Popular Woodworking 2009-02 № 174, страница 35

fronts and the center dividing strip between the drawers, then milled it to V4" thickness.

For the drawer sides carefully choose your stock. Quartersawn stock is ideal; it's stable, won't twist or warp, and is easy to plane. 1 carefully went through a stack of maple boards, and selected the ones with the cleanest, straightest grain. Maple is a tight-grained hard-wearing wood, ideal for drawer sides. Mahogany or oak are other good choices.

Many woodworkers make the mistake of using material that is too thick, which produces heavy, clunky drawers. This is a small desk and the drawers will hold small, lightweight objects and supplies, so milling the sides to thin dimensions maintained the delicate nature and scale of the piece. You should proportion your drawer stock to the piece. Forinstance, drawer stock for an 18th-century spice box or a contemporary jewelry box might be as thin as Vb".

Hardwood isn't usually commercially available in less than 1" thickness, so I re-saw my stock. This often means interior surfaces of the wood with different moisture content than the exterior will be exposed, which can cause some movement. Ifyou resaw, anticipate some slight twisting or cupping, so mill extra stock and select the best for your drawers.

Milling and Joining the Parts

Aftera preliminary milling, sticker the stock while you work on the rest of the project to help it acclimate to the shop environment. Then, as you approach your drawer-making, take the boards down to their finished thickness.

Rip the sides V32" narrower than the opening and leave them about 1" longer than necessary in case you need to re-cut the dovetails. And, if possible, orient the grain direction to make it easier to plane and fit the completed drawer later.

Drawer fronts should be ripped and cut to fit precisely into their openings, with barely a hairline gap all around. You should try fora tight, close fit at this stage. When fitting the completed drawer boxes, the drawer front can always be planed to achieve the desired fit and appearance.

Dovetails are regarded as the strongest and most attractive way to join two perpendicular pieces of wood with the grain running the same direction. I like to use half-blind dovetails to join the drawer sides to the fronts and through-dovetails for the side-to-back joints. They have a distinctive and attractive appearance. They also provide the added benefit of squaring the drawer during glue-up, often eliminating the need for clamps.

To lay out your dovetails, follow the 1:8 rule or just lay them out at 10°, with half tails at each end and two full tails centered on the remaining space. I first make a sheet-metal

A fitting start. Fitting the width of the drawer side to the height of the opening before building the drawer gives more control of the process.

Let it rest. If you resaw thicker boards for drawer material, sticker them and let them sit for several days to acclimate before milling the slock to final dimensions.

Proud sides. Cutting the dovetails to leave the sides extended Wasting away. With thin drawer stock a jeweler's saw or coping saw will remove the from the drawer front simplifies fitting and maintains the waste between tails quickly and without the risk of damaging the work by chopping

smallest possible gap between the drawer and carcase. between the tails with a chisel.

52 ■ Popular Woodworking February 2009