Failed attempt at pulls.

[Dewayne Baker]

I had this hair brain idea of making some elliptical shaped pulls that didn't turn out so well. Since this was a failed attempt this is not to be considered a tutorial, Although some of the ideas and methods seem sound so take it for what it is and use any of the following info as you like. Just be sure to work safe.
The pulls I imagined and sketched are a recessed elipse routed in the drawer face with a channel routed through the center where I would inlay a elliptical shaped pull.
Working with a MDF test piece that mimics my drawer face I rout a 3/8" wide channel 6" long.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls1.JPG


Then I place my elipse template centered over the work piece and rout out an elliptical recess using a 1/2" straight bit and a 3/4" bushing. with a slightly larger template attached I switch to a bull nose bit to round the outer perimeter of the recess. Now it looks like this.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls2.JPG

At the bottom of the pic are a couple of the glue ups I made that I will shape to become the pulls. a 3/8 " wide strip of purple heart in the center will be the inlay and the 5/8" strips of oak will be the finger grab of the pull. I turned my mdf test piece into a jig that holds the pull blank in its 3/8" inlay channel and a smaller size elipse template is clamped over it to shape the pull.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls3.JPG

Then a larger template is used to support the router and provide clearance for a 1/2' round over bit. Riding the bearing against the shaped edges of the pull I round over most of the shape.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls4.JPG

This next jig shown I made for removing some of the White oak to reveal a more finger friendly pull. If I had planed things better with my glue up this step could be eliminated.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls5.JPG

When routing away the oak material in the last step I left just a little bit of the oak so as not to damage the inlay strip. The rest of the oak is removed with a rabbiting plane and scraper.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls6.JPG

The next pic shows the near completed pull. They require more sanding to refine the shape.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1115451/pulls8.JPG

If you look closely you might notice they are not quite symmetrically centered on the inlay strip. After 8 hours or so of making jigs and fussing with this idea I'm disgusted and don't like the way they look. I have saved my notes and jigs and know what went wrong and will try again some day. But for now I am making a simpler pull for this project as I need to finish it up by the end of this week.
As a closing off topic note, I am having surgery on my foot this Friday 2-17 and will be laid up for 2 months.:mad: For the love of woodworking my heart is breaking. I'll be checking in here when they let me out of bed.


Take care ya all.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Dewayne, I always learn more from my mistakes than my successes. Now you know how to do it right.

Good luck with your foot surgery. My wife had the sesamoid bones removed from both feet last summer. She didn't want to have the surgery, but the pain was constant and getting worse. Its 8 months later and she still has some pain, but its a lot less and getting better all the time. Apparently, its a long drawn out healing process. Good luck.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Dennis...we learn by doing. Keep it up!

And best wishes to you on your surgery so you can get back in the shop "soon"!

[Dewayne Baker]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I should have a real project to show real soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

[Tom Sontag]

I must be a bit of a slow head (always leave an easy entry for the next guy...). I did not come away from this post knowing what he did wrong or how to do it right. I am not even sure I can figure out what the final pull should look like installed. I think it is a cool idea though.

Good luck on the rebound Dewayne.

[Dewayne Baker]

Sorry so vague tom. The problem was my elipse template wasn't properly centered and the bulls look off balance in reference to the inlay strip in the center.

to get an idea of what the pulls would look like installed take a look at my mdf test piece in the second pic. that's what was cut in the drawer front and the pull is inlaid in the channel and centered in the recess. I don't have a finished pic as I scraped the whole thing.

[tod evans]

dewayne, if you`re only making a few sometimes its better to freehand `em. ...02 tod