Question on current Woodsmith dresser & 6" jointer

[Kevin Murdock]

All,

I'm new to woodworking, and have been reading up as much as I can before I go out and start acquiring any larger tools.

So I was looking at the 9-Drawer Dresser article on the latest woodsmith magazine and noticed that the larger drawers are designed to be 6 1/8" wide.

My question is, doesn't this automatically put the design, as is, out of the range of those with a 6" jointer? My understanding is that especially with cabinetmaking, you really want/need to square and joint up your boards.

The part that confuses me is that it's only by 1/8th of an inch. Again, I'm new to woodworking, but don't most folks have a 6" jointer in their home workshops?

Thanks in advance... more questions to come!

/Kevin

[Bart Leetch]

I have seen where material was ripped then jointed then glued back together. But if you haven't purchased your jointer yet & have the room & money & think you'll use it enough to justify the cost, purchase a 8" jointer.

[Jim Becker]

Interestingly enough, my Jet 6" jointer has knives that are 6 1/8" wide...perhaps that's why they are that way, although it could also be due to a variety of design things, including the golden ratio.

I don't have the magazine at hand, but if these are false fronts and you start with a relatively flat board, using just the planer to prepare the drawer fronts may be fine. There are also some techniques you can use to flatten wider boards (that are already relatively true) on a narrow jointer enough to complete the task in the planer...care must be taken as the guard needs to be removed, but you can flatten a board almost double the width of your jointer knives that way. I've done this once with succes, but wouldn't make a habit of it.

But you are correct...flat and true lumber is essential to good joinery. For that reason, I agree with Bart...a wider jointer is a better buy in the long run if you like working with wider stock as I do. My 6" jointer and 12.5" planer will be replaced with a 14" combo jointer/planer, probably next year, as I really prefer to work with wider stock. Right now, the MiniMax FS-350 is at the top of my list for that tool. But a Stubby lathe is higher on the list...It's only money... :D

[Ted Shrader]

All,

I'm new to woodworking, and have been reading up as much as I can before I go out and start acquiring any larger tools.

So I was looking at the 9-Drawer Dresser article on the latest woodsmith magazine and noticed that the larger drawers are designed to be 6 1/8" wide.

My question is, doesn't this automatically put the design, as is, out of the range of those with a 6" jointer? My understanding is that especially with cabinetmaking, you really want/need to square and joint up your boards.

The part that confuses me is that it's only by 1/8th of an inch. Again, I'm new to woodworking, but don't most folks have a 6" jointer in their home workshops?

Thanks in advance... more questions to come!

/Kevin
Kevin -

First of all - Welcome to the Creek!

Yes, I think you are right, most of the jointers residing in the various shops are 6". Howerer, you cannot thickness a board with a jointer. (Well, OK, you can, but it is extremely difficult to get a uniformly thick board.) To thickness, the planer is the tool of choice. Ideally, one joints the first face flat, then uses the planer to get the opposite face flat and parallel to the first, then reduces the thickness of the board to the desired dimension.

However, with the typical lunchbox planer, the down force exerted by the rollers on the wood is usually not great enough to flatten the board while the knives make their cut. (They feed more than flatten.) This allows you to use a lunchbox planer to actually flatten the rough sawn lumber into usable stock.

Interesting observation you made about the drawer dimension. Attention to detail is good!

Welcome,
Ted

[Kevin Murdock]

To thickness, the planer is the tool of choice. Ideally, one joints the first face flat, then uses the planer to get the opposite face flat and parallel to the first, then reduces the thickness of the board to the desired dimension.


Hi Ted,

Thanks for the welcome.

As you mentioned above, it's my understanding that you need to use the jointer to true one face before you feed it into the planer. As a result, the call for a 6 1/8" drawer front in the plan seems to put the project out of reach for a large amount of home users.

The odd thing to me is that the requirement is only over by 1/8th of an inch.

So the reason I asked about the jointer limitation was that maybe there was a technique that I did not know about, especially since I am new to woodworking.

So if the jointer is required (or simply just desired) to properly true up the face first, I would have thought that the plan would downsized just a hair in it's dimensions to allow a much larger audience to use the plan.

Having an 1/8" measurement rule out a majority of your readers doesn't sound like a good way to keep your readers happy.

Again... I may be making a mountain out of a mole hill, and I didn't mean to. I was just wondering if as a rookie I was missing something.

Thanks for your inputs,
/Kevin

P.S.: Anyone got a nice used 8" jointer in North Carolina that they'd like to sell? :D

[Bart Leetch]

Right now, the MiniMax FS-350 is at the top of my list for that tool. ...It's only money... :D
Ambitious aren't we????? :p

[Jim Becker]

Ambitious aren't we????? :p

Buying at a show can often shave off about a grand from list price. Besides, price a 15" planer and an 12" jointer and compare the total to the price of the FS-350... The 14" combo machine saves space in a small shop, too--I just don't have the room for two of the larger stationary tools and my shop will not get any bigger. (The last bay is reserved for SWMBO and the tractor :rolleyes: ) An 8" jointer isn't much of a step up for me given that I still can't process the wide stock I have been collecting with it. I would have bought it this year, but the kitchen renovation took priority.

[Ted Shrader]

Bart -

Looks like you could add the arresting wires and trapping aircraft on that thing. :D

Ted

[Wes Billups]

This is just a guess but I am assuming that all magazines have begun making their drawer heights evenly divisible by 7/8" so if you cut them with a dovetail jig you will get full dovetails on all of the drawers. I am currently building this project and decided to use my dovetail jig to cut the drawer joints instead of the joint they used and noticed how the 6-1/8" and 4-3/8" drawer height worked out perfectly for a dovetail jig.

[Jim DeLaney]

The part that confuses me is that it's only by 1/8th of an inch. Again, I'm new to woodworking, but don't most folks have a 6" jointer in their home workshops?

This is where the <U>HAND</U> plane comes into play.

If the boards you start out with are reasonably flat, you just use a #6, 7 or 8 to bring them to smoothness, then switch to a 4 or 4½ to finish smoothing them. Done well, they won't even need sanded - just put on the tung oil, and admire... Works for just about any width.

[Bart Leetch]

Bart -

Looks like you could add the arresting wires and trapping aircraft on that thing. :D

Ted


Rig the barricade rig the barricade the bank account is coming around for a crash landing. Get more guys on that barricade this is an emergency.

Clear the deck clear the deck the bank account is on final approach, get that helo in the air. Oops bank account went right through the barricade & off the deck & is sinking fast.

Well they did save the cover off the bank book.

Please remove your hats & lets have a moment of silence for the bank account.

[Dan Stuewe]

This may be a horrible thing to say, but I have only used wood that was surfaced on 3 sides (both faces and one edge). Now it is cheaper to buy unfinished wood, but where I live it isn't as available as other places. Anyway, for a piece the size of a drawer front, I would trust the job done at the lumberyard.

[Jim Becker]

Anyway, for a piece the size of a drawer front, I would trust the job done at the lumberyard.

For a short piece, you're probably right. But S3S (and S4S) lumber, while having parallel faces is not necessarily flat. It is unlikely that a jointer was used when the material was processed in bulk and that's the only way to truly flatten lumber before planing to thickness. In many cases, this is not an issue, but it pays to very carefully check each board you are buying and only pick those that meet your expectations when you are at your supplier. There is no harm in carrying some winding sticks with you for this purpose, too! Subtle twists are hard to see without them.

You may want to check woodfinder.com to see if there are any "stealth" suppliers or rough lumber in your area, too.