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I'm making a coffee table with drawers and want to cut the drawer fronts out of the apron so the grain runs continuously across the table front. Usually, I drill a 1/2" or so hole in the apron and cut the drawer fronts out with a jigsaw. That'll only work if you don't want to reuse the cutouts. Anyone got any ideas?
One way is to do plunge cuts with a circular saw and finish up the corners with a handsaw. Personally, I would use a thin kerf blade to rip the board, saw out the drawer fronts, and reglue. Unless the board has some pretty crazy grain I doubt you'd see the discontinuity.
I would rip the board in three pieces (the center piece being the drawer hieght), cut the drawer front(s) from the middle and glue back together.
Here is the text and an illustration from an article I'm working on for my site. The project is a student desk that I built for my niece, but the technique holds true for whatever type of furniture you are building. Although this is a classic techique, I originally got it from watching an earlier episode of NYW and Norm Abram.
Note that the dimensions in the text are for the project I'm talking about...yours may be different!
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"The front apron and drawer front of the desk is made from a single board so that it has a continuous figure throughout. Accordingly, it needs to be cut oversized to accommodate the saw kerfs and other adjustments necessary when it is reassembled from its components. The back and two side aprons can be cut to exact length, including what you need for the tenons after you have milled your stock flat and true. I recommend you choose a board that has a fairly straight grain and mild figure to insure that your glue joints do not standout from grain mismatches.
To construct the front apron, start by ripping off the top rail slightly wider than you need for the full length of the board. If your board has a straighter figure on one side, that should be on the bottom of the apron. This slightly wider rail will be ripped to final size later...the extra material will allow you to balance things properly after everything goes back together. Be sure to mark each piece with chalk to insure you can reassemble things in the same order! Next, rip the wider middle strip to 2 7/8" or whatever size is appropriate if you have changed the size or design of the table. Measure and mark out your drawer front in the middle of this board so that it is centered and cross cut the three pieces carefully with a sharp blade and 90º angle. Take your drawer front and carefully shave off 1/32" from the top and the bottom edges...I used the jointer for this, but you can also use your table saw and fence.
You are now ready to reassemble your apron and once the glue is cured, mill it to its final size. Mark the center of the top and bottom rail material so you have a point of reference. Measure exactly 1/2 of the drawer front length plus 1/32" to both sides of the centerline on the top and bottom rails. This mark will denote where you locate the end of the two middle portions of the apron when you glue things back together. Apply glue to the edges of the two middle pieces and clamp the whole assembly to dry, being very careful to keep it flat and careful that your middle sections are right on your marks. The remaining hole in the middle should be exactly 1/32" bigger in all dimensions than your drawer front. If you have been careful, when you unclamp and sand the apron, the glue joints should be invisible and there should be little or no visible interruption to the grain pattern.If you set the drawer front in the hole, it should also appear to be part of the same board except for the small gaps around its perimeter! You can now measure and rip and cut your apron to final width and length, including what you need for your tenons. Complete the four apron pieces by milling your tenons to fit the mortises you previously created in your legs."
Jim, Lars, I took your advice and ripped the board into three pieces, The top and bottom piece were only 7/8" thick and they developed a bow as soon as they were cut. I'm making two drawers in the table so I ended up with two end pieces and a middle. One end and the middle went back together great. Naturally the last one fought back and one edge ended up slightly proud of the other. Nothing a pass through the drum sander won't cure. Thanks for the advice!