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.
Posted by Chuck at 03:50:53 | Permalink | No Comments »

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 »

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Carcass Assembly

Parts for One Side of Dresser

Here’s the layout of the parts of one side of dresser: the stiles, the top and bottom rails, the two panels and the mullion separating the panels. The next step is to locate and drill the holes for the pegs that secure the mortise and tenon joints.

1/4″ (.63cm) Diameter Hole for Peg

For all the joints I use a quater inch diameter hole (.63cm). I drill all the holes 1″ (2.5cm) deep, deep enough to pass into the far side of the mortise. A 5/16″ (.8cm) diameter hole and peg would have worked just as well. I do not drill the hole in the tenon at the same time.

Locating the Hole in the Tenon

To locate the peg hole in the tenon I clamp the two parts together to insure a tight fit. With the brad point drill I used to drill the holes, I mark the center of the hole on the tenon while it is clamped. (The tape on the drill bit is to insure the holes are the same depth, in this case one inch.)

Marked Center Location on Tenon

The circled dimples show the location of the hole, but I DO NOT drill at this location. I drill the peg holes in the tenon about 1/32″ (.8mm) toward the base of the tenon from the marked location.

Offset Holes for Mortis and Tenon Joint

The holes in the tenon are now slightly offset toward the base of the tenon. (This photo exaggerates the offset. If the offset is too great, the peg will break or deform too much to pass into the hole on the far side of the mortise.) When the peg is driven into the hole, it will pull the tenoned piece tight into the joint.

Peg with Grooves

I make the pegs from maple dowels. I cut them 1 1/4″ ( 3.2cm) long, 1/4″ (.6cm) longer than the depth of the hole. First I bevel the end of the pegs so that they will not get hung up on the offset hole in the tenon. Then with a pair of pliers I indent some glue relief grooves on the pegs to allow any extra glue to escape. I don’t make the grooves the whole length of the peg because I don’t want any indentations to show up when I cut the peg off even with the finished surface.

The next step is to glue and clamp the pieces together.  First I glue the top and bottom rails to the mullion and peg them.  Then I insert a panel into the grooves in the assembled rails and mullion.  Next I assemble one stile and the rails with its panel.  I tap in the pegs for those joints.  Finally, I assemble the second stile and the rails with its panel.  I peg those joints.  Even though the pegs are holding the mortise and tenon joints securely, I clamp the whole assembly until the glue dries. 

Posted by Chuck at 18:32:00 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Dry Assembly of Carcass Framing Members

Dry Assembly of Carcass

I put together the carcass frame members to make certain everything fits and is square.  This is the stage for the first chest of drawers I showed last October 15th.  The next task is to cut the grooves in the side members to receive the panels.  If I haven’t mentioned it, I label every piece of wood identifying its name, location, matching joints, what side is up, whether its on the left or right, front or back.  I’m fairly good at imagining shapes in three dimensions, but when the parts are unassembled it’s difficult at times to remember their orientation in the assembled configuration, especially with the usual interruptions. 

Cutting Grooves to Receive Panels

Panel Grooves in Side Members

A few years ago I put a 4 ft. x 4 ft blackboard in my studio.  It’s made of 1/4″ Masonite painted with chalk board paint.  It is indepensible.  For this project I can write out the order of making parts and sketch the details I’m working on.  I only have to look up to check orientations, dimensions and what to do next.  Sometimes I even sketch a nude to start the day right.

My Helpful Blackboard

Posted by Chuck at 02:26:42 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Tenons

Tenon

I have cut all the mortises in the stiles. Next I cut the tenons on the connecting pieces. The shoulders have to be cut very carefully so that they match all the way around the tenon. Part of the strength and all of the appearance of the mortise-tenon joint depend on the shoulders resting flat against the surface around the mortise. I even up the slightly rough surface of the cheeks of the tenon with a chisel. There are other ways to cut tenons depending on the tools available. (The photograph doesn’t show it, but I always clamp the piece to be cut to the miter fence. I also use a stop on the fence to make sure all the cuts are the same. Follow all the safety recommendations for the tools you use.)

Tenon Readied to Fit

I have marked the tenon (5 in this case) to match to a specific mortise. There are sixteen joints, and they are not all the same dimension. It’s easy to get confused. Here I have evened the cheeks with a sharp chisel. I also have shortened the tenon by about 1/16″ (15mm.) The reason for this is to allow a little space at the bottom of the joint where any excess glue can go. I chamfered the leading edge of the tenon to make it easier to fit into the mortise.

I now go back to corresponding mortise and clean it up so that the tenon fits snugly, but not too tight. If the joint fit is too tight, there is no way for the entrapped air in the mortise to get by the sticky glue. The tenon will be thoroughly and only partially stuck in the mortise. No amount of hammering will drive it all the way into the mortise, nor can it be extracted without drilling a relief hole into the mortise from the side. In the meantime, the glue is drying. Talk about a headache.

There are several websites that cover the fashioning of joints, but the single best book I’ve ever found that covers the making of all joints is Woodworking Techniques: joints and their applications by R. J. DeCristoforo published by Reston Publishing Co., Inc. Reston, Virginia. This book is long out of print, but you can find it on the web for less than $10US. The author was a talented craftsman and prolific writer of how to books.

Posted by Chuck at 05:38:20 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers - Mortises in Stiles

Cleaning Out the Mortises

Having drilled 3/8″ diamenter holes in the mortise locations to the correct depth with a drill press, I clean the mortises out with a hammer and chisel.
Posted by Chuck at 05:03:32 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Thursday, February 7, 2008

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

Posted by Chuck at 05:41:04 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Tall Chest of Drawers

Selecting Lumber

I’m going to build another dresser like the first, save for a few minor changes.  Since there has been so much interest in this project, I decided to photograph and post more details of its construction.  The first thing, of course, is to select the maple lumber.  In Albuquerque there is only one source of supply, Albuquerque Hardwoods.  They treat their customers like there isn’t any competition too.  A few months back when we purchased wood at Albuquerque Hardwoods, two or three warehouse hands stood around us admonishing us that we weren’t to go any deeper in a stack than three layers to select lumber.  This happened twice.  This time the warehouse hands were strangely silent.  In these kinds of male dominated unfriendly environments, I always take my wife.  It keeps the testosterone in check.  The woman in the pink jacket is Cathy, my wife.  She also thinks better on her feet than I do.

Selecting wood here is not like picking it off a shelf or out of bin in a big box store like Home Depot or Loews.  In those stores the widths, thicknesses and lengths are standard and wood in the U.S. is either Ponderosa Pine or Southern Yellow Pine for construction and Boxwood and Red Oak for project uses.  For other wood species, there are places like Albuquerque Hardwoods.  The wood is planed to thickness two sides and has an even rip on one edge.  The widths are random.  The lengths in a bundle are about the same.  This time the planks were 14 ft (4.3m) long. The lengths can be 8 ft (2.4m), 10 ft (3m) or 12 ft (3.7m.)  It was tricky carrying two 14 ft (4.3m) planks in a pickup truck with a 6ft (1.8m) bed.  The uncertainty about the lengths makes it hard to prepare a layout of the required wood ahead of time.  I planned on 10 ft lengths, so we had to do some recalculating on the spot.

Laying Out the Parts

When I got back to my studio, I laid out the furniture pieces on the boards.  As luck would have it, I could not have planned it better - no waste.  The 6 quarter thick boards (3.8cm) were a different matter.  Last time the lumberyard had 5 ft (152cm) lengths from which I cut 57″ (145cm.)  This time the thick boards were 8 ft long, so I have enough left over for legs or the like on another project.

The maple lumber I bought was straight, but the grain runs almost entirely parallel to the wide surface, the least desirable configuration.  For furniture, I would have like a few pieces to be quarter sawn, the grain running perpendicular to the wide surface.  Somewhere, someone, somehow is

Posted by Chuck at 03:26:19 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Tall Chest of Drawers Finished

Original Concept for Tall Dresser, 55 3/4″ x 25 3/4″ (142cm x 65cm)

This was the original concept for the tall chest of seven drawers, sometimes called a longerie chest or semainier.  In my concept the drawers and hand holes diminish in size as they ascend.  Below is the finished dresser.  I have to varnish it yet.

Tall Chest of Drawers, 57″ x 26 1/2″ x 18 3/8″ (145cm x 67cm x  47cm), maple, poplar, red oak, pine plywood

Tall Chest of Drawers, detail

Tall Chest of Drawers, detail

Tall Chest of Drawers, detail

In addition to putting on a finish the only thing left to do is to build another one just like it.

Posted by Chuck at 19:20:39 | Permalink | Comments (2)