Greene & Greene End Table - #18 Drawer Part 2

With the test dovetail joint done I marked up the oak drawer parts with all the information needed in preparation of making the actual drawer.  Cutting them follows the same process as the test piece so no need to go through that.  One item to note is that all of the pieces are longer than needed.  That’s insurance in case I make a mistake when cutting the joint there will be enough material to cut off the problem and redo the joint routing.  The only exception to having extra material is the last joint.  It’s the front’s second joint as the front needs to be cut to length so the right end can be cut.  Fortunately, no problems occurred during the routing of that joint.

Now that both the front corner dovetail joints are done cutting a groove for the drawer’s bottom is next.  The groove is centered on the bottom tail.  In the photo below you can see what the groove looks like along with the dado blades setup for making it.

Next is to cut the front and other side’s groove.  They are done with the same setup so the grooves align with each other.  This photo shows the right side and the drawer front assembled.

This outside view shows the same joint.  The drawer front is on the left and the right side is on the right.  One drawback of cutting the grooves the full length is they show up on the front of the drawer.  In this case it’s not going to be a problem as there will be a decorative false front applied on the drawer’s front to cover the gap on the side where the full extension metal slides will be mounted.  More on their installation later.  If I didn’t want the groove to show a stopped groove could have been cut with a router or a plug could have been installed to hide it.  I may add the plug just because later on.

After a little math the overall length of the sides is found then cut on the chop saw.  A stop is used to make both are cut at the same length.

Setting up the table saw to cut the dados in the sides for the back is next. The top drawing shows the dados circled in red that I am talking about.  The bottom photo shows the dado stack used.  Like most of the other stacks it consists of the two outside blades and interior chippers.  In this case two black 1/8” thick ones.  There is also one more spacer.  The blue disk the with .004 written on it is a four thousandths inch thick shim.  When I sized the drawer frame parts they ended up being four thousandths inch over ½” thick.  That was not a problem in making the dovetail joints or any other part of the drawer except when it came to fit the back.  My dado set has a whole set of shims for just this occasion and all I had to do was pull the right one out and add it to the stack.  In use the stack gives a .504” inch wide dado, just what I need.

This is the setup on the table saw with one completed dado on the fence.  Cutting the back to length and width finished out the drawer perimeter pieces. 

Last is cutting the bottom which is ¼” thick oak veneered MDF.  The drawer is not too big so it’s plenty strong.  I had an oversize piece that just fit the bill except one edge had been damaged and another one had been splintered plus none of the corners were square.  In a smaller piece I would have used the chop saw to give myself a 90-degree corner to work off of but the piece is too big to do that.  There are a few solutions but in this case the start is to cut off the damaged edges and find the corner closest to being square.  It was pretty close at about 1/16” off over 17”.  Using a small block plane, the edge is worked down to square.  From there the piece is cut square and to the appropriate size.

Here are all the drawer parts ready for the first glue-up. 

For now, only the dovetails get glued.  You can apply glue to all the mating surfaces but that generally leaves a pretty good mess of excess glue to clean up.  To minimize the mess the first thing to think about is how the joint goes together.  The red arrow on the part on the left (front) shows the direction that part goes when the two pieces are put together.  With that in mind to minimize the glue squeeze-out the glue goes on the other part on the yellow highlighted areas plus the two hidden surfaces on the underneath side of the tails.  Now when the front part on the left slides into the one on the right (side) any excess glue will be pushed to the outside face where it’s a lot easier to clean up than on the inside corner or in the groove for the bottom.

Once the dovetail joints are assembled four clamps are added, any minor excess glue is removed and the drawer is set aside for the glue to cure.

After the glue cures locations for screws holding the back on are marked and a pilot hole drilled through the side into the back.  That’s followed by removing the bottom and back then drilling out the pilot hole in the side so the screw can be countersunk.  Here is the drill press setup for that.  Later, the hole will get plugged hiding the screw. 

The bottom can then be reinstalled along with the back and the screws holding the back in place run in as in the top photo.  The bottom photo shows the three screws that secure the bottom to the back.

Sanding of the outside of the drawer comes next making sure the proud dovetail ends are brought down flush.  This is what the front left dovetail corner looks like finish sanded.

Here is what the looks like assembled.  The inside still has to be sanded as well as all the sharp edges eased.  Later plugs for the back screw holes will be installed too.  For now, it’s going to be set aside while I wait for the full extension drawer slides to be delivered.  I needed 12” long ones that are not available locally so had to order them.

Next Up – Top Part 1, Drawer Slides & a Problem