# Chest of Drawers wip - slow hand tool project



## AndyT

I think it's time to start on something challenging again. Ages ago now, I had a lot of fun stretching my skills making a chair that turned into steps, but I've only made little quick things since. Also, I have an accumulation of wood that needs to be used.

So the idea is to make a chest of drawers. This will replace a grotty little plywood bedside cupboard which has been 'good enough' for years, so it's a small scale job to fit in the space available. However, I want it to have proper trad construction - all proper wood, proper joints and all by hand, so it's quite labour-intensive. I've made some tables and I've made dovetailed boxes but I've never done full-on drawers with thin sides, solid bottoms and all the nice details.

This is the design:







- and I'm imagining internal runners and nicely dovetailed drawers. There might be five drawers or maybe six - I want them to be quite shallow - though that does mean quite a lot of joints to make.

Before I draw a more detailed design with all the sizes thought about, I need to make sure that I do have enough suitable wood. After much rummaging and restacking, I think I do.






This is most of it, roughly allocated to be from left to right, internal runners etc; main cabinet sides; drawer fronts, sides, and backs. I can't be sure that the wood is right until I've done a proper drawing but there is no point in drawing something bigger than the timber I have available.

I've another idea for the top, so let's check that first.

I bought these little bits of Yew about four years ago at the Westonbirt Treefest show. They will be the only wood that hasn't been recycled. 






They are fairly thick but not quite straight enough to glue together as a solid top, so it's time to get ripping. I've still not made any proper sawing trestles, but my workshop floor is so wavy and bumpy they might not work very well, so meanwhile an old Workmate will do.






Here I am just getting rid of the contrasting sapwood and the bark, to leave as much straight sided wood as I can.
The first one works best as two pieces meeting at the kink in the middle, but this one can just cut straight through:






This looks enough for the top, but I need to be sure I can get a nice enough surface on what is really quite difficult wood.






Let's do some more planing: I need to get one side looking decent, to prove that I can, and to get an idea of what the finished thickness can be, though what you see here is not the finished surface, despite the appearance of a smoothing plane.
















That's getting there. I've not used yew before. It gives a lovely smooth surface but is very hard.

That's the first instalment - a few seconds for you to read, but a long morning's workout for me!


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## DTR

Will be watching this with interest


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## Woodmonkey

I do enjoy seeing stuff made with nice old hand tools. Let me know if you want to borrow my domino!


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## AndyT

Woodmonkey":1tbpn4r3 said:


> I do enjoy seeing stuff made with nice old hand tools. Let me know if you want to borrow my domino!



That's a very generous offer but I think I will manage without out one just this once...


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## tobytools

excellent andyT, i love all your posts. the ladder chair was awesome and im sure this will be too.
TT


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## AndyT

I've spent a lot more time looking at the wood that I've got put by, thinking about the proportions of the chest of drawers, and doing some experiments. 

I don't have enough thin plywood for the drawer bottoms but not very long ago I was walking through central Bristol with a like-minded friend when we spotted some nice bits of cedar cladding in a skip. We both agreed that it was far too good to throw away, so carried it home.

This is the stuff: 





It's beautifully straight and clear and I reckon it will deep rip into some classic drawer bottoms. I've never done this before, so let's have a go!






Hmm, not too bad; but a bit rough where I turned round to start from the other end to finish the cut.






However, it planes beautifully and is soon smooth, and the workshop smells pleasantly of pencils:






For the second board, I switched to a slightly coarser saw and it was quicker and easier






- there's plenty of margin for error as it's about 3/4" thick and I'm initially aiming at a thick 1/4"











I may well take these boards down thinner later; at the moment I just want to prove that I can get enough pieces to do the job - it looks like I can: each of these boards will cut into three pieces which will be enough for one drawer, so I can do six drawers if I need to - but the finished chest will probably have five.






I was pleased at how easy that was to do. There will be quite a lot of physical work in this project - I reckon it's better value than joining a gym!


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## n0legs

That must be a very satisfying feeling Andy, getting those lovely boards hand resawn. 
Well done sir =D>


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## Graham Orm

Excellent stuff Andy. I missed the beginning of this, but will be watching out for updates.


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## adidat

Inspiring!

adidat


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## fluffflinger

Don't subscribe to many threads but this will be great value I'm sure.


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## No skills

After the chair steps I'm expecting nothing less than awesome.



No pressure of course.


(hammer)


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## Jacob

Looks good.
It might be easier, and you might have less waste, if you cut to length first, before any ripping or planing.


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## bugbear

AndyT":3gqjij30 said:


> ... rip into some classic drawer bottoms. I've never done this before, so let's have a go!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, not too bad; but a bit rough where I turned round to start from the other end to finish the cut.



I've ripped like that, and it makes my shoulder hurt; its too high in the air (at least for me).

Does anyone know what the "old" workholding method was for this task? The big cutting was done over a saw pit, ripping to width
is shown in several text books (and is fairly obvious anyway...) but what's the "textbook" technique for small scale
ripping to thickness?

BugBear


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## Baldhead

Jacob":6kbm3zs3 said:


> Looks good.
> It might be easier, and you might have less waste, if you cut to length first, before any ripping or planing.


My old woodwork teacher (I went to school when woodwork and metalwork were taught) used the same two phrase's over and over again, measure twice cut once and leave your wood as long as you can as long as you can.

Baldhead


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## Jacob

bugbear":18nfn4ip said:


> AndyT":18nfn4ip said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... rip into some classic drawer bottoms. I've never done this before, so let's have a go!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, not too bad; but a bit rough where I turned round to start from the other end to finish the cut.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've ripped like that, and it makes my shoulder hurt; its too high in the air (at least for me).
> 
> Does anyone know what the "old" workholding method was for this task? The big cutting was done over a saw pit, ripping to width
> is shown in several text books (and is fairly obvious anyway...) but what's the "textbook" technique for small scale
> ripping to thickness?
> 
> BugBear
Click to expand...

Looks difficult in the position shown in the photo. Ripping a board like that is a bit unusual but if it were me I'd want it cramped vertically at the right hand very end of the bench so that I'd have plenty of room. I haven't got a vice there so maybe thats something to think about. Or in an end vice, which I also do not have.


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## Jacob

Baldhead":3hc33ccx said:


> Jacob":3hc33ccx said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks good.
> It might be easier, and you might have less waste, if you cut to length first, before any ripping or planing.
> 
> 
> 
> My old woodwork teacher (I went to school when woodwork and metalwork were taught) used the same two phrase's over and over again, measure twice cut once and leave your wood as long as you can as long as you can.
> 
> Baldhead
Click to expand...

Yes but easily misinterpreted. 
I say it as; always cut to length (close to desired finished size) for longest components first, from shortest pieces available. But no ripping or planing until cut to length (though very short lengths could be combined in one piece of course).


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## AndyT

Hmm... best way to do this deep rip cut. Interesting question and maybe an example of how so many ww books cover the same ground as each other but leave things out.

The only useful picture I can think of is this one from Ellis Modern Practical Joinery. It's of cutting tenons but if you just imagine a bit more wood it's similar. 



[/url]

Some other observations:

What really really matters is having the wood rock solid. For me, with my bench screwed down, holding it in the vice like this works. It's quick and easy to adjust up or down in the vice so that the working height is comfortable. (The earlier rip cuts, bearing down on the Workmate, were harder because of the relative wobbliness.)
Keeping the pieces full length makes it easy to grip and adjust the height. I think that if I cut these into three first, I would struggle to hold them as half of the wood I need to cut would be locked up in the vice.

I can't work off the end of the bench as there is no room.

Overall, I was pleased how relatively easy and quick it was.
Under 10 minutes on the second and third cuts.

And thanks all for the enthusiasm - I may need it if this project slumps into being too much work or goes too badly wrong.

I'm off to the workshop to do the next instalment.


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## bugbear

AndyT":13q086t9 said:


> Hmm... best way to do this deep rip cut. Interesting question and maybe an example of how so many ww books cover the same ground as each other but leave things out.
> 
> The only useful picture I can think of is this one from Ellis Modern Practical Joinery. It's of cutting tenons but if you just imagine a bit more wood it's similar.



I hate to disagree, but...

I don't think that's similar at all; that is a joint cutting operation, for which precision and visibility are the priorities. A high position (think Moxon vise!!) makes sense.

Ripping is just work, and lots of it. body position and ergonomics become the new prioirities.

I certainly agree on the importance of having the workpiece solidly held.

BugBear


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## Graham Orm

AndyT":2gecw4pp said:


> [/url]
> 
> I'm off to the workshop to do the next instalment.



Hope you're not copying the attire Andy? He'd soon get a lather on ripping, wearing all that clobber. I bet there's a shirt and tie there somewhere too!


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## AndyT

Graham Orm":2pfzz2f8 said:


> Hope you're not copying the attire Andy? He'd soon get a lather on ripping, wearing all that clobber. I bet there's a shirt and tie there somewhere too!



Graham! Have you not seen my avatar picture? I'll have you know it was taken from the life, with one of those newfangled Daguerreotype contraptions! :wink:


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## Graham Orm

AndyT":mlu68l0z said:


> Graham Orm":mlu68l0z said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you're not copying the attire Andy? He'd soon get a lather on ripping, wearing all that clobber. I bet there's a shirt and tie there somewhere too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Graham! Have you not seen my avatar picture? I'll have you know it was taken from the life, with one of those newfangled Daguerreotype contraptions! :wink:
Click to expand...


:mrgreen:


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## Sheffield Tony

At the last bodger's ball I watched some attempts at rip sawing rather larger timbers. A Thomas Flinn two man pit saw was used with a scaffold tower, with much difficulty. A combination of a wobbly tower, high winds and quite possibly a poorly set up saw made it all look hard work. But what did seem to do the business was something like this one:

http://giantcypress.net/post/1386903490 ... s-is-a-saw

A _maebiki_ if that page is correct. I'm not normally a fan of Japanese saws, but that was the ticket. I guess the nice deep blade avoids wandering off. If you set off in just the right direction, of course ....


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## AndyT

Sheffield Tony":e4wupiuw said:


> At the last bodger's ball I watched some attempts at rip sawing rather larger timbers. A Thomas Flinn two man pit saw was used with a scaffold tower, with much difficulty. A combination of a wobbly tower, high winds and quite possibly a poorly set up saw made it all look hard work. But what did seem to do the business was something like this one:
> 
> http://giantcypress.net/post/1386903490 ... s-is-a-saw
> 
> A _maebiki_ if that page is correct. I'm not normally a fan of Japanese saws, but that was the ticket. I guess the nice deep blade avoids wandering off. If you set off in just the right direction, of course ....



A bit like this maybe?







(from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sawyers_by_Hokusai.jpg)

I may need a bigger basement!


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## AndyT

So after all that ripping fun, let's get down to plane facts again.

Quite a bit of the thinking behind this project is about which bits of wood to use, how much I will need to cut them up and what sizes to make the finished components to suit the wood that I have. Mentally, it's a bit like the planning stage where you try to lay out a cutting list onto waney edged boards, hoping that you've bought enough, but in this case there are even more variables to juggle with.

I've decided pretty definitely that the sides for the chest will come out of this piece:






It's the top of an old office bookcase that I must have salvaged about twenty years ago, when they were chucking out all the accumulated old fashioned stuff to get the full plastic coated chipboard effect into every room.

I noticed for the first time that it even has remnants of an old maker's transfer on the back edge:






There's not much left, but I'm pretty sure that the bottom line was WILDER ST BRISTOL. Wilder Street is still there - a short stroll with a handcart from the old office - but as far as I know there are no furniture factories there now. I can just about remember that off nearby Portland Square, just near the end of the M32, there used to be a sprinkling of little basement workshops making frames for upholstered furniture. That was in the 80s before wholesale redevelopment changed the city so much. If anyone can identify the maker from this fragment, do say!

Regardless of pedigree, it's a good enough and big enough piece of oak, so you get some exciting shots showing that it got planed a bit:






and you probably want to see some other planes from time to time:






That big lump of iron and boxwood has no maker's name at all but works nicely for this sort of job. I'm not just planing for the sake of it, I need to prove to myself that the wood will look good enough to use, and I also need to get it slightly flatter than it is. I wouldn't normally bother with this sort of measurement but you can't assume old wood is flat enough without a little treatment:











This piece then got marked out to the right width






and to cut into two











I thought this was a sensible dodge to hold the free end up when working on my own:






- it was certainly more reliable than just grabbing the end with my left hand.

One end needed a bit more trimming to just miss some holes






and then a touch of planing on the end grain






And so we get to the end of a few more happy hours in the workshop, pottering, planing, sawing and thinking. More soon!


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## AndyT

The old bookcase top has several holes in, from where it used to have some vertical dividers on top, to make some paper sorting trays. They were just fixed with screws up from underneath. I can avoid most of them, but some need to be patched. This is all ordinary work when recycling timber. I cut some thin strips about 1/8" thick from the strip of oak that I had trimmed off the width, and sawed some little squares out, holding the saw a few degrees off the vertical to make the sides slightly bevelled:






Then I marked round each one, chiselled out a hole 






and plugged it






and waited for the glue to dry






I then chiselled and planed the excess wood:











and tidied up the sides a bit






Now I realise there is a sort of convention that says any shot of a smoothing plane making wispy shavings needs a measurement: these seem to be about 2 - 3 thou thick, whether measured the easy way






or the way that needs no batteries






The various patches are not invisible, but they are smooth, and when the finished piece is in use they will be hidden in the shadows under the top, and between the side of the bed and the wardrobe, so I'm not going to agonise about disguising every line.

Meanwhile, planning continues in some more detail. I've done a full-size drawing so that I can try and get the proportions right. This is on lining paper on a bit of mdf board. 






The vertical sides are drawn 3/4" thick, so I think the runners and rails need to be 3/8" thick, with the drawer fronts 3 1/4" deep. (That should give about 3" internally which is plenty for the sort of stuff that will go in there.) I've drawn one drawer in cross-section to plan how the bottom and sides will go. That tells me that the rails and runners will be big enough if they are about 1 1/4 or 1 1/2" wide. I'm well aware that elements that are in hardwood, on a small scale piece, will look awful if I leave them too thick, so I want to slim everything down as much as I can.

All these dimensions have to suit the wood that I shall be using. This is what will be the rails and runners - old bed slats, currently about 9/16" by 3" or 3 1/2"






so there will be a fair bit of planing to do.

But I've had a rethink on the drawer fronts. I want conventional lapped dovetails but the wood I have set aside for the fronts is under 1/2" at the moment and will lose at least 1/16" in planing. I don't think I can squeeze a functional lapped dovetail into something that thin.

Fortunately, there is enough wood in these two remnants of an old shelf unit that I found in a skip a decade or two ago, which now get their chance to come into the limelight:






so they will be the source for the drawers; I should be able to finish them at 3/4" thick, which should be enough for the lapped dovetails if I am careful. I should be able to plane out or avoid the ink stain now I know I am only making five drawers, not six.

Time to sharpen a few cutting edges and get planing!


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## JanetsBears

What a thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring thread!

My problem is that I have so many projects that 'need' doing now that I can't find time to do something like this using just hand tools. Hopefully, I'll get the time when I retire in a few years time 

Chris


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## Graham Orm

Good stuff Andy ;-)


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## MickCheese

Enjoying this. Keep it up. 

Mick


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## AndyT

Thanks for all the interest and encouragement - it really does help!

Back to the stack of old bed slats. 






These are about four foot long, 3 1/4" wide and 9/16" thick. I now know (from my full-sized drawing) that I need strips of around 12" long and 1 1/2" wide, to make the rails and runners. I want them to be only 3/8" thick, and I'm planning to use stub tenons to join the runners (which support the drawers) to the rails (which span the cabinet from side to side).

That sounds ok in theory and looks ok in a drawing but I've not actually made anything this small and fiddly before, and want to be sure before I spend ages getting it wrong, so decided to do an experiment first.

So here's a slat in the vice, getting ripped into two strips. This worked, though I had to kneel on the floor to do it, which is not so good.






Here it is on edge on the bench, getting one long face edge






This project throws up some interesting workholding challenges, especially as many of the pieces are quite small. To hold this wood on its edge for planing, I used this simple plywood device, which I think I probably saw on here first - so thanks if you posted it. In my case it fits over the bench stop and is helped with a holdfast. The wedge holds well and is quick and easy, just needing a tap from a mallet. 






For this first strip, I planed the thickness with the wood all in one long bit, using the same device, but without the wedge:











I had thought that keeping this part in one length would make workholding easier, but in this case it just made it more awkward.

Anyhow, with a thin piece ready for an experiment I could try making a mortice at one end and fitting a stub tenon into it.

I marked the width of the tenon and planed down with a Record 405 as a plough, to make a sloping cut:











which I then deepened to a square ended mortice with a matching 1/8" chisel






*- not at all tidy! * That won't do.

However, with a tenon sawn on the end of another piece, they do at least go together






Thinking about it further, the obvious technique is to plough the grooves all the way along. I don't need a groove - I'm not fitting dustboards - but I think that having the groove is no disadvantage. As Jacob often reminds us, the best way to answer design questions like this is to look at old work, which I did. There are three examples of Victorian hand made drawers available in our house - but they all have dustboards! 

So I went back to the test piece and ploughed the groove all the way along.

I think these will be ok looking like this:






So, the experiment confirmed that my plan was ok with the proportions of 3/8" thickness and a groove 1/8" x 1/8".

It was time for some more planing. Having switched to working on pieces only about a foot long, 






I needed to work out efficient ways of holding them, on a bench with no tail vice.

I have some dog holes and a Veritas surface vice - but it's designed for thicker timber, over 1/2" thick, not under.

It was ok with a bit of plywood in between,











but it still gets in the way of the plane, so I settled on a simpler system instead.
















It's just a holdfast, a scrap of ply, a wedge and a wooden bench dog. The ply is only 1/4" but is stiff enough. The wedge is nice and quick, so I can check progress or turn the wood round easily.

I soon got into a routine. Gauge 1/8th from the flat side, take thick shavings off with a wooden Jack plane, then switch to a medium thickness shaving with a 5 1/2, and finish up with a no 4. Gauge to 3/8" and repeat.

The wooden Jack took really quite thick shavings:









.

I did have to keep stopping, to sweep up:






and to re-sharpen. Let's not get distracted into sharpening, but thicknessing oak does go a lot better with sharp edges :wink:.

So, after quite a few hours, I had got into a nice working routine and could plane down a piece in about ten minutes. I successfully turned some of this






into this




.

And yes, that is a table saw the bits are standing on. I don't need it on this project, but will be using my little bandsaw where it makes sense to do so. I like using hand tools but don't have any dogmatic objection to power tools, where appropriate. The hand planing has been quite a nice work-out and might even help get me fitter if I do enough of it. Sometimes "the hard way" is easier overall; sometimes it's not.

After several days of preparation, I am getting closer to the point where I can start to cut joints, but am not quite there yet. All this time, I am still mulling over the details of dimensions, joints and choices of materials. I know that I am very fortunate having the time and opportunity to do this the way I please, without having to worry about making a profit on the job or satisfying anyone other than myself. More of the same will follow soon!


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## Racers

Nicely done Andy, good work and write up.

Are you dadoing the frames into the sides?

Pete


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## AndyT

Racers":1ji1cafr said:


> Nicely done Andy, good work and write up.
> 
> Are you dadoing the frames into the sides?
> 
> Pete



Thanks Pete. Yes, I've been chewing over options for the construction and I have also done a second full size drawing.






That's probably not very clear - it's all in pencil so I can revise it! It's a sort of composite plan and section view, and also shows the variations for the top rails and runners (on the left side only). 

The rails (the bits that go side to side and show underneath the drawer fronts) will be fixed by tenoning into the solid sides. I did an experiment for this, in some similarly sized oddments, making a barefaced through tenon:
















This held so well that I have decided that through tenons are not needed, which is just as well, as this was pretty scruffy. I reckon that tenons about 3/8" long into 3/4" thick sides will be enough. At the top, the rails will be lap dovetailed into the sides. At top and bottom there will be extra rails at the back, to which the back panel will be fixed. They get fixed to the ends of the runners on longer mortice and tenon joints, left dry.

Thinking about the runners (the bits that go front to back to support the drawer sides) I have two choices. One is to stub tenon and glue them to the rails at the front, and slot screw to the carcase sides at the rear. The other is to have the stub tenons and the slotted screw but also cut housings (aka dadoes) and have the runners fit into them. The theory is that the long grain runners must not be glued to the sides, which must be free to move with the seasons.

Now, I'm pretty confident that the seasonal variation in our bedroom is pretty small. It's certainly nothing like the extremes of the American continent with its cold, dry winters and hot, humid summers. But I rather enjoy cutting housings, so I think I will include them. They aren't needed for strength, as these drawers will only be holding a few light bits and pieces, but they should make it much easier to get everything located properly during assembly. The housings will be cut with the sides flat on the bench, but the runners don't get fitted until after the rails have been glued into the carcase sides. Pushing them into housings will be much more positive than just relying on a screw at the back for positioning. The housings don't need to be deep - I reckon 1/8" will be plenty in this oak.

One further thought about construction. This project actually needs very little measurement! 

I was going to make a rod, just as an exercise in doing so, but I can't see the need. The one defining dimension for the width is the length between shoulders on the rails, ie the internal distance between the sides. This will be 11 1/2". All I need to do is to stack up the rails and mark that 11 1/2" dimension on them all at the same time. It's important that all the rails are effectively the same length but it's not too important what that length actually is, as long as the rough cut wood is long enough. 

The two carcase sides are a matched pair - so I'll mark the positions for the rails on both together. I can step them out with dividers, set at about 3 1/4", but it won't matter if that is a bit more or less. 

The drawer fronts and sides will be planed to fit each opening once the carcase is built.

The top will be an inch bigger than the base, all round, so will be defined by the finished size of the base.

And so, with that lovely confidence that comes at the start of any project, where nothing has yet gone wrong, it's time to get back to planing!


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## Racers

Runners in dados with a shallow dovetail on the front to hold the sides together, either cut into the runner (tricky) or a separate piece.

That would look nice, and be even more work!

Pete


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## AndyT

Racers":3q105lvx said:


> Runners in dados with a shallow dovetail on the front to hold the sides together, either cut into the runner (tricky) or a separate piece.
> 
> That would look nice, and be even more work!
> 
> Pete



Hmm... do you mean something like this?






The end of the rail is a tapered sliding dovetail, the same depth as the housing that the rail goes into, which is simply square for the rest of its length. The rail ends would drop into the wide housings, then slide forward to tighten up and draw the carcase sides together. It could work and could be fun, but I think I would have to go a bit deeper than 1/8", even in oak. Then again, it might be simpler than lots of little stopped mortices...

Of course, it would only "look nice" during construction - once the job is done, it would look exactly the same!


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## Racers

I was thinking of deeper dovetails that the dados, probably easer to plant on a strip of wood to the front of the dust frame.

Have a look here from 2:15 onwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDDeC0Q ... KW1cdmWWCC

Pete


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## AndyT

Oh, I see what you mean. Although the Doucette and Wolf stuff is, to judge from their videos, beautifully made, I would not want to follow their lead and expose the joints. It's just a personal preference, each to his own etc, but I rather like joints to be hidden, whether or not I can manage to make them good enough for display. I've done other pieces - some in the same room - where lapped dovetails are only visible to the spiders, and sliding dovetails are visible only in my w-i-p photos - but I know they are there!


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## Racers

O/k I understand that, a spot of glue at the front of a stopped dado would work just as well.

Pete


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## devonwoody

Joining in to watch, but I did three of these around ten years ago but the easy way with soft wood from 30 year old rafters and pleased to say mine are still in working order and in daily use.
Tops I used any off cuts 30mm wide by 18mm thick random lengths.


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## John15

I'm enjoying your WIP very much Andy, especially your use of hand tools. 

John


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## Gerard Scanlan

Hi Andy this is a really good WIP. Recycling bits and bobs and all the extra bother and design constraints this causes makes this piece all the more interesting.
Carry on the good work and please continue to ignore all the power tool fanatics.
Gerard


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## AndyT

I think the best way to decide on the most practical joint is to try both options out, so it's back to some bits of scrap for an experiment.

This is the tapered sliding dovetail:






First I just cut down straight, then I used an angled guide block to undercut at a 1:6 angle:






On the other part, I cut it straight but a bit 'blunter' on the triangle, then pared back at the same 1:6 angle. I can't tell from the photo if this was before or after the angled trimming, it was so slight.






This worked ok but did not feel very strong, even though I made the housing 3/8" deep instead of the planned 1/8".






Here it is with a runner in place behind it.






For the tenon option, the bits looked like this - the rail has one side longer than the other, by the depth of the housing, which in this case was just 1/8". The tenon was 3/8" long.






And here it is assembled:






(Ignore the holes - they are not part of the design.)

What you can't see in the pictures is that the tenoned version felt usefully strong, even without glue, whereas the sliding dovetail really did not have enough wood to hold properly. The M&T was also much easier to mark out and cut. The project would probably be ok without the tenons - as Pete suggested - so I could leave them out, or compromise and just put tenons on the bottom rail, not the intermediate ones. 

On the other hand, that could make assembly a little bit harder - having the tenons means that everything is self-supporting, so I would not be struggling to get several ends lined up, with all of them falling over at a touch.

I think I will go for tenons - but please do all feel free to chip in with ideas or suggestions along the way. Often, even if I sound like I know what I am doing, I will just be thinking aloud, and I've not made anything quite like this before!


----------



## Racers

Tenons on the top bottom and one in the middle, that should hold the sides together.

Pete


----------



## AndyT

Now that most of the planning is done, it's back to the salvaged wood that will be the drawer fronts. These







came out of a skip years ago but now they can have their time in the spotlight. I hope that tasteless people will continue to chuck out nice old oak, as long as they do it where a thrifty woodworker can find it again!

These bits are better than they look. 

First, I ripped them into strips. And I did that job on my little Burgess 3-wheel bandsaw. I could have done it by hand, but I've just bought some new Tuffsaws blades for it, and it's working perfectly. I like woodworking by hand but I don't have any religious principles against power tools. In this case, it was the best way to get strips which would have been usable straight from the saw, if this was that sort of project. But it's not, so I planed one edge of each as a face edge, planed about an 1/8" off one side, then gauged to 5/8" and planed the other side. As with the rails and runners, I used an old Preston wooden jack for the bulk, followed by a Stanley no 5 1/2 to ensure straightness, finishing up with a no 4. 











Here you see the finished drawer fronts showing how they were on the two boards originally






and here they are in the order I shall use them:






I'm really pleased by several things here:

- Hand planing on this small scale is really no big deal, but it's nice to see it getting quicker and easier with the repetition. (I suspect that if I had a planer/thicknesser I would get trouble with snipe - and I can't afford to waste much at the ends of these small pieces. Also, one board was thinner than the other so I was only taking about 3/16" off overall.)

- Although the wood looked manky and not the same colour, it's cleaned up really nicely, to what looks like the same colour and similar grain pattern.

- Stopping and sharpening does not take long but makes a huge difference on this moderately hard oak.

- Old furniture often has really nice wood in it!


----------



## Graham Orm

Looks lovely stuff Andy.


----------



## Sheffield Tony

I'm watching this with interest Andy. I am making a small bookcase from Oak and also with hand tools. I weighed the options of housings and stub tenons, or through tenons wedged with walnut as a feature, or a dovetailed approach. I went for dovetails - I'm currently cutting lapped dovetails to join the sides to the top, and plan to try sliding dovetails for the shelves.

I like how nicely your reclaimed wood has worked out. Looks great, and there's nothing like a few decades of seasoning for stability !


----------



## No skills

Coming along well!

As somebody that's a bit of a wood salvager I feel a bit of a fraud after reading this today, theres a small round restaurant table (looks to be oak) that came back in a unit this week - its in the skip at the moment. I might have to pop in the weekend and rescue #36 to keep a clear conscience  

Keep up the good work.


----------



## AndyT

I've now made a bit more progress. 
I clamped the rails together and marked off the critical 11 1/2" measurement on all of them together:






then knifed round the lengths on all the pieces, avoiding stray holes






It's easy to forget just how long this sort of operation takes, but with some music or the afternoon play on the radio, the time passes nicely.

To space out the 3 1/4" between rails I clamped the two sides together and used dividers:






partly because it's an easy method and partly because I think dividers are such nice tools. This pair can't be very old - they are marked with a maker's name - but they do have plenty of what I think must be hand-filed shaping.
















However, things slowed down a bit when I realised that one of my side boards had split a bit:











Fortunately it was quite easy to work some glue into the crack and clamp it up, and by the next day it was ok to carry on.

After more marking out, doing my best to get the critical lines square to the front, I could start on the little mortices for the rails.
















With mortices like this, which are wide and short rather than narrow and long, a 'pig sticker' chisel would be no good; but a sash chisel is just right. (In fact, any bench chisel would do, and in practice I used several smaller ones as well.)

This shows one of the rail ends marked ready to cut the tenon, which will be individually fitted to its own mortice






and here I have a row of completed mortices, ready to start on the housings:






I hope you can all stand the blistering pace - this post alone is the result of several days work!


----------



## bugbear

AndyT":ep7z61gn said:


> ... partly because I think dividers are such nice tools. This pair can't be very old - they are marked with a maker's name - but they do have plenty of what I think must be hand-filed shaping.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> However, things slowed down a bit when I realised that one of my side boards had split a bit:



I (too) love stuff with that kind of shaping, and have "some".

Edit; googling finds:

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/George_Plumpton

http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPa ... p?id=36474

BugBear


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## AndyT

Thanks BB, maybe they are older than I thought. You probably spotted that they have a little crack - it seems to make no difference to their working so I have not tried any glue...


----------



## AndyT

I have now cut some of the housings for the drawer runners.

The first step was to knife along the top line of where each one will go - a line which neatly runs into the top of each mortice. I want to make the runners a reasonably snug fit into the housings, so rather than mark them all at a measured width, I next chose and marked each piece of oak that would become a runner and cut a stub tenon on to one end. 











With the rails in place in their mortices, I could place each runner into the groove at the back of the rail, and mark the line for the lower edge of the runner with a knife cut.

I could then define the lines properly in the usual way. Cut down with a broad chisel, then in at an angle towards the first cut. Remove the little slivers of wood. Then cut along in the guiding groove, cutting down 1/8" deep.

First time round, I used this Disston tenon saw, which was ok but a bit wobbly;






I found it easier to use this narrow bladed dovetail saw instead, with my hand down closer to the wood, so switched to that. Although it's filed rip, it cuts very cleanly. 






The mortices provide enough space for the end of the saw to work in.






Then it's just a case of chiselling out the bulk. First step is to make a little slope at the edge so your cuts can start part way up the slope. Then my preferred way to remove quite thick curls of wood is with a long chisel, bevel up, with the long face/back (whichever you prefer to call it) resting on the horizontal surface.

An ordinary bench chisel will only do this for a few inches of course, and I don't actually have a long paring chisel narrow enough for this job. However I do have a rather smart mortice chisel which is nice and long:






It's by "Zyto" which was a brand name of Tyzack, the London tool dealers with a long complicated family tree and was a very welcome present from a generous forum member! =D> 






But even that chisel runs out of length after a bit, so it's time to turn bevel down and make light controlled taps on the end of the handle. I find these old Marples splitproof chisels very comfortable if knocking with the heel of the hand. A home-made mallet is fine too.






After that you can use whatever you like to neaten up the levels. I settled into a pattern of using the little Stanley 271 router for most of it






followed up by this rather lovely wooden router to set the final depth. It takes plough plane irons like the "granny's tooth" pattern, but is more stable, being that much longer.











After a few more relaxing hours, this was the result:






A full set of mortices, housings, rails and runners for the left hand side. The top level will be a bit different, as it will have lap dovetails instead of mortices and rebates instead of housings. That will come later. 

First, I need to repeat this session on the other side of the carcase, which I shall probably do off-camera!


----------



## devonwoody

Nice wip and your time spent posting appreciated .


----------



## Sheffield Tony

This project doesn't seem so slow at all (by my standards at least !). That's good progress. I find the saw cuts for housings like that harder than I expected, the long cut leaves nowhere for the sawdust to go,. Any guide block gets in the way, and a moments carelessness can easily leave a mess.

Has your router plane always been a router, or was it a coffin smoother in a former life? I have been using a Stanley 71, it has a bit of an "agricultural" feel to it, and took a bit of fettling to make it clamp the cutter tolerably. Still it seems to leave light scratching on the workpiece, even though the base feels smooth. Would it be a terrible thing to modify an old woodie ...


----------



## Cheshirechappie

I'm enjoying this one. Really good use of recovered timber.

I'm sure you know this dodge, Andy, but just thought I'd mention that it's worth making the back of the carcase a teensy bit wider than the front - about a bare 1/16" or so. That can make drawer fitting much easier - if by some mischance the carcase ends up wider at the front than the back, there's no way to fit the drawers without a nasty gap between drawer fronts and carcase sides. It seemed timely to mention it now as you're getting to that stage of carcase construction.


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## mseries

Excellent work sir. I really like the photos and your text,


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## AndyT

Thanks all!

Tony, I think it was made as a router plane, though it has no maker's name. I've seen them illustrated as a standard item somewhere, though they are not common. However, it would be easy to modify a small smoother. You would need to make a long shallow groove down the bed, wide enough for a plough iron and a bit shallower than they are thick, but that would be feasible. I'll take some more photos of it dismantled, when I have finished the housings on the other side.

CC; thanks for the reminder, I'll have a go, but frankly I'll need some compensating errors to work in my favour here! The level of precision routinely achieved on things like Victorian desks and wardrobe drawers is really impressive. I'll be pleased if my drawers open and shut :wink:


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## John15

Andy,

I'm particularly enjoying the shots of your tools.

John


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## AndyT

Before working on the housings on the other side of the carcase I decided to have a go at the runners and rails at the top. These have to be a bit different, as you can't do a mortice and tenon joint right on the edge. The usual way is to use lap dovetails.

So here's the top front rail being marked out. I've already marked the internal measurement - the standard 11½" - and am marking the dovetail with a little marker I made. It's ebony - from an old piano key - and brass, riveted together.






The classic technique is to have the work projecting above the edge of the bench by the depth of a plane, then move the plane to the back while you mark out the position. So I had a go, also being careful to check for square 






Cutting this out needs sawcuts to either side and then chiselling in the middle. I didn't take many photos of this - I'm sure it will be familiar stuff - but would just comment that it would be nice to see a few demos online or in books that aren't just on diddy little bits of wood. For the first one, I tried holding the work vertical in the vice and kneeling on the floor to make the cuts. For others I held it flat on the bench and sawed down. I probably got the best results when I sat on the work, so I was facing into the room and sawing out from the edge of the bench.

I'm not sure what the real cause was - let's say I should have chalked the dark wood first so I could see the line I was aiming at, or I should have gone out and bought some blue masking tape like Derek Cohen uses - but I didn't.  The result of this was that my first lap dovetail on this project was embarrasingly dodgy; skilled readers can look away now, or go and look at some of Bern's beautiful little markers to take the taste away:











As you can guess, this was rather wobbly and was not going to make a nice strong cabinet!

I could have made a new rail with a wider dovetail, but I decided that I would take the easy way out, and told myself that sometimes people like to see how lazy woodworkers get out of their mistakes... so I looked around for a sliver of suitable wood to glue into the hole to make it smaller. 






How to hold it in place while the glue sets? I do recommend that, if you find yourself cutting lots of little wedges, you keep a box of them handy. These were actually from sawtooth strips as height adjustment on a bookcase years ago, but do often come in useful for odd things.






A few of these will neatly fill up a gap like this and allow just enough wedging action to hold the mend in place:






When the glue has set you can trim back into the new wood and get a proper snug fit:






This is now a working, effective joint. Considering that it will be entirely invisible to everyone except for some future woodworm (and they are probably blind anyway) that's good enough for me! :lol:


----------



## Woodmonkey

Good recovery! I always remember my woodwork teacher saying that the best cabinet makers are not the ones who never make mistakes (for nobody is perfect), but the ones who can conceal their mistakes!


----------



## Sheffield Tony

That's reassuring. I'm working towards being a better cabinet maker by working around lots of mistakes  

The lapped dovetails. I've just been doing some of those and found sawing the pins right first time a bit tricky. I remembered an article in _Fine Woodworking_ I think, where he stacked all his drawer fronts together, with each one stepped back from the one below a bit. That way the whole set can be clamped down once, while - dispensing with the saw altogether - you hack out the waste with a chisel, then pare down to your gauge lines. I found this to be quick and accurate. Worth considering anyway.


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## Paul Chapman

Great recovery, Andy.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


----------



## AndyT

Ok tool spotters, here we go with the housings on the other side. Somehow I seem to have acquired a new-to-me ¼" paring chisel from Bristol Design. 






No visible maker's name but it's a nice slender thing. Do I really need one to make long housings? Obviously not, but it's nice to have and experiment with. It's clearly not a tool to whack with a mallet. Indeed, it's flexible enough that I could use it to reach over and cut at the far end, flexing the tool down enough to make it cut while still holding the handle. Not easy to photograph with one hand on the camera, but something like this:






If these were through housings, it would all be much easier. You can use a dado plane for them, or a rebate plane if you have one narrow enough. This one is French, I think, judging from the shape of the wedge and the fact that it came with a box of planes that were marked by a French maker.






I reckon the size marking looks French too, even though it's not in SI units:






It's just about usable for a few inches, but doesn't really help on this job.






So here is the left hand side of the cabinet, with the mortices and the housings cut. 






It really is a different photo from the one I showed you a few weeks ago - that was the right hand side:






Obviously different!

More soon - thanks for watching!


----------



## Wizard9999

Just read this from start to finish in one sitting. Superb!

Terry.


----------



## AndyT

Thanks Terry, and everyone else for the positive and encouraging comments. They really do help keep me going on this project.

A bit more progress. I've adjusted the length of the rails at the back, in line with CheshireChappie's reminder that it's good to have the rear of a chest of drawers slightly wider than the front. This meant planing down a bit more oak and cutting some new rails. Here I am measuring the new piece against the old, making it about 1/8" longer (though looking back, he said about 1/16" - I hope I get away with this.  )












A "Moxon" vice (or rather, a Coates vice) makes little cuts easy without stooping:






followed by a little chiselling






When I did an overall drawing, I drew the top runners sitting in a rebate between front and rear rails. I'm not sure that the rebate is really needed, but it might help keep everything square, so I decided to go ahead and include it, even though it's stopped at both ends. 

First some chiselling, to define the line,






then a little planing






Some people would say this was a totally gratuitous excuse to show you this lovely little Preston 1366 bullnose plane; I'd say it was exactly the sort of work it was designed for. :lol: 

The idea here is that the runner is mortice + tenoned + glued to the front rail but left dry on the rear one, with a longer mortice, and cut a little shy of the full length. Thus the sides can expand and contract if they want to.











I'm just pleased that the new dovetails fit a bit better than the first wonky one did.






Maybe that's because I am being a little bit more careful with getting things straight and true. I think it's just because this project is forcing me to practise more, on techniques I've not used much before. 

For example, when cutting the extra rail I took the trouble to use winding sticks to make sure there was no twist.

Here, you can see that there is some:






Those nice hardwood winding sticks came in a mixed box of tools. I already had these - which are actually two bits of old shower curtain rail.






They are straighter, but harder to photograph clearly - I deleted lots pictures worse than this one - but I hope you can see that now the work is reasonably straight.






Finally, here's a dry run of the whole thing, though with only the top and bottom frames installed. I think it's always nice to see something that is starting to look like a piece of furniture, rather than a kit of parts, though there is still some long way to go.


----------



## Jacob

Cheshirechappie":2n4xz36w said:


> I'm enjoying this one. Really good use of recovered timber.
> 
> I'm sure you know this dodge, Andy, but just thought I'd mention that it's worth making the back of the carcase a teensy bit wider than the front - about a bare 1/16" or so. That can make drawer fitting much easier - if by some mischance the carcase ends up wider at the front than the back, there's no way to fit the drawers without a nasty gap between drawer fronts and carcase sides. It seemed timely to mention it now as you're getting to that stage of carcase construction.


Really? Perhaps a bit of a myth IMHO. 
Doesn't make sense anyway - making it wider at the back isn't going to stop you making it too wide at the front if you are prone that way. 
And if you can work to 1/16" accurately you are not likely to make the carcase too wide in the first place. If you can't manage it then it's pot luck - you'd better make all your drawers over-size and fit them one by one.
The way to make sure they fit is to work strictly from a rod with everything on, including your chosen clearance gaps. Then you can even make all your drawers in advance, knowing that they will fit. If you aren't confident about precision you reduce the clearance allowance and expect to have to fit drawers instead of just slotting them in.


----------



## Cheshirechappie

Jacob":37cnz2oi said:


> Cheshirechappie":37cnz2oi said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm enjoying this one. Really good use of recovered timber.
> 
> I'm sure you know this dodge, Andy, but just thought I'd mention that it's worth making the back of the carcase a teensy bit wider than the front - about a bare 1/16" or so. That can make drawer fitting much easier - if by some mischance the carcase ends up wider at the front than the back, there's no way to fit the drawers without a nasty gap between drawer fronts and carcase sides. It seemed timely to mention it now as you're getting to that stage of carcase construction.
> 
> 
> 
> Really? Perhaps a bit of a myth IMHO.
> Doesn't make sense anyway - making it wider at the back isn't going to stop you making it too wide at the front if you are prone that way.
> And if you can work to 1/16" accurately you are not likely to make the carcase too wide in the first place. If you can't manage it then it's pot luck - you'd better make all your drawers over-size and fit them one by one.
> The way to make sure they fit is to work strictly from a rod with everything on, including your chosen clearance gaps. Then you can even make all your drawers in advance, knowing that they will fit. If you aren't confident about precision you reduce the clearance allowance and expect to have to fit drawers instead of just slotting them in.
Click to expand...


I really can't remember where I picked this little dodge up, because it was decades ago. The other thing in it's favour is that if a drawer is going to be tight anywhere, it'll be at the front opening; if the drawer back fits through the front opening (which it has to in order to get it in at all!) it will be guaranteed to have a clearance between the sides of the carcase at the back. Thus, drawer fitting is easier - plane it so that the drawer box remains parallel and fits nicely at the front where it's visible, and you know there won't be any binding problems further back.

If you want to get REALLY 'Flash Harry' with the drawer fit, make the drawer boxes a very close fit between the opening and the drawer back, so that as the drawer is opened, it gradually becomes tighter in the guides. I rather suspect that's a risky trick though, since any swelling of the drawer box with seasonal movement could leave the drawer stuck firmly shut!


----------



## AndyT

This is one place you might have read it, CC - Wells and Hooper, Modern cabinetwork, furniture & fitments, 1921.






I did do some reading round before embarking on this project and am pretty sure that I saw others recommending it too.


----------



## Cheshirechappie

That's not where I first saw it, but it does show that the method has been around a long time. I note Wells and Hooper suggest slightly thinning the drawer runners to the back as well, so that'll avoid any up-down binding problems.

Cunning, them ole boys!


----------



## Jacob

"Good ideas" get written up in books and mags but some of them aren't so good - but they get repeated and hang around forever. Go viral in fact! 
I think this is one of them. Doesn't make any sense.
If you can construct the thing very accurately with a tiny 1/16" taper you are skilled enough to do it straight without any taper. It's not difficult to get them spot on if you use a rod.
If a drawer turns out too tight at the back you just plane a bit off towards the back, effectively tapering it. Ditto the front (though reducing the taper this time).
That idea of them deliberately having them tighten as they are withdrawn makes even less sense - how would you get them in to start with? The slightest shift in humidity and they'd stick. Anyway it's the complete opposite of the previous suggestion! Are they both right? Best to strike a happy medium and ignore them both.

It's a pity there's no way of spring cleaning and getting rid of bad ideas from the written work of the centuries - they never die. Though personally I dumped a load of mags some years ago and haven't read one since!



> Cunning, them ole boys!


Too cunning by half! Cunning ideas sell books (not to mention gadgets) whether or not they are any good.

Nice chest of drawers BTW. Nice to see old wood being used up it's a really good idea.

Possibly the most viral "good idea" is the one about DTs needing to be 1/8 or 1/6 gradient according to hard/soft wood. Completely insane but it won't ever go away :shock: .
Could make a book "1000 Cr&p Woodwork Ideas to Avoid" hmm. Half the book would be about sharpening. :lol:


----------



## bugbear

AndyT":3nh57mgu said:


> then a little planing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people would say this was a totally gratuitous excuse to show you this lovely little Preston 1366 bullnose plane; I'd say it was exactly the sort of work it was designed for. :lol:



Very nice!

BugBear


----------



## Owl

Damn, I hadn't looked at the date on this thread so was disappointed when I reached the last post on page 5 and it came to a sudden stop (hammer) 
A very fascinating read Andy =D> looking forward to more.

As I have mentioned before, I am not a woodworker so I can't really comment on what is a correct way of doing things, however what Jacob says about it not making any sense to have it wider at the back etc makes sense to me ..... or have I got it wrong #-o


----------



## n0legs

Owl":pwy6caf0 said:


> to have it wider at the back etc makes sense to me ..... or have I got it wrong #-o



Andrew Pitts gives a good description.
From 3 minutes on, simple and clear  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcuTS2TXGg4


----------



## Jacob

n0legs":2mxuckig said:


> Owl":2mxuckig said:
> 
> 
> 
> to have it wider at the back etc makes sense to me ..... or have I got it wrong #-o
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Andrew Pitts gives a good description.
> From 3 minutes on, simple and clear
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcuTS2TXGg4
Click to expand...

God he was boring! Had a watch about 3 minutes - I could see no logic at all. In any case it looked a very odd bit of modern furniture.


----------



## n0legs

Jacob":23xebxya said:


> God he was boring! Had a watch about 3 minutes - I could see no logic at all. In any case it looked a very odd bit of modern furniture.



Boring? Well maybe a little.
Logic? I think that's there plain as day.
Odd modern furniture? The customer is always right.
Do you now accept that a good idea has been heard of by others, who use said good idea to very good and possibly very profitable effect?
Don't worry Jacob, you don't need to answer that :wink:


----------



## Jacob

n0legs":woevam3v said:


> ...The customer is always right...


Not a good business model. You should know better what the customer wants/needs, and sell them something they didn't even know they wanted. Customer is always wrong is a good starting point.


----------



## Wizard9999

Jacob":10pyqc58 said:


> n0legs":10pyqc58 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...The customer is always right...
> 
> 
> 
> Not a good business model. You should know better what the customer wants/needs, and sell them something they didn't even know they wanted. Customer is always wrong is a good starting point.
Click to expand...


Having read the rest of the thread how did I know that would be the answer, rofl.


----------



## AndyT

I find this discussion about how to fit drawers really interesting, but to leave room for plenty more discussion without derailing this thread I've started a fresh topic in General Woodworking. 

Making and fitting drawers is still some long way off on this project, so we will all have to wait and see if my first attempt has worked or not.

The bottom drawer is a few inches off the floor, for clearance, so there needs to be a little toe-piece to fill in the gap. This is actually an offcut I picked up at Richard Arnold's great charity fundraiser day last June - thanks Richard - I'll be back for some more this year!

It's not too good on this side, but that won't show so it's a good use of a second quality piece of wood.






The front will be fine.






It can fit into two little grooves on the sides. 
I find it really hard to see knife or pencil lines along the grain on this oak; they merge into the general open pattern of the grain. Going over the surface with a white crayon helped a bit, better than it shows on this photo.






A little more chiselling and routing is all that is needed











Before assembling the carcase, I cut down the intermediate drawer runners, so that they can be held by screws at the back.

Marking:






Cutting down:






Cutting across:






Separated:






These all need a slotted hole for a screw:
















This picture shows more dry fitting and drilling of pilot holes for the screws:






followed by a steel screw to form a suitable hole for the soft brass screws which I will use, as it's oak:






I took these down a little deeper than needed, just to be on the safe side.


----------



## Graham Orm

Something crossed my mind Andy....that you might be using machines for all this then standing these lovely old tools there for the pictures.

My wife often tells me not to judge others by my own standards.

Lovely job Andy keep the pictures coming ;-)


----------



## AndyT

Now then Graham, keep watching, there's a power tool coming up soon!

There were a few more little jobs to do before I could assemble the carcass.

One was just to clean up the outside a little to get the last bits of the old dark stain off. Here I'm using a Stanley No 80 scraper. (I've mentioned it before, but a little bit of plastic binding strip covers up the nasty spare edge efficiently.)






On the inside, I needed a rebate for the back panel to sit in - this runs all the way through, top to bottom, so is quick and easy to plane with a moving fillister, in this case, by Mathieson of Glasgow:










There are several options for the back - more on this later - but I made the rebate 3/8" deep.

I then sanded off the inside, using the wonderful Mirka Abranet, which I am happy to say was connected to an ordinary _*electrically powered* _vacuum cleaner! A bit noisy, but so much nicer than breathing in the dust, and the way that the open abrasive stays sharp is really helpful.






In readiness for the glue-up, I replaced my various pencilled scribblings with nice clear labels on masking tape. There are plenty of similar looking parts - which are not quite interchangeable - and I don't want to be forcing the wrong one in.






I also remembered to make some holes in the top runners and rails, so I can put screws through later, to hold the top in place. All much easier to do on separate parts on the bench. This was all standard stuff - drill a hole, file it out to a slot and countersink it. Actually I found it was best to drill a single hole and countersink, then file to the slot, then carve the extra countersinking with a little knife. I've thought about where the screws will go and will be able to get a screwdriver on them. I do wonder if there will be any movement at all in this old dry wood, but if there is, the design should cope. 






So there we are - after a big tidying up session - everything sorted, labelled and ready to go. Next installment soon, when I shall find out if I have made any big blunders yet. For the time being, I can enjoy the nice feeling that nothing has yet failed - knowing that actually very little has been tested! :wink:


----------



## Graham Orm

Nice job Andy starting to look like something now.


----------



## AndyT

So, less than two months after starting, it's time to glue up the carcase!

Everything laid out ready:






Two nice Record sash cramps lined up at the right width:






The first rails glued into one side:






but then I'm afraid you don't get as many action shots as I assembled the top and bottom frames, got all the mortices glued on the second side, the free ends all glued and inserted at once and then the top frame with its dovetails. Here it is a little bit later, in place, with two lighter cramps on:






Having checked for square - and finding that all was well - I relaxed and glued the remaining stub tenoned ends of the intermediate runners and screwed them onto the sides, where they fitted into their individually sized housings and were held with brass screws in the prepared holes. 






Phew!

That all took about three quarters of an hour to do. I've said it before, but I do like the long open time you get with this liquid hide glue, which is ok in my cool basement where the temperature is about 16° C at this time of year.

Fast forward to the following day and it looked like this:






What I am really pleased about is that the 'wider at the back' spacing for the drawers seems to have worked out ok. Using a scrap of mini trunking as an internal measure, set to the exact width at the front, 






this is how much space there is at the back:






which I think is about right. If I can make the drawers square, they will look tidy at the front but still have a chance of sliding smoothly. 

It's rather tempting to stop at this point, but I will press on and test it. I expect the pace and the number of pictures posted will drop down a bit - I'm sure you don't want to see all 20 drawer corners - but I've started, so I'll finish.


----------



## Racers

Coming along nicely Andy.

Pete


----------



## AndyT

The next thing to think about is the back. (Can you tell that I'm putting off the harder jobs of making drawers that fit and a smooth top? :wink: )

I've got suitable wood put by for several options, each of which would fit in that 3/8" deep rebate. I could use some old pine tongue and groove boards. I could make some new T&G from some other oak. But I've done T&G before, so I fancy the idea of a framed back. It will test me a bit, as I will make the frame out of the same thin 3/8" oak as the drawer supports, so the mortices and tenons will only be 1/8" thick. 

There are still options though. I could fill the panel with plywood, and I have a suitable sized bit of ash veneered ply which would be fine, but again, I've done ply panels before. I fancy a solid wood panel. I thought I had a quick and easy option with some old thin softwood which had indeed been the back of a cupboard but my one remaining piece was too short. Time to find some more thin wood.

This will do:












It's an old drawer front and I think it will yield enough, after some more sawing and planing.






So I was sawing the board in two, when I heard a knock and suddenly the saw didn't want to move. I'd found a remnant of an old screw from one of the handles. Fortunately it was a brass screw so did not damage the saw. All you need to get it out easily is a shell bit and a brace:






The semi-cylindrical shell bit will drill a hole round the old screw, digging down so you can get it out with pliers.











and then it's a bit more rip sawing which produced two thinner boards in need of a lot of planing











which makes enough to cut two boards to edge joint for a panel. Here they are, trimmed a bit to remove the gap where the lock was






and showing a bit where my sawing went adrift, which I should be able to work around






I don't know what this wood is. It's soft but doesn't have distinct summer/winter hard and soft growth. The sawdust was quite a vivid yellow. One side has a bit of a greenish tinge. The good thing is that it's got the growth rings at 90° to the surface so it should be stable.






Having spent quite some time planing these two boards thinnish and flattish, it was time to cut off two smaller bits and glue them together. To do this I used a really cheap old technique from back when I couldn't afford sash cramps: battens and sliding wedges.











Made from scrap, but they work really well.

More soon, when the glue has dried!


----------



## Graham Orm

Excellent stuff, a great read Andy.


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## AndyT

With the glue dry, I did some more planing, to make the back panel thinner and flatter. One of the challenges of this project is that everything is smaller and thinner than I have worked on before. I'm aiming for the back to be about ¼" thick, so it can be thinned down at the edges to go into a ⅛" groove. 






I trimmed the panel to size, doing what I could to avoid the flaws in the old wood, then gauged all round at ⅛".






trimmed the far end with a chisel






and then rebated with a moving fillister






That worked, but looked a bit plain, so I tried running a round along in the corner to ease the transition a bit:











followed by some more fiddling about with several essential tools from the "alternative planes shelf" (and a little bit of sandpaper)






Now, I've since read that the 'correct' way to do this is to gauge the central part with a cutting gauge, then work vertically down along each line with a round, held against a batten, cutting down as far to the previously gauged ⅛" line. Then remove the batten and rebate the external parts to fit. That would have been more efficient, but one of the ways hand tools are nicer is that I feel I can just attack an edge freehand like I did - something I would not attempt with a power router. 

Meanwhile, I had prepared the frame for the back panel to go in. 

This is a conventional grooved frame, with haunched mortice and tenon joints at the corners. Standard approach for mortising, with the rails left long and clamped to avoid splitting:
















Tenon cheeks sawn, ready for grooving






But here's a problem - the 405 fence is too big - it can't clear my clamping plywood. (The rails are only 1¼" wide.)






The solution is clear - swap to a smaller plane!











and indeed, stop messing about with plywood and wedges and nip the wood in the vice:






leaving a kit of parts.






Saw off the tenon shoulders






mark the haunches one way






and the other (using a handy 3/16" chisel as a gauge)






assemble and test in position:






then check the edge of the panel with a "mullet"






and insert into the frame for a trial assembly in place






It fits! Good enough for a dark corner where nobody will see it :lol:


----------



## Sheffield Tony

Nice result. Almost a shame it won't be on display more ! I've not yet done raised panels by hand before but "cheated" with the router. I have a project on the drawing board (literally) that will give me a chance to have a go though, so I'm collecting tips.

Getting things in the right order can make life easier, can't it. I so much like playing with plough planes that I usually dive in and cut the grooves, then struggle sawing the cheeks of the tenons without the saw being led astray by the side of the groove. Must remember to do it in the right order next time.

On the subject of plough planes - it looks like your 043 is working OK with the 1/8 cutter; on mine the clamping screw comes down right on the edge of the blade so that the little clamp pings out sideways when tightened. I decided it was intolerably fiddly, left it fitted with the 1/4 cutter and only use it for that size. Perhaps I should give it a closer look.


----------



## AndyT

The next thing I tackled was the top. 

Right back at the beginning I had sawn some bits of yew square and satisfied myself that they would do to make a top for this chest of drawers. I had roughly brought them to the same thickness and then put them to one side. I now needed to get a smooth flat surface and joint the edges. 
I'd not worked with yew before. These pieces are quite small and have various challenging places where the grain reverses around knots, so it was a good planing test. I could not have done it without this anonymous toothing plane that I bought for a few quid on ebay. 






It really is possible to go at it in any direction - even scrubbing round in circles if you want - and get a flat surface without tearing great lumps out. Obviously, although the surface is flat, it is not smooth: 











So I spent quite a bit of time just filling up the mouth of the plane 






emptying it out and starting again. Then scraping with a Stanley No 80 






After some time, I had a set of smooth-ish pieces of nearly the same thickness that I could arrange together and number in sequence. 






I then spent quite a lot of time doing the same sort of thing to the edges, holding them up to the light in pairs, squeezed tightly together, making sure that there was (almost) no light showing between them and that the edges were reasonably square to the faces. 

So it was then time to start gluing them together, one by one, to allow maximum adjustment and minimum stress on me. 






After some more additions it looked like this: 






and here is the whole top, with the glue thoroughly dried, clamped on the bench so I could remove any little variations in level that remained, again using the toothing plane and the scraper. 






Yew does scrape satisfyingly well: 











I then sanded with Abranet 






and an electric helper 






Having got the back smooth as a practice, I repeated the process on the front, and then sawed down to size. Rather than get a Workmate out to cut this on, I just knifed a long line and used a tenon saw 






but unfortunately there is not enough depth under the handle on this nice old one! 











giving you a chance to play 'spot the difference' as I switched to this Disston instead which has a bit more steel left on its blade: 






Phew! Having a 'selection' of tools proves worthwhile yet again! 






To mark out for the bevel, I just positioned the cabinet upside down on the top, equally spaced from the edges, and drew round it. (At this point I also made the holes for the screws that will hold it in place from below.)






I then marked the chamfer on the edges with a pencil gauge 






and planed freehand, starting on the end grain. For most of this I used this Chinese style plane from one of those tempting sales at Rutlands - it has the big advantage of having a very long toe ahead of the blade, which is ideal for balancing on an angle. 






I cut away at the ends first 






then joined them up. I do like the way this yew planes! 






But just to show it's not all easy, this is what happens on reversing grain 






so here it was back to the magic toothing plane 






and the scraper 






Here it is posed in place 






closely followed by its first coat of Tru-Oil, as recommended by Jimi 






Next time, there will be the rest of the story of the back panel and we get close to the start of the drawers...


----------



## Paul Chapman

Looking good, Andy. Very effective use of the toothing plane.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Graham Orm

Extremely satisfying read Andy. It's all looking good. What's the purpose of the toothing plane originally? I don't know much about them. How did it help you here?


----------



## AndyT

Graham Orm":2kmu747h said:


> Extremely satisfying read Andy. It's all looking good. What's the purpose of the toothing plane originally? I don't know much about them. How did it help you here?



As far as I know they were made and used for veneer work which would have often needed to flatten difficult timbers such as burrs by planing and scraping. (This would have been with fairly thick sawn veneer not the paper thin knife cut stuff used now.)

Toothed planes and veneer go way back, to Roman times and probably Egyptian.

There was an often repeated assertion that a roughened ground provided a better surface for gluing veneer to but some close studies of how glue works say that this is a fallacy. (In gluing the top I did my best to get a glass smooth surface on the edges. I will let you know if it falls apart! )


----------



## Graham Orm

Good stuff keep up the good work!


----------



## mouppe

Andy, the chest is looking terrific. 

As far as I know, there are two types of toothed blades, one for roughing up a surface prior to gluing veneer work and the other for tackling difficult woodsprior to finishing the job with a smoother or scraper. 

This blog post explains it better than I can. 

https://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/2012 ... veneering/


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## John15

Continuing to look really good Andy. The pics are brilliant, showing every step along the way.

John


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## AndyT

Ok, I can now show you the rest of the work on the back panel and I will cautiously approach the actual drawers...

I thought it would make sense to put some finish on the panel before gluing up the frame, so gave it a couple of coats of some shellac that I had in the cupboard. It's hard to judge, as my pictures don't show the same colours I saw, and will be different again on your screens, but trust me, the combination of the yellow wood and the shellac looked horrible:






It had to go!

I still had many options. I could fix this panel; turn it round to the unspoilt side; cut some more wood for a new raised panel; use a piece of quite nice ash veneered plywood which happened to be the right size, or use up some old pine tongue and grooved boards instead. 

So I first tried fixing this panel, by removing the shellac with wire wool and meths. This worked, but you'll have to trust me, as I like to keep the camera away from solvents. :wink: 

I gave the panel two coats of Tru-Oil instead and although it is still a bit yellow, it's not as nasty as it was, even if it's hard to see the difference or the problem in the photos.
I omitted to take photos of the exciting stage of cramping the frame together while the glue sets, so you'll have to imagine that, but here I am trimming off the 'horns' at the end of the stiles. Holding a wide, thin, fragile piece brings it own puzzles, but a Richard Tomes holdfast is generally the answer.






The panel is held in a rebate at the back of the carcase by brass screws. These were spaced out (using dividers) and then just because I felt like it, I drilled the pilot holes with an Archimedean drill. It was actually quite practical - the length helped me see the angle and it was light weight.






I then enlarged the holes for clearance in the panel, countersunk them, inserted a steel screw and checked all was ok with a brass one. 






That probably took an hour - but I'm not keeping a tally.






Meanwhile, I needed some little bits to make into drawers.

Just as my planing speeded up, so does the recording of it all - so I'll mostly leave it to the photos as it should be pretty obvious what I am doing.

I'd already cut the wood for the drawer fronts. For the sides and backs I used the backs from three old drawers. These were in a chest of drawers my parents had. They were bombed out from their London home and I'm pretty sure that the bedroom suite they kept for the rest of their lives dated from then and was supplied secondhand by the WVS. Stylistically it's probably from the 1920s. The dovetails were machine cut, but there are pencil marks suggesting that it was put together by hand. The wood itself is lovely - I've already made a little side table from some of the thicker parts and have one whole top board left for something else. I'm really glad I hung on to this wood a few years ago when we were clearing their house.






After much measuring and thinking, I found that I could get all the parts from these three boards if I made the drawers half an inch shorter than planned, cutting three pieces from the length of each board, so that's what I did.












I did use my little bandsaw for the rip cuts, for several reasons. Partly to take the smallest, least wasteful cut possible; partly as workholding small bits to rip by hand is not great, and partly to show that I work the way I feel like doing! (I hope you will agree that this does still count as a hand tool project.)





These bits are all about 7/16" thick 






but I wanted 5/16" for the sides and 3/8" for the backs, so it was just a matter of jackplane, smoothing plane, straight edge, winding strips until I had a face side and edge.






This is up against a strip light, showing that no light shows between the wood and a straight edge






I do like the old style marking gauges, with the pin simply filed to a knife edge.











I find this gives a really good clear line.











I've never used a wheel type gauge - are they any better?

So the result is a pile of pieces the right thickness











I had wanted to make the drawer slips by leaving the drawer sides over width, ploughing a groove near the edge of the wide board, then sawing off each strip. This is the recommended way for easy workholding, but it didn't fit with getting all the bits out of the wood I had, as I needed to get two full widths from each one.

I had a good tidy up and arranged sets of two sides, a back and a front, ready for each of the five drawers. This was a sensible thing to do. A more sensible thing would have been to do it sooner, before I made the blunder of ending up with one back too many and one side too few!

Luckily, I rummaged around and found an old drawer side from the same source. Although the wood is thinner on the sides, there is just enough left for my planned thickness. Phew!






So, next time, it's dovetails, grooves, slips and bottoms!


----------



## custard

AndyT":2pvucafe said:


> I've never used a wheel type gauge - are they any better?



Swings and roundabouts, they're great for rolling a gauge line around an edge, but the "fence" is a bit small if you're striking a mark any distance inboard, and it's harder to make a really gentle scratch of a mark, it tends to bite fully from the very first moment, which can be disconcerting in hard, open grained woods like Rosewood or Wenge.

Good work with your build, it's coming along nicely!


----------



## Graham Orm

custard":1nm6g925 said:


> AndyT":1nm6g925 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never used a wheel type gauge - are they any better?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Swings and roundabouts, they're great for rolling a gauge line around an edge, but the "fence" is a bit small if you're striking a mark any distance inboard, and it's harder to make a really gentle scratch of a mark, it tends to bite fully from the very first moment, which can be disconcerting in hard, open grained woods like Rosewood or Wenge.
> 
> Good work with your build, it's coming along nicely!
Click to expand...


I was going to answer the question with 'infinitely better'. But you make some good points there Custard. The great advantage is that they don't follow the grain and wander, they cut through it and stay true. I use only the wheel type but have not had cause to come across the circumstances mentioned by custard.

Superb stuff Andy, this thread has become an automatic go-to for me when I log on. Bandsaw......forgiven ;-)


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## AndyT

I've been away from the workshop for a while, so unable to post any updates. There will be similar interruptions later in the summer. Meanwhile here are some more pictures from before I went away.

Following directions in Charles Hayward's "Cabinet Making for Beginners" and Robert Wearing's "Essential Woodworker," I started making the first drawer.
The sequence is to fit the front to the opening, fit the sides, cut the back to length, then cut the dovetails. I gauged the sides so that there will be a touch of long grain planing to bring the sides flush with the ends of the front.

The old salvaged oak for the fronts planes nicely






and as a bonus, makes a high fibre breakfast cereal!






Here's the front fitted






and here is a side being squared on my shooting board. I've still not got round to making a posher one but it works just fine.






I worked out the dovetail spacing on my paper drawing, then marked out on the work, using dividers. I pinned a pair of sides together, using fine moulding pins in the waste. I held them in my Coates™ Vice so I could see what I was doing and sawed the tails.






I marked the pins by setting up square and pulling the tip of the dovetail saw through.

To saw out most of the waste, just for fun, I used my old Trump Brothers treadle powered fretsaw. (It needs to earn the floorspace it takes up!)












This works well on the flat for the square cuts but also works fine for the slanting cuts on the through pins, using the simple method of holding the wood up off the table at the right angle. Not something I'd try with an electric saw.

After that it was the usual chisel work as posed here






And here's the result
















Obviously that's before gluing up and planing to exact size so I can't test anything but I'm still hopeful.

I still need to sort out the bottoms, plough a groove on the front, round over the back and make the slips. More on all that soon.

I also want to decide about the handles in case I need to drill holes in the fronts before gluing up.


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## Graham Orm

Good stuff Andy, taking shape. ;-)


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## AndyT

Bottoms!

Here's what I have done so far. Some time ago, I was deep ripping some cedar to use for the bottoms, which came out very nicely. I put the pieces back on the rack where they stayed straight and flat until needed, which was welcome!

So I jointed the edges of two boards (and yes, that is a Preston jointer, like Sunnybob's but without any worm or rust - sorry!)
















To cramp them together I decided to use the same simple board and wedge arrangement as I had used on the top, but wanted some extra help so I pulled out the old sash cramp heads that go on a wooden bar. These are relatively light in use, probably about the same as those cheap ali bars. In this case I needed a new hole at the right spot on the bar, so I lifted down my Weetabix powered drilling machine and set to - these things aren't just for decoration!






Here's an exciting action shot of the glue drying:






and here's another with a special patented high-tec way of holding things flat:






What does not show in the pictures is that the cedar is resting on a couple of little battens so that any glue squeezed out does not stick them to the cramps. 

To get the full depth needs more than just two widths, but the extra needed is less than a full board. As this is soft wood and quite thin I had a go at cutting it with a cutting gauge, taking several passes and working from both sides. It worked well. 











I then shot the edges and repeated the gluing up, which looked much the same as before, only wider. I also cross cut the boards and planed them down to about ¼" thick.


----------



## AndyT

Drawer slips

Drawer slips make sense on drawers this small with thin sides. Books describe two styles. The commonest pattern is quite high - about ½" or ¾" tall - with a quarter round on the top edge. They reduce the space in the drawer by their thickness. The other pattern is just a square strip with a groove in it, generally with a tiny bead on top. 






I've decided to go for the second type. It does bring an extra challenge - for the common type the drawer bottom goes into a groove and so will always disappear neatly; on the second type there will be a rebated edge to the drawer bottom, which will show. 

I had originally hoped to be able to leave the drawer sides wide, groove for the slips on their edges, then rip them off. This would have made it easy to hold the work. As it happened, I could not do this, as my wood for the sides was only just wide enough to cut two sides from. So I needed to find a way of holding these fiddly little bits to plane and groove them reasonably accurately.

I knocked up a sort of small sticking board from another bit of oak, then modified the design until it worked ok.

First I cut a reasonable rebate






and made sure it was accurate for 3/8" depth so I could plane down to the top and no further.






At first, I left the higher part at the back and put a screw at the left hand side, as you would on an ordinary sticking board for window mouldings. I found it difficult to hold the work firm enough into the rebate and ended up with strips that were trapezoid in section where they should have been square.

I decided to add some little tabs to hold the work, by chiselling a couple of little housings in the side and fixing them loosely with screws. The idea was that they would tighten up in the vice and grip the work. I also added a couple of dowels to stop the whole thing dropping down when I loosened the vice.






This worked ok for planing the strips square. The final pass was with the edge of the plane on the top of the jig so it could not cut down too far - as in an ordinary shooting board.






My big breakthrough was when I realised that it made sense to reverse the whole thing and have the fence at the front. This was just as good for holding the strip tight but it meant that rather than trying to run the fence of the plough against the work, I could run the fence of the plough against the deeper jig.

I used my Record 044C for this - it's bigger and easier to handle than the tiny 043. You'll see that it has a wooden handle instead of the blue plastic. It's nicer to use but I may have made it a bit too chunky, so there will be a rasp-based digression some time soon.











This worked ok, so now I need to get the drawer bottoms to fit neatly in these tiny ⅛" grooves.

I also need to decide on the shape of the drawer pulls before gluing up the drawers, so that I can drill holes in the fronts in the right places and countersink them on the inside. 

There will probably be a bit of a slowing down in the post rate on here, as I shall be away a few times in the summer, and I don't intend stopping to photograph all the steps in making a drawer five times over! But people seem to like this level of detail, so I shall try to record the pondering and the experiments and the choice of tools as much as I can.


----------



## lurker

But people seem to like this level of detail, so I shall try to record the pondering and the experiments and the choice of tools as much as I can

We want details !!! (hammer) 
Wonderful post =D> =D>


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## Graham Orm

You should print this thread of and stick it to the bottom of the bottom drawer in a plastic sleeve for someone to find in years to come Andy..


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## AndyT

Graham Orm":3dszg5fp said:


> You should print this thread of and stick it to the bottom of the bottom drawer in a plastic sleeve for someone to find in years to come Andy..



I might just do that! There's a reasonable chance that the bottom drawer will get finished; the other four might take a little longer... :wink:


----------



## Cheshirechappie

I do like that wooden-handled 044C - I bought one of those in the 1980s because it was the only plough I could find, but oh! how I hated that plastic handle! I've been meaning to replace it for years, but having since obtained other ploughing options, never quite got round to it. Shame really, because apart from that handle, it's a perfectly capable tool.

The chest's really coming together nicely.

I think there's another way some people use to prepare drawer slips, which is to plough the groove in a widish board, then saw off and plane to size, then plough the next - and so on. I do like the little sticking board, though - a quick and elegant solution to the problem of holding small stock.


----------



## Racers

This thread should be made a Sticky IMHO.

Pete


----------



## custard

Andy, the second type of drawer slip, which you're going for, is the type we were encouraged to use at the Edward Barnsley Workshops. It looks lovely, and doubly so with a muntin! One thing I found is that the quirk on the bead needs to be a little bolder than you'd normally cut, not necessarily deeper but a fraction wider. 

The reason is that when you glue the slip to the drawer side you'll probably clean up the squeeze out with hot water, which will get all over the bead and make the quirk fuzzy and close-up a little. Where as you want it to look really crisp so that it makes a bit of an announcement when you open the drawer.

Another nice Barnsley touch is to flush inlay a 3mm thick strip of rosewood (or some other very hard timber) into the drawer runner directly beneath the drawer side, obviously it's a stopped inlay so it's not visible from the front, the thinking is that in a century or two it'll be easier to accurately build back a worn drawer side than a worn runner.


----------



## AndyT

Thanks Custard! Food for thought indeed but as this is my first go at drawer making I think I will leave the rosewood idea for a later piece if you don't mind  
Point taken on the quirk. I'll do some experiments.


----------



## custard

AndyT":27st6g20 said:


> this is my first go at drawer making



Wow, even more impressive! You're going about it in such a practised and competent fashion I thought you'd been knocking out drawers for a few decades at least.


----------



## Plumberpete

Nice work Andy, it's looking really good. =D>


----------



## rafezetter

AndyT":1bs1uvmg said:


> Graham Orm":1bs1uvmg said:
> 
> 
> 
> You should print this thread of and stick it to the bottom of the bottom drawer in a plastic sleeve for someone to find in years to come Andy..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I might just do that! There's a reasonable chance that the bottom drawer will get finished; the other four might take a little longer... :wink:
Click to expand...


I'm loving this thread Andy - and I've learned a few things I didn't know the theory of; like the sequence for making a drawer starting with making the front fit the hole and working back, and about drawer slips too.

You really should do what Graham suggested - I'm currently making a multi cubby display case as a birthday present and I'd already decided to give a copy of my WIP so they can see how it was made (but far far simpler than your build).


----------



## Sheffield Tony

Nice to see things made so traditionally. I have done the odd drawer before, but not with slips, so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the drawer build. I have been putting off a project needing 4 drawers, one a wide one, for some time whilst gathering tips ...


----------



## AndyT

So, back in the workshop again, it was time to think about the drawer pulls. 

There are loads of options, including turned wood and turned metal but I want to keep this piece fairly plain looking. I'd originally sketched it with a single wooden bar per drawer, so wanted to try that option first. A helpful friend made suggested that I use a bit of the remaining yew for the handles, and I like that idea, so thought I would see how it worked in practice.

With something like this I don't think a drawing is much help, so I roughed out a prototype in a bit of pine and fiddled about with it until it seemed about the right size.







It was about 5/8" thick, where the yew is about 7/8". Thinking ahead to holding the work, I decided to rebate one edge of the one remaining piece of yew.






So I marked, quite deeply for width and depth






chiselled out along the line






and sawed down 1/4"






Now a fine-toothed tenon saw like this soon chokes up on a cut that is about 18" long, so although it was ok for the short cut, for the deep one I needed something meatier.






It may not be a conventional technique, but it worked, and was quite quick to do. The rip saw teeth did clog a little bit






but were easy to clear and I soon had a rebate and a little offcut which I am sure will come in handy for something






To make the underneath finger groove, I packed the back of the rebate out with a strip of wood, which was stuck with double sided tape onto a bit of mdf, which was held down onto the yew with a holdfast. This meant that I could use a round, resting against the packing piece, and have the groove start in the right place. In theory I could have used my fingers as a fence, but this is more reliable.











The groove soon developed, and I removed the guide and enlarged it.






This was all quite controllable, as long as I took full length cuts.

On the outside, the grain has several reversals, so initial shaping with a jack plane and a hollow produced lots of tear out






I decided that the most practical course here was to switch to abrasives to get the shape.






I used ordinary 120 grit sandpaper rather than my preferred Abranet so that I could use a hollow as a shaped former; this helped keep the profile consistent along the length.






The damage soon disappeared






and I gave the inside the same treatment






After a bit more fettling, switching to Abranet and the vacuum cleaner on the outside, I produced a strip of drawer pull, on the edge of the bigger piece. I still need to saw it off, cut the bits to length, round off the ends and work out the size and position of the screws, but this shot, posed with the prototype, shows how it should look.






I did warn you that this project will take some time!


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## Graham Orm

Looks good Andy. The yew should have a pleasing effect, how about a high gloss finish on the handles?


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## AndyT

Graham Orm":2s13qa91 said:


> Looks good Andy. The yew should have a pleasing effect, how about a high gloss finish on the handles?



Would it surprise anyone if I say I have not really decided about the finish yet?  

I quite like the way the yew top is fairly glossy, with just one coat of Tru-oil. I assume I will need to rub it back a bit and give it some more coats to make it safe against the occasional coffee cup, and may want to end with a satin finish rather than a gloss. It would make sense for the drawer pulls to get matching treatment.

But I am a bit undecided about the rest. On the back panel I did wipe some Tru-oil round the inside edges of the frame, and the panel was oiled as well. I have put a single coat on some of the scraps and like the simplicity of that. Of course, the oak absorbs the oil far more than the yew did, and is not at all glossy, especially on the brown oak of the drawer fronts. 

Anyone care to offer any advice on this?


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## AndyT

After various summer trips etc I have found the way back to the workshop and have made a little bit more progress.

Starting with my long strip of handles






I marked off five equal lengths and crosscut them






then ripped along the length to separate the bits






carefully measured both ends










and planed them carefully so the handles were even.

To round off the ends, I held each piece in the vice and filed it with a dreadnought file






then completed the curve on sandpaper






After cleaning up on finer Abranet






I managed to make five which match close enough.






So at last I could measure the front of the drawer, drill two holes, and countersink the backs






ready for the brass screws which will hold the handles on






Now that the handles are settled, I can return to the slips and drawer bottom and get the first drawer glued up, so that will be next.


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## devonwoody

Thanks for your posting, good job we have digital cameras these days, the old 120 film would have cost you a fortune.


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## JakeS

devonwoody":s8mye7e0 said:


> the old 120 film would have cost you a fortune.



Not to mention the postage costs sending the prints out to everyone!


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## AndyT

Ah yes, I remember using roll film. Only 12 pictures (or 13 if you were careful) and only black and white when I used it - colour was too expensive and difficult to develop and print!

I must have taken several hundred photos of this project already, but that's one really good aspect of sharing it online, there's no need to limit it to a roll of film or a couple of pages in a magazine.

There won't be so many pictures of drawers numbers 2 to 5!


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## AndyT

Back to that drawer!

This was the kit of parts, ready to glue up. I do like to be reasonably tidy and organised for this bit. It's all on a handy bit of properly flat 18mm ply, which helps.






I find a plastic setsquare is good for checking internal corners






but a trad trysquare is good too






Once the glue had dried, I spent quite a lot of time making this:






as I removed the spare thickness from the sides, with the drawer held on a bit of board on the bench like this






During the fitting I found that I had not perfectly flattened the inside of the carcass side, so needed to remove a little bump in the wood with some careful cross-grain planing - something not mentioned in the books! A heavy shoulder plane is useful for this.






Eventually, after most of the morning had gone by, I got to this stage:











which was a relief. 

I could then turn my attention to the slips and bottom again. 

The sides of the slips need a bead, to mask the transition from slip to drawer. Having tried using a beading plane and a Stanley 66, neither of which was good on the wayward grain in this oak, I used a simple scratchstock to do this.











The front ends of the slips need to have a little 1/8" tenon on them, to fit into the groove at the back of the drawer front:











so with that cut, and the other ends trimmed to length, I was ready to glue the slips on. The idea is that the drawer bottom should be the right width to slide into the groove from the outside, until its front edge fits into the groove on the front, which is above the groove in the slips






I also re-cut the bottom to the right width, away from my earlier practice cut, and re-did its cross-grain rebate on the edge, just using a square, a knife, a cutting gauge and a chisel











finishing off with a shoulder plane. For the long grain rebate at the front I clamped a batten to guide a rebate plane:






and again, cleaned it up with a small shoulder plane. 

At this point I realised that I had blundered when cutting the dovetails at the back of the drawer: I had cut the bottom corners off! 






I should have spotted this weeks ago when I first cut the dovetails, but never mind. I could glue a pair of little blocks on but I think I will just leave it as a lesson to myself.

The slips locate nicely in the groove and up against the bottom edge of the back, so just need clamps to hold them in place.
Robert Wearing suggests homemade lightweight clamps made from scraps for this, and having made some, it seemed a good time to use them. I also added some plastic spring clamps someone gave me; they don't look very nice but seem ok for this.






So, when the glue had set on the slips, it was time for some more planing






and at last I could slide the drawer bottom in! After some more planing, it fitted reasonably snugly - I haven't glued it yet but it might be difficult to slide out to get some glue on.











So there it is so far. I now need to start repeating things, four times over, though some of it seems so long ago I shall have to look over my notes here to find what to do.

I've said before I have respect for pre-industrial woodworkers doing this sort of work at a commercial pace; that's even more true now I have a hands-on appreciation of just how fiddly some of this stuff is. I have also learned that accuracy matters more on something like this that on anything I have done before; I'm confident this will be ok, but I can see how much better it could be.

But wait!!

There's more - looking closely at the last picture of the drawer, I have just realised that I made a second mistake when I set out the dovetails at the back! I not only cut the bottom corner off wrong, I cut the top corner off as well!

This is how it looked, weeks ago:






The top edge should run all the way through, just covering the top edge of the back, which should be curved. It should then have a small chamfer - but I've got nothing to cut the chamfer in.

Oh well, nobody else will know, unless you all come round and point it out! :lol: :lol:


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## Graham Orm

Looking good Andy.


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## John15

Really interesting stuff Andy. I'm learning a lot from your WIP pics and text.

John


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## Gerard Scanlan

Thanks for sharing all the goofs too. At least we can watch we don't do the same, while we are making mistakes of our own.  

Gerard


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## deema

Hi Andy

Looking really nice, well done. I'm showing my ignorance here, which isn't difficult for me! Can you explain why slips are used on the draw sides to house the bottom? What's the benefit over cutting the rebate directly into the draw sides?


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## AndyT

deema":1605jfuv said:


> Hi Andy
> 
> Looking really nice, well done. I'm showing my ignorance here, which isn't difficult for me! Can you explain why slips are used on the draw sides to house the bottom? What's the benefit over cutting the rebate directly into the draw sides?



There are two reasons. One is that the sides are quite thin - about 7mm - so they would be considerably weakened by cutting a groove. 
The other is that doubling up the thickness gives a wider area for the drawer to run on, slowing down any wear. That doesn't really matter in this case as I shan't be putting much weight in the drawers but I wanted the whole thing to be an exercise in exploring traditional construction.


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## Jacob

Yep. Having repaired numerous "un-slipped" drawers which have failed at this weakest point.


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## n0legs

Looking good Andy =D>


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## deema

Thanks Andy, I hadn't thought of that, it's a very good point.


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## No skills

Nice to see alls well, well almost  

There's certainly a lot more detail in building a more traditional chest of draws than I thought, best left to those here with patience. 
Well done Andy.

I was "tidying" up in the shed yesterday and found some bits of draw that come from my parents bedroom draws. They got the chest second hand when they got married (40 years this year), it's (the draw) got oak or chestnut sides with machine cut dovetails and pine slips nailed on. 
A strange mix and match of material and technique I thought.


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## AndyT

A bit more progress to report. 

Having made one drawer, all the same processes were repeated to get to this stage:







which was nice. I felt I was really making progress, getting used to how to make drawers, and remembering not to cut the corners off the sides:






So I soon had the framework of drawer number three glued up, ready for fitting the next day. Much later, lying in bed, I realised that I had forgotten to plough the groove in the back of the drawer front, where the drawer bottom fits in!

Clearly, the simplest way to cut these grooves is with a plough plane. That's one reason why the design hides the ends of the groove behind the bottom dovetail - through grooves are quick and easy. If I didn't want to start again or dismantle the joints (I didn't) I was going to have to make this groove inside the part-finished drawer.

So, I marked out two lines with marking gauges, and completed them up into the corners.






and I started to chisel.






This is practical, provided that you have tools which will fit into the restricted space, ie (a) a nice short 1/8" chisel, and (b) a nice compact mallet, such as this lovely little one in brass and lemonwood, made by that nice Mr Coates!






I soon realised I could go quicker with an edge to work against, so clamped a handy cabinet scraper in position






With the ends clear, there was enough room to clear out to full depth with the petite Record 043






and soon I had a complete, usable groove. It should have taken a couple of minutes; instead it took about half an hour. Still, I'm not counting the time, and certainly not rushing, but with the bottom slid in, I have now got this far:


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## Graham Orm

Great recovery Andy. I'd have been tempted to glue strip along the back of the drawer front the same depth as the rebate would have been, but then I'm lazy!


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## Racers

A draw slip on the front would have worked as well, and maybe set a new trend!

I have a 1/8 mortice chisel as well, and a couple or 4 043s :shock: 


Pete


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## rafezetter

Yes a great recovery, but without that record you could possibly have got some scrap wood and done the Paul Sellers' "poor mans router plane" with a chisel and a guideblock nailed on, thus expiditing the need for height for a mallet.


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## AndyT

Thanks for the dodge suggestions. 

It's still not finished, but it's getting closer...


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## custard

AndyT":1oodguy8 said:


> It should have taken a couple of minutes; instead it took about half an hour. Still, I'm not counting the time, and certainly not rushing



There speaks a true craftsman. 

I really mean it. An oversight like that could happen to anyone, but how it's dealt with is one of those "craftsmen from cowboys" tests that in some ways are what projects like this are all about. And you should pat yourself on the back for passing with flying colours!


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## OM99

Andy,

Hat off to you, lovely project some very good skills on show, and a lot of patience (something I lack to ever attempt anything like that). It is very nice to see hands tools still have a place in woodworking and that not everything need to be build using power tools if you have the determination.

Oli


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## devonwoody

Andy,knowing your interest in antique tools .today Monday on flog it they visited an old mansion full of old furniture, marquetry, inlay and parquetry 
They displayed a shoulder knife, like an extra long turning chisel that rested on a shoulder and carved out the inlay pattern. 
worth going to Iplayersee if you missed.


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## AndyT

devonwoody":31bonsma said:


> Andy,knowing your interest in antique tools .today Monday on flog it they visited an old mansion full of old furniture, marquetry, inlay and parquetry
> They displayed a shoulder knife, like an extra long turning chisel that rested on a shoulder and carved out the inlay pattern.
> worth going to Iplayersee if you missed.



Good grief, DW, if I have to cover the whole thing with little cut-out flowers, I will never get it finished!  

Seriously though, good spot - it's rare to see such a tool on mainstream telly. I've read about them in the recent translation of the Roubo book on marquetry so knew they existed, but it's nice to see one in the flesh. Thanks for the thought.


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## AndyT

So, with all the drawers made, it was time to sort out the handles and get them all fixed straight.

The first step was to work out the measurements so the handles are central on the holes, which are 2" apart, and mark the right distance from one end






then intersect that line with a marking gauge and mark the spot






then drill a little hole to the right depth






enlarge it a bit so it's a good fit for a No 4 screw:






install a steel screw at this end






make sure that the handle is straight, using this pre-prepared jig






mark the second hole from the inside






and repeat the drilling etc for the other hole. Then insert a second steel screw to make the hole ready for the brass screws.

After some more repetition, this got me to the stage where the chest looks like this:






This seems to be a reasonable compromise between making relying on measurements and making a more complicated jig. They look straight enough for me!


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## Graham Orm

Tidy!


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## John15

Looking very nice indeed Andy.

John


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## AndyT

With the drawers and their handles completed, the last step was to make and fit some drawer stops.
First, I cleaned up the front edges of the carcase, to remove face edge marks and suchlike.






The wood for the drawer stops needs to be very thin - to get maximum space in the drawers, the clearance underneath the bottoms was only 1/8", and a bit less after fitting. Rather than plane something to size, I turned to my stash of useful recycled wood and pulled out a slat from a wooden Venetian blind.






This is a very clear, tight grained wood which is ideal for the purpose. I cut five strips, marked them, stacked them together and cut them out.






I could have got a mitre saw out, but that would have meant clearing the bench, and for a little job like this, a holdfast on the sawing board and a freehand cut is just fine, and a lot quicker.

To fit the stops at the right depth, I made up another jig from a bit of hardwood floor nosing, cut down along one side.






I could hold this in place, snug each stop up against it, and clamp them in place while the glue dried.











While the glue was setting I could get on with the finishing. I decided on Tru-oil for the whole thing. To do the drawer handles I made a stand with panel pins lined up to sit in the fixing holes.






For the carcase and drawer fronts I just wiped the oil on with a rag, removing any excess and being careful not to get drips on the corners. I oiled just the fronts of the drawers, not the sides, which is what I have observed on antique pieces.






That was all last night. Today, now that everything is dry, I have turned to assembly.

When I decided to simply screw the top on from under the topmost rails, I knew that I would need a small screwdriver to get in the space. A perfect job for a Goodell-Pratt 668!











All screws were waxed, were going into pre-made holes, and were fitted with a screwdriver of the right size. I rubbed a candle along the sides and edges of the drawers, which I am pleased to report all now open and close reasonably smoothly.

And so, here is the result!





















This is not where it will be going, but I think it's worth leaving it on view for a few days yet.






So that's the end of the story, which started a mere four months ago, with this lot






Thanks to all who have followed along as I have pondered about how to design and make it. I've thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am really grateful for all the help, suggestions and comments along the way.

I don't know what I will be making next - I suspect there will be a few old tool distractions before I embark on anything big. But I hope to share them all here.


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## Mr_P

That's a shame, I've been really enjoying this thread and now its complete.

Great job Andy and thanks for sharing/documenting.

=D> =D> =D>


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## Racers

It looks very nice, I like the oak and yew.

That saw in the 3 photo looks familiar where did you get it?

Pete


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## Graham Orm

Great job Andy. Thanks for sharing it all. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done mate.


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## Sheffield Tony

I agree with Pete, the colours of the woods look very nice together. A superb result, and a great piece of recycling ! I really ought to do something with all the bits of wood I've accumulated in the garage.


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## Paul Chapman

Nice job, Andy.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## AndyT

Racers":34gwq3kt said:


> That saw in the 3 photo looks familiar where did you get it?
> 
> Pete



I don't know!

There is no name on it and I can't remember buying it, so maybe it came in a mixed lot with other tools. It's short, fairly fine-toothed and reasonably sharp, so it came in handy for quite a few cuts on this project.


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## Racers

I am sure I left one like it at Rich Arnolds first time, did it have a wooden blade protector?

Pete


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## AndyT

Racers":30u3ut88 said:


> I am sure I left one like it at Rich Arnolds first time, did it have a wooden blade protector?
> 
> Pete



Ah, that could be the source! I think it did have a wooden protector, which is not on it now, as I keep it in my saw till with the most useful saws.
So if it was one that you donated, thank you very much; it's a good saw! =D>


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## Racers

It was part of my buy lots of saws and learn sharpening phase, which seems to have passed now!

Pete


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## SteveF

Shame it is finished in a good way

looks fantastic and the amount of work and detail astounded me
I have been watching this since day one

what now?

Steve


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## bucephalus

Great WIP, really enjoyed it, thanks for sharing. =D> 

Finished piece looks great, but... don't you need a matching one for the other side of the bed? :twisted:


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## n0legs

Cracking job Andy, please do another =D>


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## John15

Congratulations Andy on completing a really lovely piece of furniture. 

John


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## custard

Lovely job, well documented, and a real tribute to your patient determination.


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## Woodmonkey

Looks great, love the contrast between the different timbers. Thanks for making the effort to post it all.


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## fiveeyes

Well done AndyT..very nice work indeed! Only having a few handplanes myself, it was a treat to see your tool collection in action. 5


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## Penny

As can only be said by one man...


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## Exile

beyond impressed :-0

Amazing job you did there and thanks for documenting it all.


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## xy mosian

Very nice job Andy. You're a braver man than I for doing it all in public gaze. well done on both counts.

xy


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## ossyhugh

andy,

finally got round [planning daughter's wedding, don't sak.....] to looking at the finished job on this site- excellent. having had privelage of seeing it first hand i can apprciate the achievement that this represents. well done, and for remembering to take photos as you go.

but it looks to me that it's rellly crying out for another one to make a pair of chests?


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## AndyT

Thanks Hugh and all the others who have asked for a matching pair - I'd sort of like to make one, but there is no space on the other side of the bed, as it's filled with this wardrobe I made years ago and a chest of drawers would stop the left hand door opening!






At the moment there is no other space in the house for another chest of drawers, so I am a bit stuck for what to make next...


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## OM99

Andy,

Stunning job, well done. Can't wait to see your next project 

Oli


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## Johnser

Wow, just read through this. and just, wow..


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