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Thread: Bench Drawers
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16th November 2013, 07:46 PM #1
Bench Drawers
Hi Folks
I thought i would share a set of bench drawers, i finished a bit ago.
It all started with trip to the blue shed for....damn - i forgot what i was sent to get......
So the big blue shed was clearing out DAR pine on that weekend, so I thought to myself “time to build a tool chest.” With a fresh thought in my head holding shield against my external better judgement (SWMBO) I purchased said pine and scampered off to the shed.
A quick 1-2-3 and they were all arranged and ready for a glue up. 10 minutes later I am watching glue dry and wondering what the tool chest will look like. No sooner realised than a pad and pencil were in my hand and some preliminary sketches were begun.
OK 2400 x 534 x 19mm – should work out for a shell for a set of drawers 650 long by 475 tall that will fit under the bench.
I decided to use bearing drawer slides – soft close ones, for the anticipated weight that will be held in the drawers. You know the stuff – a few planes, a few chisels and screw drivers, a couple of drills, measuring gear, etc, etc. Hmmm – maybe this will be too small?
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With that will come four drawers;1 x 150mm, 1 x 100mm and 2 x 80mm – should be enough room for my 5 screwdrivers, 8 chisels, mallet, gauge, measuring stuff, planes and pencils.
I hate waiting for glue to dry.
Cleaned off the excess glue and smoothed off the board so it is nice and level. Wow – the bench hook in the vice seconds as an amazing plane stop. I may extend that idea to a longer one.
Measured and cut the four pieces for the shell. I don’t know when it happened, but it appears I can now cut straighter with a hand saw than a jigsaw?
Along with the inevitable errors in cutting size, I had to work out how to mill all of the sides to size.
Thanks here to Derek Cohen, for his interwebs knowledge on how to build a shooting board.
Setting up and using a shoothing board
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It was easy enough to follow that even I managed to make one that worked.
I built mine out of some unused shelving (shhh – it was unused) and some shop scraps. It worked a treat and a little while later I was able to dimension to four square and even sides.
Now for the marking out. Originally I was going to use locking rebates to hold it together, but after making up a jig for the router and trying it out on some scrap, I gave the idea the flick. I wasn’t comfortable with the safety aspects for the long cuts. So I measured up some dovetails.
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The joy of hand tools is that I can remove some of the waste at 6AM without waking the neighbours, or the missus. 20 minutes here and there before I leave for work– it does add up.
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Once the tails are done and all neat, it is time to mark out the pins. Then proceed to saw and chisel some more.
Fast forward a bit: All cut and cleaned and time to test with a dry fit. Egads – it worked and is square (if you, like me, define being square as being within a couple of mm. )
Next tasks:
Mill the drawer timber to size. Start the drawer frames and measure and mark where the drawer slides will go.
Finish the drawers – put it together - finished. – Well - that only took a couple of secondsCan you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can? -- Sun Tzu
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17th November 2013, 08:20 PM #2
Okay, the timber for the drawers is now milled to size and is square.
I routed out some ¼” stopped grooves along the drawer bottoms and at the same time cut the rabbets in the main carcass for the back panel.
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Time to mark out the tails. I have gone with through dovetails for the back corners and half blinds for the front –Why? I need the practice and shop furniture is a good place to practice….
Tails are cut, but I still have to clean them up.
I started to use my 1” chisel here and it was slipping a bit on the slopes, ie the edge wasn’t biting into the wood. It was still sharp, just not SHARP – so time for quick hone. I used some of the Veritas honing compound on some scrap MDF – wow. This was the first time I have ever used it – normally I only sharpen to 1200 or maybe 1500 wet and dry depending on what’s lying around. Using the compound was as simple as drawing some green lines on an MDF scrap, then a quick polish on the back and the edge of the chisel – it was quick to polish to a mirror shine and so sharp! No more getting out the paper now – what a time saver.
Next job – clean the tails and mark the pins. Hopefully without tagging myself – again…..
I had a thought this morning while trimming the tails – because I am using soft close slides for the drawers, I will have a 12.7(ish)mm gap on each side. Guess I will have to use facia for the drawer fronts to hide the gap. A lack of experience and the time to think, and research, the problem through to conclusion is highlighting weaknesses. Though to be absolutely fair – I chose to move forward with the build without thinking the problem through completely – I could always have delayed the start…..it seems I make too many excuses that tend to blame a lack of time, when time wasn’t the problem. Oh well – we live – we learn…….. hopefully- if I have the time.
In doing the trimming on the tails, I was getting annoyed at the thickness of the chisels to penetrate and cut into the fine pin holes. Solution was to use an old(er) plane blade to do the trimming work. Thin enough to get in, sharp enough to pare the wood and it also allows you to check for straightness through the entire hole, with the added benefit of checking the angles match.
So the last of the tails are finally completed, and while I was preparing for the pin marking I realised I hadn’t dimensioned the front and backs for the top two drawers – from 89 to 85mm. Bugger.
Getting there slowly – but still getting there.
Now that I am at this point, I wish I had done some of the planning a bit different. Or at least read a book or two. Specifically, I am talking about the grooves for the drawer bases, and how they are used/applied. The backs should have been a bit smaller to allow for the base to slide in. Oh well…………… (my forehead is starting to get sore)
I finished dimensioning the top two drawers then marking, cutting and chopping out the pins for all four drawers. That leaves the fine tuning for the weekday mornings; ie to make sure the joints are clean and drawers are all square when assembled to dry fit. I will also have to mark out, and potentially do an initial fit for where the slides will go on the drawers and the shell.
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Just when I thought I could see the light – somebody shut the door.
The back and drawer bases were all cut and squared. The drawer slides were measured and screwed – and here is where today’s mistake was identified.
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The slides were measured and marked at the appropriate places. I pre drilled some holes then screwed in the carcase pieces. Then I measured, marked and screwed in the drawer elements.
I put the whole lot together to test for fit and the damn things were crooked.
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Oh bugger, I thought – how in hell did this happen. I pulled it apart looked at everything, and on close examination of the carcase slides I noticed that some had crawled to the top of the marked line and some had crawled below the line.
I assume it has something to do with on which side was the harder grain. Maybe the problem would not have been as great with a different timber? Either way it was back to the drawing board.
I trimmed up the drawers and glued them, then trimmed the dags off the ends.
I cleaned up the inside of the carcase and oiled it with Danish oil. Next morning I looked at the damn thing again and proceeded to measure and clamp everything in place until it was screwed down. Over the week I completed this task. In the end the greatest degree of difference of about 0.5mm. So it is locked in now.
I will also have to BLO the drawers, and allow them to dry.
Weekend task is to put on the drawer slides and glue up the carcase. Hopefully on Sunday I will complete this piece and start to fill it.
I made some handles for the drawers out of some scrap timber recovered from an old two seater lounge. Put the carcase together and glued it up. Sanded and oiled up the carcase and put the back on. Inserted the drawers and completed.
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There are a couple of errors in the work – but that is how I learn.
Do something – make a mistake, investigate the error and why it occurred - don’t make the same error again. Can be painful – but it works for me.
It is not completely finished yet. Over the next few weeks I will make up some internal compartments for the drawers, to keep the tools apart and separate, but also to stop them sliding around. Overall I am pretty happy with the outcome and the lessons learnt.Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can? -- Sun Tzu
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17th November 2013, 08:56 PM #3
I see you have mastered the art of the most important tool in your kit.... your sense of humor
Without that, nothing's worth doing
All looks good to meThe person who never made a mistake never made anything
Cheers
Ray
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18th November 2013, 06:32 PM #4
Thank you Rwbuild for the generous comment.
I think you are correct about the sense of humour.
If i can't laugh at myself, I can hardly laugh at someone else.
Cheers
normCan you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can? -- Sun Tzu
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18th November 2013, 08:13 PM #5
Thanks for a bloody entertaining post. Well done.
Regards Rumnut.
SimplyWoodwork
Qld. Australia.
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20th November 2013, 01:03 AM #6
What was the original tool you wanted to purchase?
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20th November 2013, 07:41 AM #7
Hi Christos
not so much an original tool - more an original mess to clean up.. I just finished my bench build and didn't have room on it for excess tools and a piece in progress.
The drawers are phase 1. Once completed they will hold the smoothing and sharpening (touch up) gear along with the measuring and marking gear.
I will also build (well i am at the moment) a small wall unit to hold the saws, chisels, etc. Much of everything is built on a tight budget while i scrabble and save for a tablesaw, then a bench drill, then a.......
In between these projects I try my hand at building my own tools. FWIW I am about to start on a small bow saw (12"/300mm blade). I just finished fabricating some blade hardware from bolts (I am so glad worksafe wasn't around) with an angle grinder. Not overly happy with the outcome - but they will do for the POC prototype.
Cheers
NormCan you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can? -- Sun Tzu
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