Making and Fitting the Drawer Bottoms - Done with the Drawers

Well I started to work on the drawer bottoms.  I have milled the stock to 1/2 inch and glued up the panels so the grain runs across the drawer bottom.

First I have to finish cutting out the back of the drawer fronts to match the curve on the front of the drawers.  This is done on the bandsaw.

Then I have to put a groove 1/4 inch from the bottom 1/4 inch wide.  I have decided to use my router with a circular cutter to make the grove.

All done. Now to work on the bottoms.  You can see why the planning for where to put the dovetails is important since you don't want to put the groove through the bottom dovetail.

Next I cut out the fronts of the drawer bottoms to match the curves in the drawer fronts.
As you can see there needs to be a bevel put on the drawer edges so that it can slide into the drawers.

I have decided to use my router to put the bevel on to the bottoms.  It has a bearing so it can go around the curves in the front of the bottoms.

I make three passes with the router, raising the bit a little each time.  This is to prevent burning and tear out.

So now all I need to do is assemble the drawer bottom into the drawer.  It takes a little final fitting.  I use my hand plane to square off the backs.

Then slip the back in and we are all done.

I could glue up the drawers now but I will wait because I want to stain the pins with the final color without getting any on the pine tails.

So now I am going to start on the drop finials.

Here is today's video: