Jim Koepke
06-10-2019, 6:21 PM
This project was almost done before it occurred to me to document any of it.
It started with wanting a drawer to store my files so they wouldn’t be banging into each other.
It has been a few years since making any shop storage drawers. This same shelf unit gave up some space for some drawers almost 6 years ago:
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?208154
This drawer was made out of some ash and birch plywood for the bottom. Ash was also used for the dividers. This is another project with only a story stick for the plan.
With various breaks and time off, a few things changed as the project went along.
The dividers were almost finished before taking my camera out to the shop.
411186
The dividers were made from some ~1/8” ash scrap. The top edge was rounded with a molding plane The top corners were rounded and smoothed using the bandsaw followed by a low angle (wooden) spokeshave, fine rasps and sandpaper.
The marking for the saw cuts was actually done to all the pieces at one time.
After the initial marking they were set up against a couple of dogs and the mark for the sawing was made on both sides:
411187
Next one of my gauges with a pin profile that is good for slitting was used to mark the depth of the base:
411188
The gauge was used to make at least three passes on each side, increasing the depth with each pass.
After the saw did its work, a chisel was used to pop out the waste:
411189
Very little clean up was needed to fit these pieces snugly to the base.
Nine dividers makes ten spaces so naturally a pair of dividers was used to step off the spacing:
411190
This is done on the bottom side of the base. The lines were carried across to help line up the dividers after the shaft and countersink drilling was done on a drill press.
After the countersink and shaft clearance holes were drilled the individual dividers were held in a vise and the base was supported on some of the dividers and set on one to have pilot holes drilled. The lines carried across the base helped to center each divider to the screw holes. A square was used to square everything. A piece of tape on the drill bit for a depth stop. Notice the numbering and the orientation markings, these were also on the individual dividers to keep everything where it was meant to be:
411191
When the last divider was drilled the screws were installed while it was held in the vise. The screws were all waxed before starting. Waxing helps, especially with brass screws, when driving them in, even with screws this small. After the second divider, all the others were a breeze:
411192
Fortunately at one time a few #2 screws were needed for a small project. One of my philosophies is if you need 5 of something cheap, may as well buy 50. So there wasn’t any need to go buy any hardware. More on that later.
To be continued…
jtk
It started with wanting a drawer to store my files so they wouldn’t be banging into each other.
It has been a few years since making any shop storage drawers. This same shelf unit gave up some space for some drawers almost 6 years ago:
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?208154
This drawer was made out of some ash and birch plywood for the bottom. Ash was also used for the dividers. This is another project with only a story stick for the plan.
With various breaks and time off, a few things changed as the project went along.
The dividers were almost finished before taking my camera out to the shop.
411186
The dividers were made from some ~1/8” ash scrap. The top edge was rounded with a molding plane The top corners were rounded and smoothed using the bandsaw followed by a low angle (wooden) spokeshave, fine rasps and sandpaper.
The marking for the saw cuts was actually done to all the pieces at one time.
After the initial marking they were set up against a couple of dogs and the mark for the sawing was made on both sides:
411187
Next one of my gauges with a pin profile that is good for slitting was used to mark the depth of the base:
411188
The gauge was used to make at least three passes on each side, increasing the depth with each pass.
After the saw did its work, a chisel was used to pop out the waste:
411189
Very little clean up was needed to fit these pieces snugly to the base.
Nine dividers makes ten spaces so naturally a pair of dividers was used to step off the spacing:
411190
This is done on the bottom side of the base. The lines were carried across to help line up the dividers after the shaft and countersink drilling was done on a drill press.
After the countersink and shaft clearance holes were drilled the individual dividers were held in a vise and the base was supported on some of the dividers and set on one to have pilot holes drilled. The lines carried across the base helped to center each divider to the screw holes. A square was used to square everything. A piece of tape on the drill bit for a depth stop. Notice the numbering and the orientation markings, these were also on the individual dividers to keep everything where it was meant to be:
411191
When the last divider was drilled the screws were installed while it was held in the vise. The screws were all waxed before starting. Waxing helps, especially with brass screws, when driving them in, even with screws this small. After the second divider, all the others were a breeze:
411192
Fortunately at one time a few #2 screws were needed for a small project. One of my philosophies is if you need 5 of something cheap, may as well buy 50. So there wasn’t any need to go buy any hardware. More on that later.
To be continued…
jtk