Chest of Drawers wip - slow hand tool project
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Cheshirechappie
Established Member
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.
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.
custard
Established Member
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.
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.
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.
Point taken on the quirk. I'll do some experiments.
Plumberpete
Established Member
Nice work Andy, it's looking really good. =D>
rafezetter
Troll Hunter
AndyT":1bs1uvmg said:
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
Ghost of the disenchanted
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 ...
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!
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!
Graham Orm
Established Member
Looks good Andy. The yew should have a pleasing effect, how about a high gloss finish on the handles?
Graham Orm":2s13qa91 said:
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?
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.
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.
devonwoody
Established Member
Thanks for your posting, good job we have digital cameras these days, the old 120 film would have cost you a fortune.
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!
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!
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:
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:
Graham Orm
Established Member
Looking good Andy.
John15
Established Member
Really interesting stuff Andy. I'm learning a lot from your WIP pics and text.
John
John
Gerard Scanlan
Established Member
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
Gerard
