Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Wooden Drawers

DrawersLast night of woodworking college for this term and I was in a rush to try and get my tool chest into a state where I can finish it off without recourse to the workshop. All that was required was to get the drawer parts done. The rest was glue.

The ends needed rebating to accept the sides and this was carried out using the special drill that makes square holes. In the original article the author used a router but it's difficult to do this without rebating the whole end. The drill works much better for this job leaving only a little cleaning up with sharp chisels.

Next the big router was used to make a grove in the back of the drawer faces to hold the plywood bases. This is a vicious tool whose set up involves undoing a whacking great nut and making a bespoke shield to keep fingers out of the whirly bits. Operation is via a gear lever affair rather than a button. You slow the thing down by hanging on the lever applying the brake !

Finally the ripsaw finished off the sides and bases to give me kits that just needed some PVA and a lot of clamps for assembly. With a bit of sanding they even fit in the box so once I make some runners I'll progress from making bits to sticking them all together. And the pile of wood will become a piece of furniture.

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