Edwardian Drawer edge

[youngolddude]

Hi everyone,

Im restoring an old wardrobe with edwardian drawers and the previous owners have rounded off the recessed bevel that was on the drawers.

Ive been trying to find and old tool that does it as I cant seem to locate a router bit that is the right profile. The angle is approx 12/15 degrees.

How did they do it in the olden days ?. Ive got a thought about adapting a block plane and attaching a guide on the side and reprofiling the cutter.

Yeah a lot of work but at least i would have some control, just not sure it would work effectively on the end grain - might end up with chatter.

Cant find anything on the net either, have an old combination plane but they arnt that easy to use - still have to make a cutter. Stratch stock would be too rough.

Any ideas !!, there must have been a hand tool to do it - maybe an old wooden hand plane?

[IanW]

If I have understood you correctly, you mean something like the edge of a raised panel? Easy to do if you have a flat board, but more of a challenge when attached to the rest of the drawer!

I would start by removing the drawer bottoms (if you haven't already done so). Is the original shoulder still present? If not, set out a new shoulder line & edge lines of the bevels with marking gauges. Then clamp a guide board on the front, against the shoulder line, so that you can cut a rebate with a rebate plane, if you have one. You could also do this bit with a router, which would be quicker & easier. Once the rebate is cut, finish the bevel with an ordinary plane. You could do that with the rebate plane, but it's tricky, because when you lean the plane to cut the bevel, the corner of the blade can catch on your nice, square shoulder you've just established, ruining the effect. A regular-mouthed plane won't cut right to the shoulder, of course, but that isn't noticeable on the usually shallow bevel. A lick or two of sandpaper (wrapped firmly around a block shaped to match the corner) will blend in any slight imperfection near the shoulder enough to fool the closest inspection.


If the original shoulder is still there, you can re-establish a flat bevel with an ordinary plane. Depending on how much the previous "restorer" rounded the edges, you might have to take off a lot more wood to get flat bevels again - are the fronts thick enough to take it??

Cheers,