I build a small chest of drawers

[Harlan Barnhart]

Time for some build threads folks. Its getting a little stale. Here is my effort.

These drawers came from a piece of particle board/mahogany veneer furniture left on the sidewalk for garbage. They looked too nice for junk so they followed me home.
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With solid wood fronts (some type of pine with mahogany veneer) and wood sides (some type of mahogany? spanish cedar?) and dovetails all around, I thought they deserved a better case to live in than particle board. The panels for the new case were glued from super soft "Lowes" pine. At this point I wasn't too concerned about fine furniture because I envisioned using this in my shop to store tools.
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Once the panels were flattened, thicknessed, (is that a word?) and squared, I ran a dado along the end to begin the side/top joint. The double blind dovetails were also laid out.
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Overcutting the dovetails made it much easier to clear the waste between the tails and pins, plus I don't really care too much since it can only be seen when the drawers are removed. Just be careful not to cut past the outside edge.
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The lip which forms the "bottom" of the dado cut earlier needs to be mitered to make this joint "double blind" For this I made a simple miter shooting board. This is easy to make and works well.
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[Harlan Barnhart]

Next the waste was drilled out with a forstner bit and cleaned up with a chisel.
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The baseline for the dovetails was defined by clamping a square board to guide the chisel.
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The runners that the drawers slide on are housed in stopped dados. These were laid out with a knife and cut using a guide board and one of those japanese saws with a curved saw plate.
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The waste was chiseled out and the bottoms of the dados cleaned up with a router plane
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This shot is the best I have showing the layout for the pin board (the sides of the carcase). The top (tailboard) was accurately placed on a dadoed side board and I reached in with a sharp awl to mark the pins. Then the whole process of mitering and waste removal was repeated for each side.
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edit: I don't know why these picture don't open. Maybe some one can help me out...

[Larry Frank]

Very nice thread and excellent work on the drawers.

[Mark Dorman]

You might try reattaching the pics. hope you get them up it's an interesting build thread.

[Harlan Barnhart]

There was not enough wood for a solid bottom so two stretchers were substituted. Then I began to worry the mortises were to small to prevent the case from "racking" so I cut triple tennons to increase the long grain to long grain glue area. This was extra work and probably not worth the effort as it seems pretty solid. A groove was also plowed around the interior to capture the back, a piece of 1/4" ply that was needing a home.
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The glue up was tedious but everything went together. The extra open time of liquid hide glue was an asset since there was time to make sure everything was tight and square. Every working long clamp I own was used in the process. I guess you always need just one more.
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The slide rails were made of cherry and screwed into their dados without glue. Cross-grain movement would likely destroy a glue joint eventually. I'm thinking the screws will have enough give in soft pine to survive.
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The project is waiting for the glue to dry. Once I get the drawers fitted, I'll post more pictures.

Peace,
Harlan Barnhart

[Harlan Barnhart]

Very nice thread and excellent work on the drawers.

Thanks, but I can't take credit for the drawers. I found those in the garbage.

[Harlan Barnhart]

You might try reattaching the pics. hope you get them up it's an interesting build thread.

I tried that. Didn't seem to help.

[Michael Peet]

Nice job on the carcass, Harlan. I always enjoy build threads. And kudos for re-purposing those drawers!

Mike

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Thanks.... I feel like I always learn something from a build thread!

[george wilson]

Definitely not Spanish cedar. Spanish cedar looks like cheap mahogany with much longer open pores in it. It's value is for the smell. It does have a high strength to weight ratio,and many years ago was used for college racing shells. It is used a lot for necks on classical guitars of the best quality. I have a bunch of it for that purpose. Also used in cigar humidors.

They have Segovia's Hauser guitar in the Met in New Your,with the neck mislabeled as mahogany. I advised them what it really was,which I'm sure made no difference to them, Many years ago I took their curator of instruments to breakfast,and to my instrument shop in Williamsburg. I was left with the impression that he was a rather smart alec.

[Harlan Barnhart]

Here it is with the drawers fitted. It still needs some (dare I say this on a hand tool forum) sanding in areas of reversing grain. I guess I will paint it. I wish I had bought better wood.
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