Thread: WIP Chest of Drawers

Bitch ... moan ... complain ... whine and grump!

I'm making drawers ... not my favourite thing to do.

It's just as well I adore my granddaughter.

Originally Posted by John Samuel

...... I'm making drawers ... not my favourite thing to do....

Different strokes for different folks, it's actually a job I enjoy (usually!).

Though I'll admit drawer-making used to fill me with dread. Having a glued-up drawer come out of the clamps twisted is a very unpleasant feeling which I experienced several times in my early years. There is really no satisfactory "fix", it's always meant "start over" for me. Fortunately, it hasn't happened for a very long time, now - less haste, more speed..

Ian

I've stopped complaining about the drawers. The carcasses are all glued up and the dowels have been glued into place. A bit of sanding and easing to go and I can put in the bottoms. That will likely be tomorrow, given that SWMBO just came home and is looking for help with a couple of jobs.

I clamp up my drawers one at a time on my table saw, because it is the flattest thing in my workshop. I glue up and assemble the components, drop a couple of brads through the sides into the backs and then clamp everything into place. A diagonal clamp is added if needed to pull it into square. Before I walk away I check to ensure the components are all sitting on the table. That way, they stay flat and square.

Then it's just a matter of drilling and glueing in the dowels.

Originally Posted by John Samuel

......I clamp up my drawers one at a time on my table saw, because it is the flattest thing in my workshop....

Yup bro, that's exactly how I approach it now ....

I also made myself several sets of wooden "bar-clamps" like these:
3 1M bar clamps.jpg

They sit very fimly on the saw-bench & make it easier to ensure everything is sitting flush & square (& carefully re-check all is well before walking away).

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Yup bro, that's exactly how I approach it now ....

I also made myself several sets of wooden "bar-clamps" like these:
3 1M bar clamps.jpg

They sit very fimly on the saw-bench & make it easier to ensure everything is sitting flush & square (& carefully re-check all is well before walking away).

Cheers,

I just had one of those, "Why did I not think of that ... I must be extraordinarily dense!" moments. Drawers are nearly always made to fit a cabinet about 450 mm wide, so my guess is that all the adjustment could come from the thread.

Thanks for the heads up, IanW. Before I charge off and plagiarise your idea, what else do you sometimes use these clamps for?

Originally Posted by John Samuel

.... Before I charge off and plagiarise your idea, what else do you sometimes use these clamps for?...

They're just common bar clamps John, so anything you'd use a bar clamp for. They are far more convenient than the pipe clamps I used way back before I started making my own.

And I got the original design from (where else?) an early FWW so you won't be plagiarising a'tall, just following tradition...

Originally Posted by John Samuel

... Drawers are nearly always made to fit a cabinet about 450 mm wide, so my guess is that all the adjustment could come from the thread....

.
Well, it's not that hard to make movable back-stops. You may not be "into" wooden threads, but you can always use a bit of all-thread for the screws. I've seen that done somewhere, but can't remember where.

I think one of the simplest designs for bar clamps I've seen is a simple bar ~ 4x2, with holes drilled at about 75mm intervals along it. You set the dowels in holes close to the length to be clamped, then apply pressure with opposing wedges. I think screws are easier (& quicker) than mucking about with wedges, but if you are desperate & don't have bar clamps, they'd do the job.

Cheers,
Ian

IanW,

I am thinking of making up a small set of clamps especially for drawers.

The clamps would need to properly grab drawers between 100 mm and 225 mm deep and put pressure along the entire edge of the drawer front and back.

Once the current job is finished I might exercise my tiny mind around the idea.

Got the top made and routed today. Drawer stops are in. Back cut and dropped on with a single screw.

Tomorrow I'll make the frame that separates the legs and the cabinet, and which thrust the legs outward,.. Then its a case of assemble, final sanding and lacquer.

Originally Posted by John Samuel

......The clamps would need to properly grab drawers between 100 mm and 225 mm deep and put pressure along the entire edge of the drawer front and back....

John, for deep drawers, I just use clamps top & bottom. Sometimes I use a caul block if the clamps can't span the depth adequately but I rarely make really large drawers. The last time I made anything deeper than about 200mm was for a tall COD for myself & that was quite a few years ago already...
Cheers,

Progress!

Here is a pic showing how drawers are made.

IMG20220913085613.jpg

The next shots show the cabinet and the drawers, ready for sanding sealer and lacquer. The legs got a couple of coats whilst the cabinet was upside down as legs were fitted.

IMG20220916112125.jpgIMG20220916112140.jpg

Originally Posted by IanW

John, for deep drawers, I just use clamps top & bottom. Sometimes I use a caul block if the clamps can't span the depth adequately but I rarely make really large drawers. The last time I made anything deeper than about 200mm was for a tall COD for myself & that was quite a few years ago already...
Cheers,

I'd really like to be able to use a single set of clamps from front to back of the drawers during assembly because I have another set of clamps going overhead clamping the sides to the front and back of the drawer.

Drawers used to be deep in the days when bulky, hand knitted jumpers were common. Those days are long gone. I tried to convince my son to keep the drawers smaller, but he was having none of that and told me to make this girls COD with the same drawers as her sister's old cabinet.

Its coming along nicely John and at a good steady pace.

One of the nice things I like about dovetailed drawers is no clamps needed.

Doing them the way you are though. Have you ever seen the old Victorian drawer gluing contraptions that were a big box clamping cast iron set up . Maybe you could make a jig that uses some of those clamping principals but do it with wood . A board and blocks that holds the drawer front for pulling the two sides to the drawer front ends. That can take two clamps as well to pull the drawer sides tight to the drawer front from their back.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

.....One of the nice things I like about dovetailed drawers is no clamps needed.....

Rob, I clamp D/Tailed drawer frames after glueing, so I can be sure they are set up square & flat before the glue cures. With large utility drawers I use pins through the tails instead of clamps. I guess that's one difference between an amateur who has made perhaps a hundred drawers in 50 years, and a pro who's made thousands....

Originally Posted by John Samuel

......Drawers used to be deep in the days when bulky, hand knitted jumpers were common. Those days are long gone..

I dunno 'bout that, John. I still have a couple of knitted sweaters & been mighty thankful for them this year!

In general though, I do agree that deep drawers can be a liability. Whatever you keep in a deep drawer, the item you need is inevitably at the very bottom & at the back (which you finally discover on your 3rd search)! But I still find it handy to have at least one deep drawer to store jeans & warmer stuff over summer.

I'm pretty happy with the graduated drawers on the COD ("tallboy") I made for myself, everything I need fits comfortably without getting too buried. The bottom drawer is a little over 200 & the "socks & jocks" drawer at the top is 140 (that's the face depth, the drawer proper is a little less of course).

Cedar COD.jpg

It was made to match the large COD that LOML has had for most of her adult life, so there were "design restrictions" imposed. Girls always need several times the clothes storage space, I know, but her COD is a monster! The bottom drawer is over 300mm deep and at a bit over 1200 wide, that's one heavy crate of goods when loaded with clothing! The chest was made by a well-known Brisbane firm, around the 30's I estimate, and though the visible parts are very nicely done, the guts is another matter - much recourse to nails & rather questionable construction methods. Both drawer-sides & runners are cedar, so after close to 100 years of mutual friction they are in very poor shape. Repairing it has long been on the "to do" list, but there is a LOT of work in replacing/repairing those nailed-in runners, so I haven't rushed into it.....

Cheers,

These are my favourite chests of drawers.

IMAG0027.jpgFinished 1.jpg

Both are seven drawers high. Neither has any really deep drawers. Both have graduated drawers. Both are NG Rosewood.

Both owners love them. Both like the way they save floor space given the large capacity. Routing profile, hardware and etc chosen by owners.

I've been having trouble with bubbles forming in the sanding sealer and/or lacquer, but only with NG Rosewood, and only on horizontal panels.

Sprayed the COD yesterday ... and got a heap of bubbles in the sanding sealer, but only on the top.

Sanded it off ... rolled the cabinet onto it's back so the top was vertical and sprayed it again ... no bubbles.

Not sure which quirk of physics is playing up here, but at least I now know it's easy to avoid the problem. I'll fill the grain in the top to give it a nice smooth, polished finish and then hit it with lacquer.

EDIT: A thin coat of lacquer went on this morning. No bubbles, so I put on a heavier coat ... which melted the material sealing the pin holes and I got lots of bubbles.

Going back to sealing NG Rosewood with Solarez.