Installation question on drawer pulls.

[Bryan Berguson]

I want to install these as drawer pulls for a captains bed.
http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/hardware/handlesframespulls/02g1305s1b.jpg

The directions simple say to glue them in.

The drawer fronts were made from air dried maple trees that were cut down from my parents front yard. It's been drying at least 12 years but I think I still need to be careful about movement. The are 3/4" thick by 10" x 22".

The hole needs to be 7/16ths deep and I can oversize it a little because the lip is about 3/16ths all the way around.

I'm leaning towards putting epoxy in the bottom of the hole only and not trying to glue the sides to possible moving wood. Does this sound reasonable? Or, am I overthinking this and should make a snug fit and glue every possible contact point.

Any help would be appreciated.

Bryan

[David Kreuzberg]

Bryan-

I used the same pulls for shop cabinet drawers a few years ago.

Don't worry about wood movement, as (I assume) the grains run in the same direction.

I made templates (essentially a rectangle with a rectangular hole for the pull) from scrap 1/2" baltic birch ply. The hole was a little larger in both dimensions to account for the difference between the plunge router collar O.D. and the router bit O.D. Make the template from four pieces, rather than try to cut a hole in a solid piece of plywood; just glue the four pieces and sand off any squeeze out when the glue is dry.

Set the plunge router depth, clamp the template to the drawer front and rout out for the pull. I set the depth at exactly the depth of the pulls and applied glue to the back of the pull.

kreuzie

[Jamie Buxton]

Those pulls are intended for use in plywood. You have solid lumber fronts, so you have the opportunity to do somethinge better. Why not lose those pulls, and rout your own directly into your solid lumber? It'd be a cleaner appearance.

[Bryan Berguson]

Those pulls are intended for use in plywood. You have solid lumber fronts, so you have the opportunity to do somethinge better. Why not lose those pulls, and rout your own directly into your solid lumber? It'd be a cleaner appearance.


I'd really like to do it this way but I have zero room for error... It's the last of the wood, none of it was flat so it's been sawn, reglued and belt sanded with a planer belt to get it flat *almost*. A couple of the fronts are less than 3/4 because of this but the drawers will be inset so I'm adjusting with the slides.

Not saying I won't do it this way, but will need a little pushing and encouragement to do it...

Bryan

[Bryan Berguson]

Bryan-

I used the same pulls for shop cabinet drawers a few years ago.

Don't worry about wood movement, as (I assume) the grains run in the same direction.

I made templates (essentially a rectangle with a rectangular hole for the pull) from scrap 1/2" baltic birch ply. The hole was a little larger in both dimensions to account for the difference between the plunge router collar O.D. and the router bit O.D. Make the template from four pieces, rather than try to cut a hole in a solid piece of plywood; just glue the four pieces and sand off any squeeze out when the glue is dry.

Set the plunge router depth, clamp the template to the drawer front and rout out for the pull. I set the depth at exactly the depth of the pulls and applied glue to the back of the pull.

kreuzie

Thanks Dave! That's good advice on building the template. I was going to try and cut a hole the correct size but building one in makes more sense. Wood glue or epoxy?

Still not sure I'm going to use these pulls but I think I'm better prepared now if I do.

Bryan

[Bryan Berguson]

Well, after thinking this over I'm going to take Jamie's advice and route the pulls directly into the drawer fronts.

My drawers are 3/4 solid pine - all 4 sides. I'll *fix* the thickness problem by glueing a 5x5x3/8 piece of maple to the back of the maple fronts - exactly behind where the pulls will be routed. I'll have to route a matching hole in the pine.

I'll find something else to use the other pulls for.

Bryan