Input on how this drawer was constructed

[Phil Mueller]

Per the photo below, am I correct to assume that this is a veneered solid drawer front, trimed on all sides with the round over piece, and then the round over pieces are recessed into a notch/rabbet on the main drawer carcass?

384992

I’m wondering if you couldn’t get the same look by just laminating a half round bead around the perimeter of the drawer front and go with a half blind dovetail directly to the laminated drawer front.

[Matt Day]

Ive never seen a drawer like that. But the round over you mention is referred to as cock beading.

Applying a drawer front like that, laminated it appears making it very thick, detracts from the dovetailing IMO. If it’s an antique I suppose dovetailing was a structural element and not meant to be shown off as it is today.

[Dave Richards]

Commonly the cockbead would be applied as in this drawing (https://flic.kr/p/e8pK6A). The half blind dovetails are cut conventionally. The height of the drawer front is narrower than the height of the sides by twice the thickness of the cockbead and a rabbet is cut on the ends of the drawer front for the side cockbead. The beading is mitered where it joins its neighbors.

[Phil Mueller]

Matt and Dave, thank you very much for the proper term and the drawing. Exactly what I needed to know.

[Derek Cohen]

The drawer likely started life as through-dovetailed (it could have been half-blind - my choice, since this would leave a flatter surface). It was veneered with a double book-matching (in quarters), and then cockbeaded (the edges were rebated/rabbeted, and edging strips added with mitred corners).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom M King]

Seems odd to me that those pieces, top and bottom, were added after the cocksbeading.

[Dave Richards]

Seems odd to me that those pieces, top and bottom, were added after the cocksbeading.

What do you mean, Tom? Those pieces are the cockbeading.

[Tom M King]

See the end grain of the pieces that intersect the vertical, side cockbeading on the top and bottom of each drawer, and also go through the top, and bottom, dovetail pins? Maybe the top, and bottom cockbeading covers the whole drawer front, and only the outer fraction is mitered? I can see where longevity would be better like that, but doesn't look the best to me on the sides.

[Dave Richards]

Ah... I see what you're getting at. Normally the cockbeading would be mitered as shown in my illustration. You would see the end grain of the top and bottom pieces behind the side pieces.

[Tom M King]

I think the standard way, as in your drawing, probably looks more comfortable to me, but there are probably very few people that notice such things.