Practice Drawer Front - I learn some things about my jig

Today I decided to prepare a practice curved drawer front.  I used some 8/4 African Mahogany from about 10 years ago which is not as expensive as the Genuine Mahogany.   I laid out the pattern on a piece of 8 1/2 inch by 4 inch by 1 3/4 inch block. This is the size required for each drawer front.

You can see the layout lines here and I have already started to cut out the shape

The corners on the front of the drawer were cut out with a table saw 1 1/4 inch across the front and 3/4  of an inch deep.
\

I used a dado on the table saw to cut 5/32 off of the sides to create the lip. An then I used the band saw to cut the curve on the front.

I also used the band saw to cut out the 3/4 curve in the back of the drawer front.  I did not have to remove this material.  If I leave it then my drawer bottoms are easier to make, since they would be flat across. If I remove the material in the back like in the picture below, then all the drawer bottoms would be curved.  I makes it a little more work. 

To put the 1/4 inch curve on the inside of the drawer front I use a jig and the router with a rubbing collar to cut out the curve.

It worked ok, but I am not satisfied with the curve that it cut.   Here I am test fitting the drawer front. You can see that there is a slight gap on the right side of the curve.

So I try it on another of the drawer positions.  Here it fits perfect.  So it looks like I am going to have to fiddle with the drawer shaping.

Tomorrow I will make another test drawer front and see it I can get it to fit flush on the other drawers.  I also need to clean it up and add a 1/4 inch round over molding around the drawer front.

So here is today's video:

Design Drawer Runners and Kickers - Lots of Small Mortise and Tenon

I made some decisions about how I want to install the drawer runners.  Some times the drawer runners are mortised into the back of the case.  This makes the glue-up of the case more complicated since all of these little runners have to be positioned front and back as you are gluing and assembling the case.  There are six drawers in this dressing table and that makes for a lot of drawer runners and dividers.  So I decided to make a frame which contains all the mortise and tenon joinery and then can be  slipped into the case after it has been assembled.
Looking down into case you can see the side runner on the left clamped into place. There needs to be this style of runner all the way around the case, two times.  Once for the first row of drawers and then again for the second row.

Lots of little pieces to cut and mortise and tenon together.

I have to put mortises in all of the front and rear rails

With the front and rear rails mortised, I need to put matching tenons on all of the runners.  I am using my tenoning jig here on the table saw.

Now all it have to do is fit all this together.

All assembled ready to install

I fit these frames into the case.

Everything seems to fit, so I think the case work is complete. After I glue up the case I will slip the drawer frames in from the top and bottom.  I will glue and nail them in place.

Now I should sand the case pieces before I glue it up.  I hate to sand but it is easier to do before the piece is assembled.

I also need to look into making the curved drawer fronts to match the curves on the case front.  I'll look into that tomorrow.  No rush into sanding!

Here is today's video:

Installing the Vertical Drawer Dividers - Very Detailed Work

Today I installed the vertical drawer dividers.  There are two and they have 1/2 inch dovetails on each end.  In the video I say that I am going to make them 1/2 inch deep but I changed my mind and made them 5/8 inch deep.  It just seemed better to me.

So here I am lining them up, and then scribe the knife line around the dovetail

The back part of the dovetail will be removed leaving 5/8 inch  before I install the vertical rail. This will match the depth of the dovetail.

Here I am cutting out the center drawer blade when the two pieces intersect.  I am cutting out 5/8 inch notch.  In the vertical rail I cut out a notch of 1 1/8 inch so when they go together they are flush.  The vertical divider is 1 3/4 inches deep.

Now I am cutting out the dovetail on the top drawer blade.

This one is installed. Looks like a good fit.

Got the second one installed. And they are both perpendicular to the drawer blades.

Now the next step is to install the drawer runners.  I am starting to layout all of the little pieces that I need.
Here is today's video:

Dovetail and Shaping the Drawer Blades - Holds the Case together

The next step after cleaning up the apron is to make the two drawer blades and dovetail them to the case.   The drawer blades are 3/4 inch thick stock and the 2 1/2 width that matches the apron size.  I used the apron to trace the pattern on to both blades.   The top drawer blade uses a flat dovetail which will be hidden once the top is installed.  You can see the dovetail pattern on the end of the top blade.

Sawing out the dovetail pattern

All done with the top blade dovetails.  Just two saw cuts.

Now to put the matching dovetail in the case top. Using my marking knife to mark out where the dovetail should be, making sure that it is square to the case.   7/8 inch dovetail in the 1 3/4 leg.

Sawing and then chopping out the dovetail

Now to work on the center drawer blade.  I measured the length and added 1/2 dovetail to both ends and then centered it on the case.  I clamped it in place making sure it is level. 3 3/4 inches top and bottom.  Then I used my marking knife to mark where the dovetails should be cut in the case sides.

Now I fit the center drawer blade into the sides after cutting out the dovetails in the side and the joinery is done.  

Now I can bandsaw the shapes that I traced from the apron.  I want these to match perfect.  So after sawing I put the three pieces together and used my spokeshaves and files to match the patterns.  So there you have it.  They look pretty good and I am reasonably certain that the blades and the apron match.  This is important since the drawer fronts will have a lip which rests on the blades and there should not be a gap.

The next step is to make and install the vertical drawer dividers.  There are two and they are dovetailed to the top blade and the apron.

Here is today's video:

Progress on the Dressing Table - Sides and Apron

I was off to another fall meeting of the SAPFM today, this time to the Great Lakes Chapter in Detroit MI.  Had a great meeting but did not get to work in the shop today.

So yesterday, I worked on the sides by cutting the ogee shape on the sides of the cabinet and then removed the saw mark with files.

They look good so I am done with that small task.

So now I have to clean up the saw marks and shape the apron to the lines that I laid out prior to band sawing.  I use the curved bottom spokeshave and the flat bottom spokesave.

I doesn't take too much time and the mahogany is easy to work.

I use a card scraper in the end to remove the last few bumps and scratches.

This takes care of the face of the apron and now I turn my attention to the bottom using the same tools.

All finished for now.  Looking pretty good.  I will use this as a template for the next two drawer blades.  The top and center blades have to match these apron curves exactly.  In the next post I'll dovetail the blades into the leg posts and cut out the matching curves.

So here is today's video:

Developing the Curved Front Apron Prototype and Mahogany

I worked on the curved front apron today.  This is important to get right since the other drawer blades and drawer fronts will have to match this design.   I checked out the cardboard template that I had made and it was a little off.  So I decided to just redraw the design on the wood.
I was unsure how the design would look so I decided to make a prototype out of poplar before using the good mahogany.

Here is the design after I used the band saw to cut out the apron.  It is 4 inches high and 2 1/2 inches thick.

 It looks ok so now I have to do it over on the mahogany.  I have one piece of 12/4 stock left but it is 10 inches wide so I have enough to make 2, So, if I screw up one I'll still have one more to go before I would have to buy more mahogany.

I flattened the board and squared it up and ripped a 4 inch piece with the best color and grain.  I laid out the design carefully.  I have decided to cut the tenons for the most part on the table saw.  I will finish them with a hand saw.

Here you can see that I cut the stock back to 1 3/4 inches which matches the top of the leg.  The tenon is centered on the 1 3/4.

I cut the shoulder of the tenon on the table saw, I wanted to make sure that they were square. Now I will finish them off with a hand saw

Hand sawing the cheeks of the tenon, leaving them a little fat

Fitted one tenon to my sample block

Apron in place, looks like a good fit.

Now all I have to do is band saw out the pattern on the bottom and front.  Just like I did with the poplar one this morning but with much more care to stay outside the lines.

Saw marks are still there but I work on removing them tomorrow.

Here is today's video:

Milling a Big Mahogany Board for the Sides and Top

Well I started to mill a large mahogany board that I bought this last summer at Irion Lumber.  The board is 22 3/4 inches wide by 9 feet long.  I should be able to get the sides and the top from this board and have some left over.

I will hand plane the board so that I can see the grain and any defects that there might be in the board. My workout for today with the #6 Stanley Bailey after I had honed the blade.

You can see here why I do this before any cutting is done on the board.  Here are some worm holes that I exposed as the board was being planed.

I have marked out the sides and the top working my way around the defects in the board.  I am trying to make efficient use of the board.  At these prices I need too.

Now I can saw up the rough sizes and plane the individual smaller boards.  I try to get one side flat and then run them through the planer.

Once they are flat I can trim them to actual size and cut the tenons on the table saw.  I gave up on my radial arm saw.  It was not straight enough across the 13 inches of these boards.  I noticed the problem when I did the back of the table but worked around the problem.

Now I need to saw out the waste between the tenons just like I did the back panel.

Ready to fit the sides.

Looks like a good fit.

Now I need to cut out the patterns for the scrolling on the sides and front.

I got quite a bit done today.  I'll pick up here tomorrow.  So here is today's video: