Dresser help

[Kent E. Matthew]

This is my first attempt at this kind of furniture. A mission style double dresser. Here is a photo of part of the glue up.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c56/Goose5/dresserphoto.jpg

The right side is perfectly fine. The left side is presenting a problem. It is slightly out of square. I would like to finish this project with inset drawers. Any tips and tricks and experience would be greatly appreciated.

Fall back plan make square drawer fronts to set on the outside of the face frame, or just finish it as planned. I'll probably be the only one that notices the problem.

[Jamie Buxton]

From that photo, I don't see a problem.

If the thing isn't too far out of square, you can make inset drawers to fit the frame. You fit each drawer to each hole, so it turns out they're not interchangeable. But they fit properly, and slide properly, and nobody will ever notice. If they do notice, you can explain that this is real handcrafted furniture -- each drawer is hand-fitted to the case. That's actually how furniture used to be before factories.

[Frank Drew]

For a piece of handmade furniture I'd hand fit the drawers, so even if they were all supposed to be nominally the same size I wouldn't attempt to make them interchangeable -- that's the point of hand fitting them to their specific openings. (For one thing, carefully choosing the grain for the drawer fronts would most often necessitate their going where they belong and not randomly, in any opening.)

Mark each drawer and drawer opening; a couple of stabs with a chisel to incise Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, etc. is a common marking method.

[Kent E. Matthew]

That is another secret of this chest. The openings are not all the same so I knew the drawers were not going to all be the same. I was thinking perhaps making the dovetails fit a little deep and sanding them to fit a little better. How can I assure the side will be straight after sanding?

[Kent A Bathurst]

..perhaps making the dovetails fit a little deep....How can I assure the side will be straight after sanding?

As one Kent to another:

2 ways I know of:

1] use an edge sander. I wish I had one for reasons exactly like this - fitting inset drawers and doors - but I don't. If I ever lose my mind and get roped into custom kitchen cabinets again, I'm telling her I need one to do the project - last time I had 33 doors w/ leaded glass, 11 doors doors with wood faces, and 11 drawers - all inset.

2] clamp the drawer to your TS miter gauge. Face down, with the "offending" edge toward the blade. Put sacrificial board between drawer and guage to manage potential tearout. Adjust guage angle as needed to match the case/frame, and trim the slightest bit off. Repeat if needed. Sand with solid hand block [not cork-faced].

If the angle you need is too delicate for the stops on your miter guage, then shim the "away" face of the guage with paper, business card, credit card, whatever. This is how I tune inset doors for bookcases [I don't trust my handplane skills over a 50" stile].

IMO - In the long run, you'll be happier with whatever results you get with inset drawers than you would with overlay drawers.

[Lee Schierer]

From that photo, I don't see a problem.

If the thing isn't too far out of square, you can make inset drawers to fit the frame. You fit each drawer to each hole, so it turns out they're not interchangeable. But they fit properly, and slide properly, and nobody will ever notice. If they do notice, you can explain that this is real handcrafted furniture -- each drawer is hand-fitted to the case. That's actually how furniture used to be before factories.

If you do hand fit the drawers to each space, be sure to number teh opening and the drawers so that they can always be put back in the correct opening. With eight drawers you have 384 possible combinations, 383 of which will be wrong.

[Russell Johnson]

I had the same problem on a project I'm working on. The cabinet got slightly out of square. I was able to do it with some tweaking to get them to inset properly. It will just take some playing with them to get them to fit.

[Bob Direso]

Kent, I cut the back and sides 1/16" shorter than the opening so all I'm trying to fit is the front. I cut the front exactly the same size as the opening which will not allow the front to enter the opening. Glue up the drawers then insert the drawer into the opening. Check where fit requires removing some edge wood by marking with a pencil line, then take a sharp handplane and gradually cut the front of each drawer to the line and fit each drawer individually. The process is time consuming requiring inserting and removing each drawer several times as a few slices with the plane gradually create a perfect fit. Aim for 1/16th" top and bottom spacing and 1/32" on the sides. The process is tedious but worth the effort to achieve a professional fit. Good Luck, Bob.