Larry Edgerton
01-06-2014, 6:50 PM
I was building some very large, very deep drawers today, box jointed with slated sides, and two different heights for front and back. The box joints fit very tightly, and by the time I had enough clamps on it to pull it all together I could not get a diagonal clamp on to pull it square.
So..... I took a piece of white oak 1 5/8 square, a leftover spindle on the stairs I just finished and cut a 3/4" x3/4" dado down the middle. Then I took a chamfer bit and cut a 45 inside the dado to give me clearance for the ears on my 1/2" box joints. This allowed me to straddle the corner with my first two clamps on a diagonal and still pull the corner together both ways, adjusting it for square with the two clamps.
Then I could flip it over and clamp up the top side and it is already square. Like I said these were big drawers, and take ten Bessey clamps each. I had to flip it back over and take off the corner clamps so the V-blocks did not stick to the drawer, but tomorrow I may make a set out of Versatek so I can just leave them there. It worked pretty well, and with a normal drawer it would be a piece of cake.
Larry
So..... I took a piece of white oak 1 5/8 square, a leftover spindle on the stairs I just finished and cut a 3/4" x3/4" dado down the middle. Then I took a chamfer bit and cut a 45 inside the dado to give me clearance for the ears on my 1/2" box joints. This allowed me to straddle the corner with my first two clamps on a diagonal and still pull the corner together both ways, adjusting it for square with the two clamps.
Then I could flip it over and clamp up the top side and it is already square. Like I said these were big drawers, and take ten Bessey clamps each. I had to flip it back over and take off the corner clamps so the V-blocks did not stick to the drawer, but tomorrow I may make a set out of Versatek so I can just leave them there. It worked pretty well, and with a normal drawer it would be a piece of cake.
Larry