Popular Woodworking 2000-06 № 115, страница 38

The template is made by rough cutting the holes and nailing guides to the lines over the dividers. Clean up the openings with a flush-cut router bit.When done, simply pry the guides off and you're in business.

no prep before gluing, but the cocobolo does. One of the things you need to know about cocobolo is that it's an oily wood. Its oil content will actually weaken a standard wood glue joint, if not make it fail, over time. With the advent of polyurethane adhesives, this problem is basically eliminated. Simply wipe the cocobolo edges being glued with an oil-cutting solvent such as lacquer thinner. Apply poly glue to one edge and moisten the other edge with water, to accelerate curing. The same advice goes for the miters on the box. When the bottom is dry, rip it to finished size, which includes a stub that fits into a rabbet in the back.

Now cut the 45-degree miters on the box top and sides. Lay out and cut mini-biscuit slots in both joints. The only biscuit joiner that will do this is Ryobi's mini-biscuit joiner. The other option is to use a spline in the miter. Just be careful not to cut into where the routed depressions will be on the top. After preparing your join-

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SCRAPER FROM THE JOINT

Taking a cue from some of the tricks used by prison inmates, I used utility knife blades with a ground edge on both bevels to make a serviceable, miniature scraper for the depressions on the drawer front and box top. Simply dull the cutting edge of the blade and grind the bevels square to the sides. Grind a roundover on the sharp corner to get into the '/4" radius of the de-pressions.Wrap the middle with tape to keep a secure grip.

ery, including cutting the bottom to length, glue the box together with poly glue. Make sure the bottom is flush to the front. Because the open time on poly glue is pretty long (15 minutes or more), it's easy to get everything square. When cured, clean out the glue foam that squeezes out. At this time rout the top depressions with your template and clean up the depressions with a small scraper. On the back, cut a stopped rabbet, V4" x Vs" by the length of the bottom, and fit it to the bottom sticking out of the box. Cut a 48V4" radius on the back. A simple way to do this is to bend a metal rule, touching both ends and the middle of the back's top edge. Draw a pencil line and saw off the waste. Clean up with a plane. Glue the back in place.

Build the Drawer

I found the best way to get a great fit on the drawer is to cut the front oversize and basically mount the drawer parts to it. Make sure to joint a straight, square bottom edge on the front. Start from the middle and lay out the ¹/4"-deep mortises for the drawer sides and the groove for the bottom. Use a shop-built square to guide a small router with a Vs" bit to cut the bottom groove first (V4" up from the bottom edge). The ¹/4" thickness is nominal for birch plywood, so the groove will be closer to ³/l6". Make two passes. Then cut the mortises for the sides. Cut a tongue-and-dado joint as shown in the diagram to hold the back between the sides. Then cut a Vs" x Vs" rabbet on the inside, bottom edge of the drawer sides and back to match up with the groove in the bottom. This rabbet holds the drawer bottom. When you're happy with the fit of all the drawer parts, glue them togeth

er and check your drawer for square.

After the drawer is dry, clean it up and cut the ends flush to the case. Plane the top flush if necessary. Now prepare to rout the two relief cuts on the top and bottom of the front. First cut a template to size according to the diagram. You need to cut the rounded shape on only one side of the template. You can flip the template over to rout the other side of the drawer front. Nail stops to the edge opposite the cutout and the ends to index the template for routing. Rout the relief cuts.

Now form the curve on the drawer front. Make angled relief cuts to remove material on the top and bottom edges of the drawer front. Clamp the drawer in a vise and plane the radius on the front. Leave a small flat spot in the middle of the front for attaching the pull. Cut the pull from a single piece of Gaboon ebony as shown. Whittle and sand it to size and slightly undercut its bottom side. Attach it to the front with poly glue.

Make the drawer dividers from Vs"-thick maple and notch them together like an egg crate. When everything has been fit and sanded, apply three coats of clear Watco Danish Oil. After you apply the oil finish, mask off the internal drawer sides from the bottom, and use flocking to line the drawer bottom.

When done, place the dividers in the drawer and you're done. PW

SUPPLIES

Woodcraft • 800-225-1153

Black flocking, '6W43 ($8.50). Black adhesive, '7H3'($8.50). Mini flocking gun, '27''5 ($4.99).