Townsend Kneehole Bureau Hardware & Back Step 12

Starting to work on the hardware today,  Using the drawings for reference you can see that the pulls are centered on each drawer.  Except for the top drawer which has the two shells.

These are sand cast back plates or escutcheons which are not perfect.  The lobes on the pattern are not parallel. But I decided to make them parallel and the knobs on the posts of the bail pull with be slightly out of parallel.   I think this will look the best.

The holes on the back plate are square and match the square portion on the posts. I will either pound them in with a mallet after drilling a hole or I will have to pair the hole to make it square.

Positioning the escutcheons on the large drawer, they need to be just in the exact spot to clear the shells and at the correct height for the lock pin.

The hardware is all marked out on the drawers.  I think I will start on the lock first.

I drilled a small pilot hole to locate the pin for the lock.  Then using the lock as a template I marked out where I need to cut the mortise.

I have two mortises to cut, one deep one for the lock works and one shallow one for the lock plate.

I use my hand router plane to cut out the material for both mortises.

This is where the shallow mortise needs to be cut.

I have the lock installed now, and then I went to install the pulls I found a problem.   The holes for the pulls were where the lock plate is on the back of the drawer front.  I drill and taped the holes for the posts so it should be ok.

Trying to show where the posts would hit the lock on the right. On the left you can see a large hole.  That is for the counter sink of the posts which are only 3/4 of an inch long.  The drawer fronts are 1 1/8 inch thick.  So I counter sunk the holes for the nuts to thread on.

All mounted and looking pretty good.  Now I have to take them off for finishing.

Removed the hardware to get ready for finishing.

I also put in the drawer stops.  They are 1/16 inch thick pieces that are glued to the bottom of the drawer opening.  The are clear of the bottom of the drawer but stop when the drawer front hits them.
This is the correct way to install drawer stops.

Now I made the two small shelves that fit into 3/16 inch dados that I made a long time ago. They slide in from the back and are rounded over on the front edge.

I made the back out of three pieces of poplar and put lap siding rabbets on the edges so the pieces overlap. I will leave a gap between the pieces to allow for expansion. They will be nailed in place.

With that I am done with the construction of the bureau.  The only thing that remains is the finishing.

Here is today's video: