How to do these drawers?

[Derek Cohen]

I am planning another build as a wedding gift, this time a niece. She picked out this entry hall table, which she wants in Jarrah.





Straightforward enough build, with the case in mitred through dovetails the only tricky bit. I've done a few of these now, so know what lies in store.


There appear to be two drawers. The question is, how does one build drawers without handles?


I am not in favour (and will not do) drawers on runners. Or use those Push-it mechanisms, which are made of plastic and will last about 5 years, if lucky. I build traditional dovetailed drawers.


One idea I had was to incorporate the lower bevelled case edge/rail into the drawers, and use this as a handle. However, I foresee the difficulty in getting everything to line up perfectly. I like the concept, but not sure about the practicality.


Any other ideas for handless or, if nothing else, complementary handles?


Regards from Perth


Derek

[Paul F Franklin]

Nice, elegant piece. A few thoughts:

What about slightly extending the top bead of the drawers to provide a fingerhold? Or maybe just a swell in the center of the top bead.
Or go the opposite way and carve a slight depression into the drawer front to allow using the top bead as a fingerhold.
You could leave openings in the bottom to allow someone in the know to reach under and slide the drawers out enough to open.
You could have two recesses in the lower rail that would allow pulling the drawers out.
You could make an arm and pivot that would push one drawer out when the other was pushed in a bit, although I can see that leading to never having both drawers pushed in and even....

In terms of a pull, I'd probably go with rectangular blocks with matching veneers on their fronts, tapered on the sides to provide a hold.

[Thomas Wilson]

Finger slot under the case and recess in drawer bottom to ease the drawer out a bit. Or, just tip the table forward until the drawers fall out.

Honestly, I would make a practical alteration, a recess with a slightly raised bar of ebony across the recess.

[Bill Carey]

I thought the same thing - have a finger pull depression in the bottom of the drawer so someone could slide the drawer out enough to pull it the rest of the way from the top of the drawer.

Another thought: judging from your work Derek, you like curved fronts, so how about splitting the drawer front horizontally and let the top half swell outward enough for a finger pull? If the swell was the full height of the top half of the drawer front you would have to make the drawers deeper, but you could also feather the swell for the finger pull back as it approaches the top of the face of the drawer. I've only 1 cup of coffee so I may not be explaining it right. Kinda like this:
2019-10-20_09h01_47.jpg

And there are always varieties of these types of finger pulls:
2019-10-20_09h00_44.jpg

[Rob Luter]

Great minds think alike. Leave the carcass bottom open and incorporate pulls into the drawer bottoms.

[James Pallas]

Derek, I suggest these two methods. Let the drawer face hang below the rail. Put a pull bar under the drawer bottom, all of the way across, so it can be reached at any point and allows the drawer to pass the top edge.
Jim

[Tom M King]

False lower face rail actually part of drawer bottoms, and one drawer instead of two, as it appears. Bottom rail becomes pull. It could still have a divider between the two drawer sections for strength, that doesn't go all the way to the front, but helps support carcass bottom.

[Phil Mueller]

IMHO anything other than some way to open the drawer from below (as suggested above) will compromise the clean look. I just don’t think you want to interrupt the cockbeading around the drawers and molding around the opening. It’s a really nice design, that obviously incorporates modern opening mechanism. I’m sure your niece will understand that a traditional woodworker just doesn’t do things that way

[David Eisenhauer]

Sorry Derek, but I'm having trouble getting past the leg attachment to the carcase before I can even look at the drawers. I guess I'd think about attaching a short piece cut out of the lower rail? frame? cock bead? to the bottom of the drawer with some type of finger pull incorporated. Would have to be a thin kerf, clean cut so that it had a continuous look (with a bump added for the finger pull), but hard wood like your jarrah should hold a crisp edge for a long, long time. Those legs, though. Have to beef up the attachment area without altering the clean look too much somehow so you can spread the attaching load out from what looks like a single screw. My Mother had a Danish Modern couch that revealed the single screw attachment of the legs to the couch after one leg got broken off. Useless.

[Doug Dawson]

Sorry Derek, but I'm having trouble getting past the leg attachment to the carcase before I can even look at the drawers. I guess I'd think about attaching a short piece cut out of the lower rail? frame? cock bead? to the bottom of the drawer with some type of finger pull incorporated. Would have to be a thin kerf, clean cut so that it had a continuous look (with a bump added for the finger pull), but hard wood like your jarrah should hold a crisp edge for a long, long time. Those legs, though. Have to beef up the attachment area without altering the clean look too much somehow so you can spread the attaching load out from what looks like a single screw. My Mother had a Danish Modern couch that revealed the single screw attachment of the legs to the couch after one leg got broken off. Useless.

Here's something nobody's pointed out. What makes you think those are even drawers?

[steven c newman]

I seem to recall Ishitani doing finger pulls....cut from brass sheet, bent and soldered. counter sunk holes to screw the pulls into the doors...and the drawers inside.

IF you place small versions of these at the top edges of the drawers...to where they do not show from above the top of the table.....you can also feather the sides of the pulls to blend into the drawer's top edge....leaving just enough for a fingernail...or.....trim all the way around the drawer like a cock-bead....and maybe colour the metal to match the colour of the table...can even mitre the corners of the metal...

[Jim Koepke]

Like many others my first thought was to have a way to reach underneath to open the drawer. A music rack made about a decade ago used this method:

Brian's Music Rack.jpg

There is a rail under the drawer bottom to allow a finger hold for moving the drawer.

My other thoughts were of either reaching over the top to push the drawer out from the back or using rods and/or levers to start the drawer out.

jtk

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's an unusual approach.... The drawer box is recessed about 1" from the back of the visible drawer front. The drawer front is pivoted on a vertical axis at the middle of the front. If you push in on one side, the other side moves forward. You can get your finger around that to pull out the drawer. The drawer front has a spring -- perhaps wood -- so that if you're not pushing on it, it sits in the position you'd expect, parallel to the front of the casework.

I like this approach. It is a little bit of a puzzle, for the family to know, and nobody else. It is definitely a one-of-a-kind piece.

[Bill Carey]

Here's an unusual approach.... The drawer box is recessed about 1" from the back of the visible drawer front. The drawer front is pivoted on a vertical axis at the middle of the front. If you push in on one side, the other side moves forward. You can get your finger around that to pull out the drawer. The drawer front has a spring -- perhaps wood -- so that if you're not pushing on it, it sits in the position you'd expect, parallel to the front of the casework.

I like this approach. It is a little bit of a puzzle, for the family to know, and nobody else. It is definitely a one-of-a-kind piece.

I like this idea, but what about pivoting the drawer front on a horizontal axis - push in the top of the drawer and the bottom comes out far enough to open the drawer.

Or go high tech: a bluetooth lock you need to open from your smart phone. https://www.ebay.com/itm/293143100080

2019-10-20_11h32_00.jpg

[Mark Daily]

Use a hidden magnet:

Drill a 1” hole in the center of the drawer front from the inside. Leave about 1/8” thickness. Glue a rare earth magnet in the hole.

Provide a a piece of metal, possibly attached underneath somewhere with Velcro or another magnet. When the metal is held in contact with the drawer front it can be pulled out. If that’s not strong enough, attach another rare earth magnet to the metal or glue it to a piece of wood with the opposite pole facing outward. The attraction of both magnets to each other will add more pulling power.

You might need more magnets or bigger, differently shaped magnets to make it work.

If you haven’t used them before, these rare earth magnets have incredible pull.