What do you hand tool guys do to stop the groove in a dovetailed drawer? I have a grooving plane that works great but I'm not sure I want a groove or plug showing on the outside of my drawers.
[OP]
Member
What do you hand tool guys do to stop the groove in a dovetailed drawer? I have a grooving plane that works great but I'm not sure I want a groove or plug showing on the outside of my drawers.
Contributor
Half blind dovetails at the corner, making sure that the groove itself is contained wholly within a tail on the sides (and therefore buried in the socket on the drawer front.
Your endgrain is like your bellybutton. Yes, I know you have it. No, I don't want to see it.
Member
What Zachary said most of the time. A well thought out plug is nearly invisible or even a design element.
~ Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.
Contributor
This can depend on your grooving plane. There are ways to make a stopped groove.Originally Posted by Richard Hutchings
If you like through dovetails, make sure the groove is in the pin board. It will only show when the drawer is open.
Half blind dovetails as Zach mentioned are another way.
On case work there is always molding to hide the groove. For a drawer, some will add "cocked beading" strips to hide the groove and the dovetails.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 01-13-2015 at 6:30 PM. Reason: spelling
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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A technique I like (first observed by me when used by Roy Underhill) consists of plowing the groove in all four sides of a drawer FIRST.
NEXT rip both ends of each of two opposing drawer sides down to the bottom of the groove to a distance equal to the finished thickness of the stock (prior to ripping).
Now cut dovetails in reduced area of your stock, as well as corresponding ends in the remaining two drawer sides.
(I can only hope this explanation makes sense)
Last edited by Joe Bailey; 01-13-2015 at 9:59 PM.
Contributor
What Zach describes is IMO, the most common way to make drawers. Through dovetails with an applied front gives essentially the same result. Although I've not done it with a plow or grooving plane, I've seen a couple different ways to make stopped grooves. An easy one is to make a mortise on each end and plow out the middle. Even so, a plug in the end grain on the side of the drawer is hardly going to stand out.
-- Dan Rode
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
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Most commonly when I make drawers the dovetails into the face of the drawer are half blind so there is no issue of the groove showing. For the dovetails at the rear I use full through dovetails. It doesn't matter if the groove shows through the back. This is the traditional way for hand made drawers going back at least to the 17th century and probably a whole lot longer than that.
If you do need to have a stopped grove, a drilled hole where the groove will stop and some final trimming with a chisel works just fine.
Last edited by Dave Anderson NH; 01-14-2015 at 2:38 PM.
Dave Anderson
Chester, NH
[OP]
Member
Nope
[OP]
Member
I don't know if I'll need to use this method but it's great to know how. Thank you. I think the half blind is what I'll use for my drawers.
Contributor
Another traditional way to skip the drawer groove all together, rabbet the drawer side bottoms, and nail in a bottom, then glue on drawer slips of a hard-wearing wood such as white oak.
Your endgrain is like your bellybutton. Yes, I know you have it. No, I don't want to see it.
Member
What Zach says...
Or you could do a French bottom. At least that's what I think its called. Essentially a 3 sided door frame (1 style, 2 rails (or possible 2 rails and 1 style), and a raised panel with the raised bit to the bottom) glued to the bottom of the drawer box.
Not sure if I have this right or not, perhaps someone else could clarify.
Last edited by Judson Green; 01-14-2015 at 11:20 AM. Reason: spellin and added more
I got cash in my pocket. I got desire in my heart....
Member
OK -- try this ... [at about 4:35, he begins the operation I tried to describe]Nope
[OP]
Member
I'll have to check it out tonight. I'm at work and this is blocked. Damn IT.
Contributor
What he's doing in the video is rabetting the inside face of the drawer side. The rabbet runs the depth of the groove and the width of the side.
Here is my interpretation:
Hope this helps.
Rick
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