Thread: Apothecary Box

Can't help with the clearances required but it certainly looks nice at the moment. I have seen your other thread and followed that a bit so what you have learned there you have put into practice.
Look forward to seeing the finished article.

Thanks Treecycle, appreciate that.

Ina dilemma now too. I was going to do a roundover on the drawer fronts, but I kind of like the sharpness of them as is, but then when I put on the hardware that might look odd (Olde-fashioned hardware and sharp lines) - oh the decisions to be made

Nice work!
Round overs would look odd, IMO, if the drawer fronts were level with the case and round over went “into” the cabinet.
If the round over finished level with the cabinet front then it would be OK IMO.

Originally Posted by Bendigo Bob

...............

Question - drawer fitting - this has me nervous ..................

How much clearance do I need to ensure that with seasonal change the drawers won't start sticking?......................

(Timber on drawer fronts is (Kauri?) pine, an old dresser rescued from the tip)

I'm no expert but I made a similar cabinet ,also out of Kauri, which has been living in New York for several years now with no racking/sticking issues and I worked on about a 1mm gap. Wasn't game to leave it too close in case the New York apartment climate jammed it all up.

Wow, really beautiful work TT

Yes, the idea is for the roundover to finish flush with the cabinet, come out and end with an 'edge' on the front panel, not sure what you call that, but will post a pic of the two choices on some test bits this arvo, complete with hardware.

Originally Posted by TTIT

I'm no expert but I made a similar cabinet ,also out of Kauri, which has been living in New York for several years now with no racking/sticking issues and I worked on about a 1mm gap. Wasn't game to leave it too close in case the New York apartment climate jammed it all up.

- - - Updated - - -

Will do a test of the two options before proceeding!

Originally Posted by Lappa

Nice work!
Round overs would look odd, IMO, if the drawer fronts were level with the case and round over went “into” the cabinet.
If the round over finished level with the cabinet front then it would be OK IMO.

Suggest 1mm difference between the width of each opening and the width of each drawer, as expansion will not be too much of a problem in that horizontal direction.
The problem is the vertical expansion of the drawer fronts and sides, across the grain. For that large height I would be putting 2 mm gap between the top of each drawer and the tray support immediately above.
It will not be so noticeable if you recess the drawers about 2mm, with this reveal giving a nice shadow line

Decision made, job done, now on to finishing, that interminable task we all love to hate
DSC_1487.jpg

Looks better than the 'square'
DSC_1483.jpg finish I think. Anyway, done now.

Thanks Dengue, going to leave it finer for now (they are all about 1/2 mm) and see what happens.

As a complete aside, I happened to watch the last of a series where Rob Cosman was fitting drawers in a project. Heck, he was taking shavings of a thou off at a time. With one shaving went from sticking to running free and left it at that.

How's that for confidence hey?

Originally Posted by Dengue

Suggest 1mm difference between the width of each opening and the width of each drawer, as expansion will not be too much of a problem in that horizontal direction.
The problem is the vertical expansion of the drawer fronts and sides, across the grain. For that large height I would be putting 2 mm gap between the top of each drawer and the tray support immediately above.
It will not be so noticeable if you recess the drawers about 2mm, with this reveal giving a nice shadow line

At last, it's done and dusted.

I'm a crappy photographer, sorry about that, but I'm so happy to have gotten to the end of this one. Biggest project so far in terms of man-hours.

DSC_1498.jpgDSC_1500_1.jpg

In the end I went with a very fine clearance on the drawers and brought it inside. My thinking is that the drawer front will shrink cross-grain if anything coming inside and increase the clearance. That might come back to bit me of course

All round a great experience for a hobbyist woodie, and recommend trying something like this to others, just so we get a glimpse of the life of the guys here who do this stuff for a living.

Finished it with about 7 coats of Shellac and then Carnuba wax rubbed in.

I'll have to write up a bit of the story for whoever gets it, all timber rescued from the tip and each story there, which is kind of satisfying to me more than anything. Here's a pic of what I started with for the cabinet itself -

DSC_1356.JPG

Some boards were so bad that I ended up with only the 7mm stock for drawer sides, and a few of those still have faint band-saw marks or stains still on them.

Well, I'm hooked and already have found some Tassie Oak stock for the next one. Going to try for more fancy detail in the dovetailing this time too.
Thanks for the encouragement and advice everyone too. That is really appreciated.

That looks amazing. Considering what you started with, the ugly duckling and then turned it into a beautiful swan.