Saturday, May 17, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Drawers

To center the drawers from side to side in their spaces, I improvise a small guide and locate it in the middle of the stretcher. I make a tongue that will fit into the guide.

Drawer Guide, 2 1/2″ deep by 2 3/4″ wide (6.4cm x 7cm), oak

Tongue Glued to bottom of Drawer

Loaction of Guides

Slots in the drawer guides are made the same way as for the drawer rails. This time they allow for adjustment side to side, so that the drawer is centered in its space.
Posted by Chuck at 05:33:21 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, May 5, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Drawers

Oak Rail for Drawer

Slot in Rail to Allow Up and Down Adjustment of Drawer

Drawer Sliding on Rail

The drawers slide on the oak rail against the oak runner. Both can be turned over or replaced in the event of wear. The drawer does not slide on the web frame. There is about 1/8″ (3mm) clearance between the bottom and top of the drawer side and the adjacent web frame. To make putting the drawers in easier, I have tapered the front of the slide. This takes care of the up and down adjustment of the drawer. Next is the centering guide.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Drawers


Drawer Parts

Here are all the parts of the drawer before assembly. The red oak rails will attach to the front and back stiles.


Drawer Joints

Four brass, flat head screws will hold the red oak drawer slides to the drawer sides. Screws will hold the rail to the stiles. (See the photo below.)  The slide is inset in a groove so that the load in the drawer bears on the slide and not on the screws holding it in place.  In the event of wear on the slides and rails, they can be replaced easily. I could have used manufactured self closing drawer slides instead of the wood ones, but my client, my wife, wanted wood ones. There will be a self centering bracket on the drawer bottom to assure that the drawer is centered between the stiles in the closed position. I’ll show that detail later. Please be aware that there are several variations on drawer construction.  Any design must have a way to keep the drawer centered and level.  Cheap commercial construction short-cuts this feature.  If you want to see a good example in the flesh, visit a Stickley showroom.

Rail Detail Showing Adjustment Hole

The rails on which the drawers slide must be adjustable up and down.  This insures that the drawer front and drawer are centered in their space between the stretchers. and the narrow space between drawer fronts is uniform. (Remember, each drawer front in my design closes against the stretcher, which I have carefully placed.)  I do this by drilling a 1/2″ (1.3 cm) diameter hole with a brad point drill, deep enough so that the adjusting screw head will not interfer with the drawer slide. Then I drill three 3/16″ (.46 cm) holes side by side. With a file or Dremel tool, I smooth the three holes into a slot, which will allow for adjustment up and down.
Posted by Chuck at 05:25:18 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Monday, April 14, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Drawers

Using Porter & Cable Dovetail Jig Model 4211 to Cut Tails in Drawer Side

Last fall I replaced my Sears dovetail jig with a new $110 Porter & Cable jig.  Unless one makes drawers every day, these are very confusing jigs to use.  It is absolutely necessary to label all the parts of the drawer and their orientation - inside, outside, up, down, front, back.  Furthermore, I have never met a machine that doesn’t need some finessing.  (Even my 1995 Nissan pick up truck, though still nearly perfect, requires that I carefully hold the visor bracket with one hand while turning or lower the visor with the other hand, otherwise the bracket brakes.  I’m on my fifth or sixth visor.  I have to stop to do this, because I’m not good at driving with my knees.)

Shim Fix for Offset Bracket on my Porter & Cable Dovetail Jig

Here’s the finessing fix, a shim to adjust the offset bracket so that the top of the right hand drawer side and top of the drawer front line up.

Rabbeted Half-Blind Dovetails (Drawer Front Face Down)

Working slowly and carefully and talking to myself and triple checking and turning off the music, I got the dovetail joints for the seven drawers completed.

Labeling What Goes Where so Things Match Up

Label every operation on a drawer part, one operation at a time.  It you try to label all the operations at the same time, you will be hopelessly confused about which operation to do when.  Even labeling one at a time  can lead to mistakes.  For example, the groove is suppose to go where it says “groove.”  How could this possibly lead to mistake?  Easy.  On the saw I’ve put the wood piece with the note FACING UP so I could read it.  That means I did the operation on the WRONG SIDE.
Posted by Chuck at 05:34:51 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Drawer Parts

Cutting the Drawer Fronts to Length (saw guard up for clarity)

I have ripped all drawer sides (front, back, two sides) to their respective widths. With a simple jig attached to the miter guage, I cut the sides to length.



Layout for Drawer Front Pull Holes

All the curves for the pull holes have the same radius. For esthetic reasons, I decrease their size slightly on each drawer going upwards. Note that I have penciled in the orientation (out for outward face of drawer front, top for the top edge) to prevent mistakes. In the above photo the stick with the mark on it is a story stick. A story stick is used to transfer a measurement among the different parts. I’ve read this term in several books on furniture building, but the term doesn’t appear in the latest edition of my Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. The listings go from “story line” to “storyteller.”

Cutting out the Hand Holes


Smoothing the Sawn Edge with a 2″ (5cm) Diameter Drum Sander Mounted on a Drill Press

The Hand Holes Finished

The next step is to rabbet the sides of the drawer fronts in preparartion for making the blind dove tail joints, which will join the front and sides of the drawer.
Posted by Chuck at 05:10:37 | Permalink | No Comments »

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Tall Chest of Drawers Update

Tall Chest of Drawers, 57″ x 26 5/8″ x 18 1/4″ (145cm x 68cm x 46cm), maple, poplar, red oak, plywood



Tall Chest of Drawers, detail

The drawers are assembled. I am presently fitting the drawers in their openings. The drawer slides on the drawer side are red oak and slide along a red oak piece attached to the case, which can be seen in the empty space above the drawer. The slides and tracks are screwed in place and can be adjusted or replaced when worn. The drawers will not slide on the web frame. The drawer front extends beyond the lower part of the drawer to cover the web frame. That allows the hand hole to be clear at the top of each drawer.



Posted by Chuck at 06:45:51 | Permalink | Comments (3)