Drawer Advice

[Wallis Hampson]

Need some advice. I am building a hall table with a one piece front apron (aprox 4.5" tall) with 3 INSET drawers so the openings have to be perfect. I would like to use the cut-out pieces for the actual drawer fronts but not set in stone on that. I will probably use the table saw for the horizontal cuts.... stop short and finish with a handsaw. The real question is what is the best way to make the vertical cuts in the apron so that they are dead square. The way I had planned it was to use a coping saw and then rasp, chisel and file to get them straight and square. If there is an easier or more acurate way...I'm all ears.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

If you're set on using the same wood for the drawer fronts and the apron, I've seen some really nice results done this way by resawing the board - either into two pieces, one for the apron front and one for the drawer fronts, or slicing a thick veneer or thin slab off the front of the apron, and using that to veneer the drawer fronts; this can get you a closer match without dealing with the sawkerf, and makes making those interior cuts a little easier because you've no longer got to worry about saving both pieces of wood. I've never done anything like this on a such a large scale, but I did matching pickup covers for an electric guitar using the wood I resawed for the top and it worked quite well. Until I totally buggered the pickup cover and had to make a new one.

you could also fill the gap left by the sawkerf by using applied molding or banding around the edges of the drawer fronts. This gets you a little more room to work, and if you're cuts aren't totally straight you can square things up and still compensate. This method would probably require an applied drawer front using your show wood onto another, slightly larger piece, of course.

The other thing that comes to mind for me for getting a nice seamless look would be to rip the apron piece into three pieces, two narrow strips and a wider central portion, and then crosscut the central portion to get your drawer fronts, and glue up the strips and the remnants of the center piece to make your apron with holes. The advantages here are that it allows you to easily clean up the inner edges of the "holes" for the draw front with a shooting board and a handplane, and do the same to fit the drawer fronts. A shooting board is my favorite way to perfectly fit the drawer fronts.

[Jim Rimmer]

The other thing that comes to mind for me for getting a nice seamless look would be to rip the apron piece into three pieces, two narrow strips and a wider central portion, and then crosscut the central portion to get your drawer fronts, and glue up the strips and the remnants of the center piece to make your apron with holes. The advantages here are that it allows you to easily clean up the inner edges of the "holes" for the draw front with a shooting board and a handplane, and do the same to fit the drawer fronts. A shooting board is my favorite way to perfectly fit the drawer fronts.

This is how I would do it.

[Steve Baumgartner]

+1 about ripping and then reassembling. Unless you do that, you will have to use a very narrow kerf blade to avoid having excessively large gaps around the drawer front. Plus, as noted, you would otherwise have almost no margin for cleaning up the edges without widening the gaps.

[Jim Matthews]

That's the way I made my hall table. You should still be prepared to use a handplane to get the clearance correct in the opening.

228518

[steven c newman]

Ok, another option, if you will. When i made a table with a floating top, the drawer and apron's grain matched perfectly. I cut out the drawer front with a saw(s) and added a bead around the opening in the apron. The bead takes up the saw kerfs left in the apron. Drawer slides in, and the grain matches. I used a plunge cut with a circ saw ( Kerf? Remember the bead work) for the top and bottom cuts. A coping saw started the end cuts, and a sabresaw finish them up. Nailed in the bead, after a quick round-over with a block plane. Mitered the corners, as well.

The problem I have with the multi-piece rip cuts, is in the glueing them back together. Slippage can ruin a good alignment of the grain. Saw kerfs can alter where the grain will match up, as well. No matter how thin a blade you use, those pesky lines will not quite match up. Then there is the glue lines a-showing up as well.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

I did this for the first time earlier this year. I ripped the board into 3 pieces with a bandsaw. Cleaned up the individual pieces with a hand plane. Then cross cut out the drawers with a backsaw to make a minimal sized kerf. I did have to go to the shooting board to cleanup the pieces and I lost a little more material then I would have liked.

Here is the finished project:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6833487579_dd9d83b6e2.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/93434731@N00/6833487579/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/93434731@N00/6833487579/) by eyekode (http://www.flickr.com/people/93434731@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6833485035_7309183373.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/93434731@N00/6833485035/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/93434731@N00/6833485035/) by eyekode (http://www.flickr.com/people/93434731@N00/), on Flickr

I really like the effect and my next desk I will do similarly.
Salem

[Danny Hamsley]

I agree with ripping the subject board into three pieces, a narrow strip for the top of the apron, a narrow strip for the bottom of the apron, and the drawer front stock in the middle. Re-assemble the pieces leaving the opening for the drawer. This way, everything matches up perfectly. You oversize the length and width to allow for the saw kerf.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

To avoid slippage when gluing something that needs to be aligned perfectly, I often drive a couple small brads into the wood, and clip the ends some nippers, maybe refile the expose end into a point if the woods hard enough. This double ended brad is just enough to keep things aligned while I clamp them.

Certainly re-gluing and avoiding tell-tale grain mismatching is greatly dependent on the woods grain and figure to begin with - some pieces will be more forgiving than others. Leave the piece a little longer than needed; often sliding things around slightly off from where they "came from" will get you a better match. Some wood grains and figures just won't be very forgiving of this - if you can get the grain running pretty perpendicular to the cut line you life will be easier. The fewer openings you have, the easier this will be, as well.

As Steve said, and I kind of alluded to in my original reply, if you decide you have to cut out the holes directly from the the piece, adding an applied bead or banding or something, to either the fronts or the opening, will help make up wood lost in the kerf.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

One more point on this: Layout your drawers on the board before you rip it. Then make cabinet maker's marks (triangles) on the places that must be reassembled. Since I had 2 drawers I had 3 marks to make. This helps re-align at glue-up time for the 3 ripped pieces.

Good luck!
Salem

[Wallis Hampson]

After much deliberation, I decided to use the method where the legs are actually the stiles for the outsides of the drawers. I really want to give a shout out to Danny Hamsley for the pecan lumber that I bought from him...as you can see this is very nice stuff and its always nice to have a one piece top when you can get it. I used some sap wood pieces for the legs and was able to bookmatch some nice mineral streaks in the tops of the front legs. Quartersawn pieces for the long drawers and a nice figured piece for the little center drawer. I made the pulls out of the pecan and dyed them black and then distressed them a little as the jet black was just a little more bold than I wanted. I turned a small knob for the center as to not take away from the figured piece. If the pulls look a little crooked, its becasue I only had one screw in them when I took these pictures. 3 ccoats of a tung oil/Belhen varnish/thinner mix and a coat of wax. I cant wait to give this to my daughter!

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[Jim Neeley]

Nicely done, Wallis.

[Jim Koepke]

Your daughter is sure to cherish this piece.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Gorgeous! Nice choice of wood, and i really like the cool stepped pulls. Proportions are very nice, too.

[Danny Hamsley]

Wow! That is awesome! I love the curve on the bottom of the top apron. And all the lines and the taper of the legs gives the piece a very nice flow. The small middle drawer is really cool. And, the one piece top is special!

Your daughter is going to love it. If I let you adopt me, would you make me one too :rolleyes:?

To see such a beautiful project made from wood that I sawed on my little sawmill is very satisfying. Meeting fellow woodworkers and making beautiful pieces is what it is all about....

[Wallis Hampson]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Joshua, here is a more detailed picure of the pull. Spent about 4 hours making them believe it or not. Not a 90 degree line anywhere and the hard part was trying to get them symetrical with each other. You can't tell from this top view but even the small stepped out area is beveled to make it easier to grab. Well, she's in a box and heading to Fedex to ship it half way across the country. I hope the delivery guys dont destroy it!233284

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Wallis

As Joshua recommends, three (or four) pieces are needed for the tightest fit ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/TheEndFinisAbsolutelDone_html_54233f53.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/TheEndFinisAbsolutelDone_html_m40b66db1.jpg

Shoot it clean, and it will be seemless.

Regards from Perth

Derek