Thread: Rolltop desk - WIP

Sorry about the digression.

The pedastals are now ready for glue-up. I made two web frames for each pedastal. They will be glued and screwed into 6 mm deep dadoes in the top and bottom rails. Since there is no cross-grain involved, glue can be used without worries about wood movement. I decided to install the silver-ash drawer runners before glueing up the pedastals, since drilling the pilot holes for the screws that hold the runners in position would have been difficult after assembly, owing to the narrowness of the pedastals. Installing the runners before making the drawers will require the drawers and the dadoes routed in the drawer sides to be made to accurate dimensions so that they fit correctly.

I also glued, as well as screwed, the drawer runners in position, since the frame-and-panel construction of the pedastal sides should ensure negligible wood movement.

The back panels of the pedastals have tongues that fit into grooves in the rear stiles of the sides.

Rocker

The pedastals are now glued up with their web frames glued and screwed in their dadoes. The draw boards, which can be pulled out from under the writing surface on either side of the desk, are also completed. I described attaching breadboard ends to their front edges in another thread: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=33390 . A cleat attached to the under side of each draw board acts as a stop, when it hits the back and front rails of the top web frame, preventing the draw board from being pulled right out or being pushed too far in.

I am currently working on the drawers, and will start cutting the dovetails tomorrow. I have cut all the drawer parts to size and ripped and crosscut grooves for the drawer bottoms and for the backs. I might try cutting the tails with the table saw. But it is probably going to be less prone to error if I cut the pins by hand, rather than attempting to cut them on the table saw as well.

I will rout the dadoes for the runners in the drawers sides on the router table. I plan to locate the dadoes precisely in the centre of the sides so that I can always rout the dado from the back of the drawer side to the front, with either the top or the bottom of the side against the fence, depending on whether it is a right-hand or left-hand drawer side. In this way, it will be easier to ensure that the dadoes are all stopped exactly the same distance from the front of the drawer side. This is necessary to ensure that the drawer fronts are stopped level with the pedastal front edges when the drawers are pushed home.

Rocker

Rocker

I made a high auxiliary fence (Photo 1) to attach to my Kreg mitre gauge for cutting the tails on the table saw. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and painlessly it went; it was not necessary to achieve great accuracy in lining up the blade with the marked layout lines, since the fit of the joint will depend on how accurately the pins are cut. I found that the table saw produced a much smoother cut than could possibly be achieved with a hand dovetail saw, and this will make marking out the pins more accurate. The photo shows the tail cuts, with most of the waste cut away on the table saw and bandsaw.

Photo 2 shows the jig I made for chopping away the remaining waste using my 1/2" LN bevel-edged chisel. I designed the tail layout so that the width between the tails was just slightly wider than the width of the chisel. Photo 3 shows the completed tails. Chopping away the waste was quick, easy, and accurate, using the jig.

Rocker

Much as I would have liked to cut the dovetail pins, like the tails, on the table saw, I was not confident that I could make the cuts accurately enough, especially with my less-than perfect eyesight. So I have ventured towards the outer reaches of the Dark Side, and cut the pins with a LV dovetail saw and guide (Photo 1). The guide takes all the skill out of the process - I like that. I do not want to have to serve a ten-year apprenticeship before I can cut acceptable dovetails by hand.

I removed most of the waste on the bandsaw; I then used a fretsaw to get the parts that the bandsaw couldn't reach. Now I come to think of it, I should have used a 7° wedge on the bandsaw's table to enable this - I will do that tomorrow. Finally I chopped away the rest of the waste, using the chiselling jig shown in the previous post.

Rather to my surprise, the joint fitted pretty well. Photo 2 shows it dry-assembled before sanding. N.B. it doesn't matter that the groove for the drawer bottom is showing, since it will be hidden by the false drawer front. Like Amanda Vanstone, I wanted to have a bit of wiggle room for the fit of the drawer fronts to the pedastal sides, especially in view of the method I am using to hang the drawers.

Rocker

At last, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, the drawers are glued up and fitted in the pedastals. Hanging the drawers by the side-hung method, particularly if the cabinet sides are of frame-and-panel construction, requires great accuracy in their dimensioning, if they are to fit properly and run smoothly. The dadoes in the drawer sides must not be routed deeper than the thickness of the runners; otherwise the backs of the drawer sides will be liable to hit against the stiles of the cabinet's side panels when being pushed shut. It is also of paramount importance that the cabinet and the drawers are square.

Tomorrow I will make and fit the false fronts and the pulls to the drawers. This will complete the woodwork on the desk. I still need to fiddle with the tambour to ensure that it slides smoothly in its grooves, and to fit the tambour lock.

Now that winter is more or less over in the State of paradise, the weather is getting more conducive to applying the finish. Hopefully the project will be finished in the next two or three weeks.

Hi Rocker,

I'm intrigued as to why you would use the table saw to cut the tails.

A marking knife and a decent handsaw will see the job done in a couple of minutes.. Easier and simpler!

Aha! Rocker old pal!

A cheat there (attached false front instead of half-blind d/t's) if ever I saw one . I should know, I use it quite often as well.

The drawers are complete and fitted to the pedastals. To have made the drawer fronts with half-blind dovetails would have been tempting providence, in view of the side-hung method I am using to hang the drawers. I needed the wiggle room that false fronts allow.

Although there are four drawer pulls, there are actually only three drawers in each pedastal. The bottom drawer is double depth.

Steve,

I can't agree that cutting the tails by hand is easier or simpler than doing it on the table saw. Each cut takes about 30 seconds by hand, if you work fast, whereas on the table saw each cut only takes about 5 seconds. Moreover, on the table saw, the cuts are smoother and are guaranteed to be perpendicular to the face of the drawer side and to be correctly angled at 7°.

Rocker

Rocker

Do you propose to fit out the bottom drawer with hardware to allow A4 files to be stored as suspension files - I think this would be a good feature, if you have the opportunity to incorporate it.

Jeremy

Jeremy,

The desk is due to be sent to my son-in-law in the US, where they do not normally use A4-size paper. The drawers are too narrow to accommodate files hung crosswise but could take them lengthwise. But I will let the recipient equip it with the requisite hardware, which is more easily available over there anyway.

Rocker

Good stuff David. The Bandsaw Book has a method of cutting pins with a wedge jig. Why not tilt the table? Mine goes 10° left, 45° right.:confused: Love that °. Ta.

D

I had forgotten that I still had to make the central drawer to go between the two pedastals; so I did that today, using half-blind dovetails. I will post a pic tomorrow. I cut the tails on the table-saw, with the two drawer sides clamped together, and cut away the waste between the pins using hand tools, except that I drilled away the bulk of it with a forstner bit on the drill press. I tried using the method of hammering in a scraper, but it was not very effective, so I just used chisels to clean up the pins. Drilling out most of the waste with the forstner bit speeded up the process considerably.

Rocker

Rocker

Rocker, I'm glad that someone else tried the "hammer in the scraper" method as in FWW. I was rather sceptical I must say. How many hours to date? Seems like rather a lot.
Jacko

Originally Posted by Rocker

I tried using the method of hammering in a scraper, but it was not very effective, so I just used chisels to clean up the pins. Drilling out most of the waste with the forstner bit speeded up the process considerably.

I tried the same technique last week on a drawer with half blinds all the way around. I found the scraper idea to be a dud, although the scraper was very handy for cleaning it up once the bulk of the waste had been removed.

Since I was doing it mainly at night I did it all by hand. At the end of the day my dovetails were quite good. Unfortunately, the other three corners were done at the start of the day .