". : ...

t__

FIGURl9

Measure tbe distance between tbe front edgillg))iece(BJ and toherabbet on the back edging 'piece (this should be. 160/.). then subtract the thickness of the fl'ontiback rails

l

'

o/

,

...

+

'0/,," = lW), and

ad

el

y,"

for the two \Io"-longstub tenons that

\\111

be cut on the ends of the stiles, see Fig. 8. This should produce a final length of

lo

Y./'

fol' the slile&(J). The width of allthe stiles

(J)is 1%'.

GROO"»SFO"I',""~L. After the rail. and stiles are cut to

size, a

groove is

cu

e

on the inside edge ofeach piece for the plywood panel. The groove in

all

the stiles (J) is

centered on the edge of each piece and wide enough

to

match the thickness of the plywood panels.

TOPWED rRA.IIE. the groove in the front!

back rails (0) of the top frame is also centered on the thickness of the rail- the same as the stiles.

However, the.procedure for cutting the

gro

o

v

e

s

on

the other

ft·antes varies

be-cause of the width of the rails.

~nOOL£ WEOFRAltF-S.~'he frontJback l-ails (I:IJon tire three middle web frames

are 1%"wide, see Pig. 10.Thisextra width

means

t

h

e

groove

can't

be

centered.

In

..

'Stead}it's

po.~itioned

the same distance

fromthe bottom edge asthe grooveonthe

stiles, see detail in ~ig.

1

0.

To cu

t

these grooves

,

se

t

the fen

c

e on

the

saw

using the groo

v

e

in the. stile as a

guide. Make the JiI'St

pass

,

and then acijust the fence to widen the groove

to

match the

t

hi

c

kness

of the pll~vood panel: and make a

second pass

to

finish the groove.

UO'M'OMW86 FRAME. Onthe bottom web frame, the extra-wide rails (1)also ... ·ve as a kiekboard for the cabinet. The groove in

these rails is

a

little bit Ilipky

to

cut.. To

l

ocate

the position of the groove,

I

used. rail from one ofthe middlef ra mes as

a

guide, see Fig. 12.Line up the top edges "fbOth pieces, and mark the location ofthe groove on the bottom rail (1).Then cut the groove using the mark as a guide.

sr

u

s

TEi'lONS. ,After all the

ll''OOve

s

are

cut,

stub tenons

ore

cut

On

the ends o(bhe

stiles (J)

to

fit the grooves in the rails. Thi.

is$inmly a matter of cutting two rabbets ontheends of thestiles to produce the stub tanon, see details in

Figs

.

9, 10,and 11.

iOXCUEQNSTlLE$. Next, cuta rabbet on

the outside edge of all the stiles (JJ to produce a tongue that, fit.the grooves in the sides of the cabinet,

NOTCH.Finally, cut a

y."

x

10/" notcb on the front rail of th~ three middle frames and the bottom frame, see Fig. 13. This notch is u!;<ldto attach the drawer guides.

,ISSEMOt..Y. When all the work is com

-plete on the frame members; dry-clamp them logethel' and measure the inside opening to determine the size of the ply

-wood panet

no.

Finally, glue and clamp the web frames together with the plywood panels in place.

WOODSMITII

~I

THE DRAWER GUIDE SYSTEM

When the web frame. arc complete, the

next step is

to

attach the drawer guides

(P), see Fig. 14. Cut the four drawer

guides wide enough sothe top edge of the

guide is

y,.

above the front rails, see Fig.

15.Then trim them 10 length so they butt

against the back rail, and extend to the

front edge of the front rail,

see

Fig. 1'1.

Next, eut

a

rabbet on the front end orlh.

guides

so

itoverlaps the notch in the front

rail,

see

Fig. 14. Also. chamfer the top

edges or the guides slightly to reduce

bind-ing. Then glue the guides 10 the plywood

panel of the web frame .. theire centered

on <he length of the rails.

nRAWl!RGLlDES.The last step before the

cabinet is glued together is

to

drill ",••'

holes for the nylon drawer glides on the

lower four web frames. These holes are

1W' from each end of the front rail, see

Fig. 16.

ASS~"OLY.At tbis point, I glued the

cabinet side. together with all five web

frames inplace keeping the i'ramC8 til(hl

against the front moldings on the cabinet

sides. Then J glued the IOJl panel in plae'C.

THE DRAWERS

At last, we arrive at the whole point of

building

t

hi

s

chest: the

drawer s,

Tbe

d

ra

w

e

rs

are designed with

«

concealed

cove on

the. drawer front,

see

J,lig. 19.

Although this makes the druwer ()'()nts

inte

r

e

s

tin

g

Irom

a

design

A

n

d

ccnstrnctlon

s

tandpoin

t,

it

a

lso

makes

th

e d

r

n

y,

l

e

.

'S

-sligh(ly more complicated to build.

Wedecided toput atlof the detail. Onthe

construction ofthesedrn\\lers in 3sepnl'atc article onpage J3. But bnsically the dra

w-ers arc constructed (I:;follows.

SLOES AJoIOBACK. The first 6tel) is to cut

the ~'-thick drawer sides (N) and back

(~Oto width so they're ~. narrower than

the height of the opening between the web

frames.

DRAWERFRO~TI. The drawer front.. (Ll

are cut "'.. wider than the height of the

drsweropening 10allow for the overlap on

the web frames. and Ior the lit" cove on the

bottom edge.

see

Fig. J9.

JOfJo1ER'·. To join

these

drawe

rs , I

wanted 10use half-bUnd dovetail •. When

making several d:ra\\'ers like this.

il'a

cas-ier andcertainly !aster 1011.<e • router and

dovetail Ji.<ture 10 cut these joints.

This

decision

is

one of the major

reasons

why the cabinet bas 10bedesigned IU'Otlnd

the drawers, There are only certain

drawer sizesthat have the proper .p.,clog

Iorrouted dovetails, andSOthe cabinet had

10 be designed with this in mind. (Thill i. discussed in more detail on page 13.)

CIl'I' TH& JOh''T$. Nonnally. joining the

si

d

es o

f

a

drawer

using a

router

fixtu

r

e

i

.8

relatively easy. But when the drawer front

extends both above and below the drawer

(

,

00

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OlAWt'R GUIDI CU' TO"T ,.twEeN 111,11.$

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WOODSMITli CUTTING DIAGRAM • K K 1_.u... IOnOMYllW ., "•• elIAtANCE'

i

I

!L~\'(§,'l-C~_OW_t<;IL9Jj ItLc.8~!~"l

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1 :;.

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(ij)

I

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;- ...<Ptl:

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'-:::: O.OOY ... OM IO"OMOf o~·COYf DtAwt. SlotS

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A SId. 'on.l. (1, y.ply '6V.x32'¥1. B Side Frt. Ed"lng' (2) IV,. x l'I.·32IY,. C Sid. Bk. EdgloS' (2) I'll,"~.32'V'6

D Top Ponel (1) 0/..Rly IS x 19V. E Top Roll. (FrtlBkl (2) 'Vie )(It,r. -2,80/. F Top Sfll•• (Sid •• ) (2) IV,e. 10/'. - 170/.. G lop Web " Roll. (2)

'

¥t

.

X I"JA.- 30y:. H Mid W.b f,Rolls (6) '+1•• '''' - :JOy, I • '1'1'1 W.b F, RoU.(2)

'V'6

.

2'% - 3Ov" J W.b f' Sri'.. (10) I~••, 1'h. - 15Y" K W.b f,Pon,t, (5' 'I.

,.y -

(\I'

to fit I Oto~r FI'Ot'II. (..) '¥t.x 7 - 2'% M OfOw., lock, (4) Y,x6% - 28% N 0t0w1H SI."CI)

',,

)1

6'1i - 15 0 Otaw.rBo'tom. (4) 'It pty - cvt to fit

,

Ol'O'fW'trGvlcMt (4) I~. 'hide - c:ut to fit

Q Drew.,

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(4) %x "h-cutfofj, R Cobin.r lode: (1) V..ply -(\It to fit

MATERIALSLIST

sides, it require» some special techniques.

Luckily,the overlapoflhe drawer fronts can be produced by simply cutting the drawer (ront wider than nonnal andusing asmall shirnin the dov.uti) fIXture. For

more infonnalion on thig technique. see

PSIl. 13.

cove, Once the eerner joinery is com

-plete, a VIt"eove is CUton the bottom inside edge ofthe drawer front to provide.a finger pull foropening the drawers, see

Fig.

19.

Then

a

%.

chamfer

is

CUI

onthe top edge

to

provideenough

ro

o

m

foreasy

a

cce

ss

to the

nnge,'

"ull

on

the

nexthighe,' drawer.

Fin-ally,

rout an V." chamfer on

t

h

e

bottom

edge and both ends ofthe drawer front.

OftA\,'t;r(1JO'M'O~1.

Next

,

a groove is

cut

along the bottom edge ofeach pieceforthe

drawer bottom (0). Position this groove Y/' from the bottom of the drawer sides.

see

Fig. 19.

A..~t;)lHLY.After these grooves are eut, dry-assemble the drawer and take mea

-surement. ror lhe

'

I

"

plywood bonom. Cut the boltom to siu and then glue the drawer together wilh the bottom in place.

DRAwg" GUIDES. To

eomplere

the drawer guide system, cut the drawer run

-ners (Q) to

.iUl.

see Fig.

20.

Then rout a

groove down the

cente

r

of the runner

so

it's just sli~htlywiderthan the width oftbe

drawer

guide,

nnd

glue the runner to the

drawer bottom so it's

centered

on the width

o

f

thc

drawer

;

see Fig. 20.

FINISHING TOUCHfS

One or lhe last steps on the cabinet is to soften the cdges by routing an v.i' chamfer

00 all

of thc

exposed

edges, except the back ed~e of the eabinet sides.

I finished the chest with three coats of

Den

interior woodIlnish. sanding between each eoat with 400 grit \Vet-or-Dry sandpsper.

,

[

0

lfNG;tH Of TENON MOlTClIEANS! WISTHlO~CHOFISEL USE SAME FENCE SffilNGTO TltiM tllM L~NGTHOF lENa.;:' WllH MUlTiPlE PASSES

<,

JOIN.ER.)·,After't1be uprights and rails are

Out to size, they're joined together with mortise and tenon joints. (A complete, step ..

by..

step explanation of how 'to cut. a mortise and tenon joint is given in

Wood

..

.",iti! No. 26.)

Basically, 311this involves is

bo

r

ing

a

series'o~%' holes centered OIlthe width

or

the stock and

;y,

'

deep, see Fig. A. Then clean up che cheeks of the mortise with a

to.the length necessary

to

put the UPrights

in the tight position 011 fh~

bed Irame

.

MIDDLE RAfL, The middle rail (C) is ripped to a width of

2

%"

,

T

hen

to

deter

-mine the length of this rail, take.the final

length of the top rail ~B), subtract- the width of both uprights (314' each, 01'a ootal of 6~') and add 1~· for the two ~··Iong tenons on the ends of the middle rail, see Fig. I,

By the tim. ~Jinished building ~he chest of drawers and thenight stand shown inthis

issue, I no long.". had a choice - J had to

build a headboard

to

match, The head

-board shown here.is designed to fit a queen

size

bed.

But. it's very easy to alter the

dimensions

to

fit

any mattress size.

THE ~A5IC FRAME

Building thj. headboard is really just a

matter of'bullding a very ',rgofr.methat's,

joined ,,1tl1 mortise and tenon joints. To St.rt construction, 1 CUtthe uprights (A) and the top (B)and middle (C)railsto size from8f~stock (1"'"-thick stock).

UI'IIICU'I'S.'rhe uprights (A) are cut 311<"

wideand 4JV."long, see Fig. 1.The ten~h of the uprights actually determines the

overall height crtheheadboaed in

relation

U.

the mattress. [f the

headboard is built wi t.h 41y.'·long uprights <as shown),

the bottom e!!geoft,he middle rail (C)wjll' be 23"off the

floor.

This is the light height for

a

maLtress that's 24"offthe fioor -that

i

s,

SQthe lopof the

mauress

IsJHabove the bottom edge of the headboard.

Note: This 24" measurement

was

taken

to

the

tOP

of

a

standard

mattress and box- spring com..

binatjon on ~Imetal frame with

casters.) IfIhe height of the mat

-tress is more 01' lass than 24". alter the

len~ of the uprights accordingly.

TOPRAJL,The next step is tocut she to))

rail (B) to size. First. lipthe rail 10/."wide from8/4 stock, As for the length.of'the rail, it depends on the width of the frame that supports

t

he

mattress and

box spri

n

gs.

Check the mounting holes in the frame

to determine exactly where you want, the

uprights positioned. Then cut the top rail

A H

EAD

A

BOVE

T

HE

REST

I

I

SIJPPOIt IAA V," NOTEl GItOOV( t"" TOI' Wl STOP'S ,..... OM 1O'r'H (HDS RAil

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NON

FIGURE. 2_

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UPil:/OWl OfNIENSIQNS GIVEN Afti roR 2.4 HIGH MATTReSS

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.,

, v:

--

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--~-, 51' ,. ss· All. StOCK I"'," THICI( AOIUSl lfNGTH Of

TOP RAIL TOf.lT MATTlttSS -S11E'

Tor RAIL

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1a~'~::::::::::::::::::::~~

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~::::::~

-URI I WOOOSMITH 11,.'." '" I''''·· 14" CUnlNG DIAGRAM

,.

U.... hl>(2) 1¥....3'/ ..-4.';'

•

TopRoll (1)

r

¥•

•

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₆₀

C "'1Od). Roil (1) 1¥... 2~ - 55 D $"'ppott Roils (2) IY't x 2'1. _S3'h

£ Trim Cop (2) _uti' JC V.-53th

f Plywood Ponel (1) y,Jt 13 • 53'1t

MATERIALS LIST

·t... 6'1.- .611'

~

""'~"""";;;~

chisel, leaving

the ends

in the

haIf·round

shape, see Figs. 2 and 3.

Tt'::-.:O:-':S. ..Uter l:he mortises are CUll

'II".longtenons are cut on the uprights

and

th~ middle rail. '1'0cut the

tenons.

8(lt the

fence of

the

table saw'll" from the

outside

of the

blade,

see Fig.

B.

Th~n use a

pteee

of SCral)to set the

hci~ht

of the blade.

Make

passes

ove

i

both

f.ces

of the workpiece.

and grndu8Uy....

iRe

the blade until the thickness of the tenon

5ts snugly In

the mortise.

Follow the same procedure to cut the

sboulders orthe tenon (see

Fig.

C)so

it fits

the

length ohhe mortise. Then use a file

to

round

over

the

corners

to lit the rounded

end

s

of the mortises.

SUPPORT RAILS

Next.

grooves are routed 011 the in"ide

edge

of the lop and middle

,·"ils.

These grooves are [01'

the

panel suppert rails (D),

we

~'Ig.4.

The

groove

on

the

top

rail

must

be

stopped S' ftom both ends .0 it dOC1!n't show

on

the edges of the headboard. Icut thisstopped groove on the router table.

Set the fenceYO from the inside edge of

a

V"

straight bit,

Then

mark the slart and

stop

points on the edge of the rail. Now, plunge the rail on the bit to start the cut, and lilt it off the bit.to stop it.

The groove on the middle rail is

'cut

With

the $nme set·up on the router table, I)ul thi. time, lhe groove doesn't have to be stopped, see

r'ig. 4.

5VI'POII1""Au.s. After the grooves 31'. <lit, the support rail" (I) are <lit

2

Y

..

wide

and to

rough

length, (They're trimmed

to

linallength latee)

cur

TOSG~es.Then a

tongue

is cut on one edge of the supper; rails.

To

make the tonJtUe&,CUtrabbets on

both

f_8 of lhe rail., leaving a tongue that fits snugly in the groove.

CHAMFER THE EDGES

1"0 complete the top rail (B), cut a 45°mitel' on both ends, see Fig. 4. Then

berore

"8,

• WOOOSMITli

,

•

fIOUt( • AJ1I.CH MoNti ftlM CAP WITHTONGUf AND GtOOvE t 1 \ CUT SUPPORT WLS TO srr11TW6lN U",IGHTS.

AND GlUE 1'0 TO' ANO BonONl .... ,LS

••

•

13'A"

"

.

,....CUTfANEl TO FIT 8ETWEEN UP_IOH'S

,

,..

LL t.'."

'I"

c.tO$$ 5fCTION

"-DONO' -) CHAMR.'/ 00 Nor CHAMSI. nilS lOG&: ;~,.. -c

~-FIGURE 6

_--

--HOURI.5

1

2

sembling the pieees for the basic frame,

the edges ofthe lop mil (B), the middle

''3i1

(e)and the uprights (A)are chamfered. [

did

this on the router table, setting the height of

a

45°

chamfer bit to

eut a

V.·-"ide chamfer.

All of theedgesand comers of'these tour

pieces are chamfered ... "lith three

ex-ceptions. The inside top comer

ot

the

up-rights is not chamfered,

see

fig.

6.

And both the top and bottom comers of the middle rail are not chamfered, see Fig. 5.

ASSEMBLE THE FRAME

After the edge. are chamfered, the

up-rights eon be glued and clamped to the top rail and the middle rail. to fonn the baste headboard feame.

err

SUPPORT RAILS. When the trame

assembly isdry,

measure

the opening

be-tween the uprigh'" and eut, the support rails (0) to fmal length to fit .nugly be-lween the uprights. Then they can be glued andclamped into the groove. in the top and middlerails,

S(,,,

Fig. 7.

THE PANEL

Now the 'Y," plywood panel con

be eut

to

size.

This panel is ripped to

a

width of 13" and cut to length 80 it fits tight between

the uprights,

TRIM CAl'S.

To

cove,'the exposed edge.

ot

thepanel, Iadded solid-woodtrlm caps. Tomount these caps, Ii.'l!!rou;",.bbots on

both

taces ofthe panel to

produce

V... K

110'

tongues on the top and bottom edgell

ot

the panel, sec Fig. 8.

Rip the

trim

caps to a

width

oro/,,",

and to length to match the length of the panel. Then cut a groove down the center

o

t

the trim cap to fit the tongue on the panel,

CfliUlf'ER TRIi\tCAP. No," the trim Cl\pS

eon

be

glued and damped to the edges of the panel. Then use the chamfer bit to rout a

45°

ehamfer on the iJl$ide edges of the trim caps, see fig. 9.

ThL. chamfer should be po..itioned ... it leaves a Ilo"-wide shoulder next to the joint tine between the cap and the panel. (It'. best here to sneak up on this cut to make sure you don't cut too deep and ex-pose the plywood'. inner eere.)

FINAL SUPS

When the panel is complete, mount it to thc support. rails by drimng pilot hole. through the back of the rails, and t1tre"ing it in place with No. 8K 1y." Fh sere

w

s,

>lOI:!<'TtSG HOLES. Before applying the finish. locate and predrill holes

tor

the y."

bolts used 10mount the upright~tothe bed frame.

FL'1'$IIL"G. Finally, 1fmi8h·sa nded .11 surfaces otthe headboard, being CarefIJI

to

not roundoverthe crisp edges of the

cham-fers. Then J applied three coats of

Den

interior

finish, eanding

between

eeats

13

\

VOODSMITH

want to avoid.)

CUTSlUE TOWIUTII.HopefUlly the cabi

-net h

as

been built ,L<planned -with

open

-ings 61«"high. If it is, rip the stock for the

drawer sides and backs to

a

width of6~·.

Ifthe opening is larger or smaller than

planned, the drawers can still bemade, but

the dovetails

won't

have

tbe

proper spac

-ing. And, because of the way the dovetail

jig works, the dovetail 00the bottom edit.

will be affected the most. It may be only

partially cut, and thus it "ill look a litlle

oddand will be8Iitlle weak. but thedraw.

ers will hold together.

CtlTSII)ElITOI_.~SGTII.Aile the drawer

sides are cuI to width, they can be cut to

length. This is basically

a "C"t

to fit"

oper-ation. ThlltlR,

thedrawer

sides

must

be

cut,

to length .0 the 3s.~enllileddrawer fits the

depth ofihe

cabhwt. .. wuh a

little

clenr-ance between the back of the drawer and

the back of the cabinet.

To do this, first meas ure the depth ofthe

cabinet. Then subtract the thickness or

the

drawer front ('V,.')and drawer back (~"')•

add on th~ length of the dovetails (they

overlap on the fronL and back • total of

~"), and finally .ubtNICI Lbe amount of

clearance needed at the back (usually

;4'"

is

sufficlent). Then

cut

the-drawer sides

to length.

Cl7l'IJACK "I,,()1~f.N(;.'PII,Next, the drawer

back can be cut to length. This isrelatively

easy to determine.' on the drawers in the

chest and night stand beeause the length of the back is equal to the length of the

drawer's front.

The length of the front is determined by measuring the width of the cabinet

open-ing and subtracting an amount ror

clear-counts ror drawer sideo thaLare 6y,," high

and Kl- for clearance. These are not

arbi-In\fj' dimensions.

I)OVETAILSPACING.The 614" height for'

the

drawer sides produces propel' spacing

for the dovetail jOitlt when

i

t

'

fi

cut. \vith a

router and dovetail jig. rl'hi~"proper

spae-lng" means that tho dovetail. are evenly

spaced on the drawer side

"·ith

a halfpin on

the top edge and a half pin on the bottom

edge, as shown in fig. I.

Shop Note: The smallest width for a

drawer side when the dovetailjig isusedis

I~". FT'Omhere the "idth of the sides can

increase in increments

of~·.

and sl.iU

have

proper spacing for the routed dovetails.

One of these incrementa 1S6Y"If, Another is

4YA" -

the

dimension used

ror the

drawer

in the night stand.

CL&,IltANCE.Also included in Lheheight.

of thedrawer

opening is n clea

r

ance of ~

"

.

This. allows Yl~'for clearance between the

top edge of the drawer and the web frame

aboveit. plus VOl" for the head of the nylon gUde that the bottom edge of the drawer

side rides on, see

.-'ig.

1.

These two allowances demonstrate the

importance of planning ahead - you have

to know how the drawer is going to be built

a"d

how It's to

be

mounted. Bx using a

nylon glide, you have to plan ahead for the

YlCt' space that it requires. So, we're d

eal-ing with rather sma]] lQlcrnnces for the cabinet openings.

[r

there's much more than Y1~"clearance above the drawer,

it

"ill tend to drop down

too much when it's opened. (You know the

feeling when you open a drawer and the

front drops - there'. that sudden fear and

quick move to catch it, That.'s what )'OU

'rhe drawers used on the chest and the

night stand shown in this issue

are

1Ilittie

out of the ordinary; We wanted to keep the

design clean and simple ... yet we

also

wa nted to build drawers that ...ere

inter-esting

from. woodworking standpoint.

To

make them interesting. we decided to

have absolulely cleandrawer fronts-not

even any drawer pulls. Instead, the lower

edge of the drawer front has a concealed

CO\'t

which

is used to open tile

drawer,

This feature had to be taken into

con-sideration for the design of Ihe cabinet

as

well as the

d:..

we

r;

The

dr

awe

r

f''O''t

h

ils 10

extend down fa,'enough to allow room fo,·

the cove, see Fig. I.At the same time, the

cabinet has to be designed so

rnere's

enough clearance to allow you to get your

finlters Into the eoved lip.

JU this de.ign took shape, what we were

really dOing was designing the

che

s

t

around the drawers.

Or

more precisely,

desiln'ing the openings in the chest for

specific drawers.

After

all the design considerations

were

worked out, there was still the practical

mauer

or building the drawers. This

In-volved two basic

dec

i

sions

:

1) the

con-struction (joinery) that would beused fo,'

the drawers, and 2) the method used to

mount them in tbe cabinet (the guide

sy!lU!m).

DRAWER CONSTRUCTION

JU

far as

the construction of these drawers

isconcerned. I built them using 414

mahog-any for the drawer fronts and ~"~yca",ore

for the sldes and backs.

USing two different wood. like this is •

common practice. The drawer

rront

Is

made with the same wood used for the "est

of the cabinet (mahogany in this

ens.

of the

projcoUl in this issue). Then the sides and

back are made of inexpensive stock. (We

usually

use

~"

sycamore or poplar for the

• ides and bJICk because tbese "'()()ds are

downril!ht cheap around bere. and they're

also easy to work with.)

DEIGnTOF OPE:''l.\'G.To build the

draw-ers for the chest, I started with the side.

and back. The first step here i. to rip 1'.'

stock to width so i~fits the height of Ihe

opening In the eabinet. 'That.soundssimple

enough, bllt the most 'important thing

about building drawers is the plannlngthat

precedes this measurement.

Tho height of the opening should aetu-ally be determined when the cabinet i. in

the de,iln' and planniog SIB!!".

The

.hest

of drawers is designed with

oponings that are 61«" high, which

ae-I"YU" •

V

, CHAW'Ea

i

fO' fOG!

:~

' ...CUAtAHCf

,-

=

,

":~

f

['~

.'

.

~

,

e

,OR~WIRfRONI OVlRLAt'S RAil Ir." _~

[J-':

~

---

_----

...

_-

.

_---

----~

-Ifi

'

r

'i..,·CLEARANCE

,

',!

_?r"~'

..

I

'It~COVE

'

(

NYlON GUOf

Building Drawers

WOODSMITH

The only problem is that the last dovetail

has Wbecompleted. 'lbdo this, replace the

drawer front with a piece of scrap wood,

and continue routing.

see

Fig. 7. (The

scrap wood will help to prevent chip-cut on

the

drawer

side as

the last dovetail is

routed.)

ROL'TCO\1-!. When these joints are com

-plete, the \" cove can be routed on tbe

bottom edge .fthe drawer fronts. [did this

on IIrouter table.

Then I chamfered the top edge at 45'.

This allows a IIltie oxtrn space to get your

fingers int.o the cove to open the drawer,

Before Msembling the drawer, I also

rounded over the lop edges of the drawer

sides with a l'i!"l"O\lnd..oveJ· bit. This is not

8

n

eeess

ar

v ste

p

, b

u

t,

it.tIoOftens the edges of

the sides, and il just looks nicer when you

open the drawer.

MOUNTING THE80noM

The last step in making the drawer is toeut

the gt"OO\'c,W mount the drawer bottom;

Again, this n!quire" planning ahead. The

gt"OO'

-es

should be positioned

so

1) they

don't create a gap that', visible on the

outside ofthc drawer, and 2)

so

the drawer

botwm is high enough toleave room forth.

runne

r

that's part. of the guide system.

For these drawers,

I

positioned the

groove so it's

W'

from the botlom edge of

the drawer Ride. see I'-'ig. 4. 'rhis. un

-fortunat<Jly,

c

rea

tea

a

8mallgIIPon the back joint, sec fig. 4.

This was bound to happen on the ••

drawers because of the orrset pattern of

the dovetail joints. Itcan beprevented by

cutting a stopped groove on the drawer

beck.

but Idecided Icould live with a

small

gIIP on the baek joint.

• I fIGU~E6

,

OAClC .. COVIiR ~

I

L

.

.,

Basically, w set up tho cut for the back

and side, mount the drawer back on top of

thejig and the drawer side on the front on

lbe jig, see Fig.

5.

Thenrout the dovetails

in the normaJ ".ay.

When the routing is complete on the

drawers for the chest, there should be

seven dovetaits centered on the drawer

side with

a

half-pin on the top and bottom

edge.

So

far,

so

good.

JOINT fOR fRONT

Normally, Ihe joil1t that joins the drawer

front and the side. would be no big deal

either, But.rOJ'th(!se drawers, the side has

W be olTset to 011ow for the ')'i,"lip on the

top edge ofthe drawer front. (This is VOl"

for Lhe

clearance

and

V,

for the

over

lap

of

the web f.1I.10e,refer to t'ig. 1.) Also. the

dOVetailShave to .wp before getting tothe

bouom edj(e of the drawer front

to

allow

Vo" for the

110"cleeranee

and the W"cove. Seuing up the dovetail jig tc cut this

ofrset joint. presents some challenges.

\Vbat Iwound up doing was cutting !he

jO'int in t\\'0

~teps.

The first step is to clamp tbe drawer

front on the topside oftbejig inthe normal

manner (with the inside race up and the LOp

edge of the drawer against the pia). How

-ever,W create the

'

y,,'

lipon the top edge of

the drawer Iront, thedrawerside isjogged

OVCJ' with

a

o/a,," shim, sec Fig. 6.

Now the dovclllils enn be routed ...

until you ge~

to

the last pin. Stop before

"rounding thecorner" t-o complete the last

pin. \Vha\t you 'VUJlt to do here is complete

the last dovet.ail without making another

socket in the drawer front. This wiu leave

room forthe eove on the bottom edge ofthe

drawer front.

14

J

--e

....

-NUMa •• IHDK:AnS WMKHDI~WfR LeRttR I,..OICAfts-ICM COINER ~!. • 1

.,.

anee. Some people allow as muCh as ~" on

each side (or

a

wtal of Yt'") for

clearance.

I

think this is too much and makes for a

sloppy drawer. Iusually make !he wtal

clearance no more than y,,- (or Yt.... on each side).

CL'TfRO~"'TO WIDTH. The only thing len

is to eut the drawer front to width (height).

.,,\g shown in f'ig. 1,the drawer front over

-hips tho web frames above and below it.

Measure the opening between these

Irames nnd add ~N overlap forthe top web

frame, and n total of ~" for Ute bottom

frame (this I.Yo"for the overlap and \1:" for

the

co

v

e).

"tAnK FOlt ASSt:bllll ..Y. when all tl\e

pieces rOl'the drawers are cut to

fin

a

l

size,

it helps to mark them to keep thing<

straight - especially when the joints are

going

to

be routed on dovetail jig.

BasicaUy, you have W mark both ends of

each piece

to

indicate whichdrawer it's for

and whieh joint on that drawer it is.

One

system te use is to mark each piece as

shown in Fig. 2.

The .. marluo should be on the faee that

will be on the inside or the drawee; because

this is the fa,.. that will be visible when the

pieee is placed on the dovetail jig.

JOIN SIDES AND BACK

\Vhen 1111the pieces are cut to size and

marked, the next step is to join these

pieces

to

[Ol"lllthe drawers,

Sta

r

t

by rout-ing the dovetail. to join the back with the

two side •. (This i. ~he cosiest joint to cut.)

As mentioned above, 1 planned to use a

router and adovctailjigto cut thesejoints.

(A complete explanation of how

to

set.it up

and use • dovetail jig is covered in a de