Tall Chest of Drawers - Stiles
I‘ve cut the stiles, the four upright corner pieces, to size leaving an extra couple of inches at the top end until I cut the mortises near the top end. They are within a half inch of the stile tops, and I don’t want them to break out while I’m cutting them.
Figure 1
I mark on each stile the location and orientation it will have in the dresser. This very important, since it’s easy to get confused while working on the individual stiles. I’m particularly careful since the front stiles are mirror images, the back stiles are mirror images and each pair of the front and back stiles must match. I clamp the stiles together (Figure 1) to make the measurements from the bottom end of the stiles. (Figure 2) I tack a board to the end to make the measuring easier. I mark the location on the stiles of the sixteen mortises to be cut and double check my dimensions.
Figure 2
Once I’ve marked the location and size of each mortise, I begin cutting the mortises with a 3/8″ diameter brad point drill on my drill press. (Figure 3) Then I will cut out the remaining wood from the mortises with a wood chisel.
Figure 3
