Installing mortise locks in tight spaces

[Chad Bender]

I'm part way through building a Stickly 732 sideboard (see diagram below), and am trying to solve a dilemma regarding installing mortise locks in the stack of four middle drawers. I've installed mortise locks in cabinets before, but never in places with tight clearances. The bulk of the cabinet is constructed and glued up. The horizontal pieces separating each of the middle drawers are full frames that sit in stopped dados in the vertical frames, and have currently been dry fitted but not glued in place. The four small drawers are also constructed. They will ride on traditional 3-point wooden slides (one on each side, one down the bottom middle).

Mortising the pockets for the locks in the drawer fronts is obviously no problem. But I'm having trouble figuring out how to make the small holes in the frame dividers that will capture the locking bolt when the lock is locked.

My original plan was to mark and cut these in the frames before I glue them in place (so that I can do it on my bench). However, now I'm concerned that getting the drawer fronts and the divider fronts all perfectly flush with the cabinet front will be nearly impossible unless I physically glue these frames in now.

Option one is to mount the locks in the drawers, precisely measure the bolt position, transfer said measurement to the frames, cut the holes, and hope for teh best.

Option two is to glue in the frames now and then use the locks themselves to mark the location of the holes. This option has the advantage that I can precisely tweak the drawer front positions before cutting the lock bolt holes. But I'm concerned about how to actually cut these (now upside down) holes. Each drawer is only 4" tall, so I'd need a tool (drill, chisel, etc) that can fit in that space.

Any ideas from someone who's done this before would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

Chad

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=226396&d=1331082248

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi Chad,Have you seen lie Nelson's drawer lock chisels? Will that help

[Chad Bender]

Hi Chad,Have you seen lie Nelson's drawer lock chisels? Will that help

Those look ideal. I had no idea such things existed. Now to find one that's less than $75!

[Mike Wilkins]

I would suggest a modification to option 1. dry fit the case/dividers and make sure everything is square. Build the drawers, install the locks and transfer the bolt location to the dividers. Then you can dis-assemble the unit and cut the bolt holes.
Or you could just build the drawers, lay the dividers on the drawers (after finding the center of the dividers), and cut the holes. They will be made slightly oversize anyway, so any side to side layout errors will not be found in the finished piece.
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[Mike Cutler]

Hi Chad,Have you seen lie Nelson's drawer lock chisels? Will that help


Well how about that !
I have a set of drawer chisels I picked up in an antique store years ago and never knew what they were actually used for until today.:o
Thank you Andrew.

PS.
They're pretty handy to have around, even if you don't use them for drawer chisels.:eek:

[Jamie Buxton]

A slot cutting bit in a router will do this. It won't cut a rectangular hole, but rather one with scooped ends. The lock tongue doesn't care about the ends.

[Mike Henderson]

Old drawer lock chisels come up for sale on eBay every now and then. I bought one from there some years ago. But I assume you need one now so that's not much help.

Mike

[They can be hard to find because often the seller does not know what they are - so they can't give an accurate description.]