DRAWER MAKING
adapted from Jones (ed.) 1923
(NOTE: This was written a century ago by a professional cabinetmaker and not by a how-to writer. What it lacks in clarity it makes up for in authority.)
Drawers with fancy-shaped fronts, or with a raised bead round the edge, or of irregular shape, are not so popular as they formerly were, possibly because they cost much more to make than a plain drawer, never run so well, and the fancy moulding is always coming off.
Perfectly dry wood should be used in drawer making, but this is seldom to be obtained. Therefore the material for the drawers of a piece of furniture should be the first part of the work to be sawn out, smoothed over with a plane, and put upright to dry while the other parts are being prepared and put together. To prevent distortion, or what is known in the workshop as casting, no two flat surfaces should be placed close together to dry, unless, as often happens, they have cast already. If this is so, place the hollow or concave sides together, and this may cause them to become straight in the course of two or three days. This treatment applies only when the wood is hollow from side to side across the grain. When crooked in its length or across its opposite corners (that is, winding), there is little or nothing to be done except to plane it straight, with consequent loss of thickness. Hence the necessity of great care in the selection of wood when purchasing.
It should be remembered that in drying, wood always curves inside out, that is, the side of the board that was next the centre of the tree becomes convex or rounding; and whenever practicable, the inside of the board should be placed on the outside of the work.
Having got the wood as dry as possible, it should be prepared as follows: Plane up the front straight and out of wind, note the direction of the grain, and put the face mark to the left; this will be the bottom edge. Shoot the face edge square and straight, remove the saw marks from the other edge, but do not reduce to width, and get to one thickness all over. Prepare the back in the same way.
The sides are prepared in pairs, the grain so arranged that it planes from the front to the back. (The arrow in Fig. 777 denotes the direction of the grain.) Plane to thickness and square at both ends to the proper length, the front ends marked as shown in Fig. 777. If more than one drawer is being made at the same time, careful numbering is essential.
The front of the drawer is fitted into its opening at the bottom and the two ends, which must be kept square on the edges, as tight as it will go. The beginner should resist the temptation to bevel a little off the inside of the edges, otherwise a bad fit will result. With a pencil point, gauge the finished width of the front and sides; the dovetails will determine the width of the back. Clean up all on the inside, but do not glasspaper.
To mark for dovetailing, set a cutting gauge to 5/8 of the thickness of the front, and gauge the ends of the front from the inside, and all round the front ends of the sides. The gauge should be tested frequently to make sure it does not move. Next set the gauge, or another one, a little less than the thickness of the sides, say 1/32 in., and gauge the inside of the drawer front from its ends and the outside and inside ends of the drawer back, not the edges. Set the gauge the thickness of the back, and gauge the sides from the back end ; but not the edges.
Plough the groove for the bottom to go in 5/16 in. wide and 3/8 in. deep. First set the gauge 13/16 in., and cut along the inside of the front from the bottom edge. This will prevent the plough from tearing the wood should the grain be crossed or curly.
To cut the dovetails, place the sides together in pairs in the bench screw, insides together, and divide out evenly, allowing for the little to be taken off the top edge, square across the ends with a pencil. The bevel may be about 10°. To ensure this, make a little template 3 in. long, 1 in, wide, and 1/2 in. thick, as shown in Fig. 778, all perfectly square on the edges. Placed on the top of the ends, this will form a guide to the angle at which the saw is to be sloped. It can be turned round or upside down, as required, to cut the other parts. When the front ends are cut, turn the sides upside down, and cut the back ends as shown in Fig. 777. The bottom dovetail will be 13/16 in. from the face edge, and the top dovetail 1/4 in. from the top. It is better to stop a trifle short than to go on cutting beyond the mark.
To mark the front, place it in the bench screw, inside towards the bench; lay the proper side on the top in the exact spot where it is to drop down when the dovetails are cut, the other end being supported by the jack plane placed sidewise on the bench. Put a weight on to keep it steady, and mark the position of the dovetails by placing the tip of the saw in the cut and drawing it backwards; or it is better to get a very thin piece of steel and cut a few upright teeth in it without set. This is less likely to disturb the side when marking. A piece of broken band-saw or metal worker's hack-saw set in a handle, the set of the teeth being ground off, answers admirably.
As the sides are very much alike, some care is necessary to see that each piece is marked to go in its proper place. This is best ensured by numbering each part before beginning. The back is marked in the same way.
Next cut down the dovetails of the front, leaving the whole of the mark made by the saw on the pins. As the dovetails do not extend through the front, only part can be sawn; the remainder must be cut out with a chisel. The back pins can be sawn right through. An expert keeps the saw perpendicular merely by practice; the beginner had better square down with a pencil, or use the square end of the template.
The next job is to chisel out the dovetails. A fret saw will reduce this part of the work considerably. The most economical way is to saw out the dovetails of the back immediately as they are marked, before removing from the bench screw. Do not attempt to cut quite up to the marks ; leave a little for the chisel. The centre dovetails of the sides are removed with a fret-saw, and the corner pieces of the front end with a dovetail saw, finishing with a chisel.
Having removed as much as possible with the fret-saw, the quickest way of finishing the sides is to turn the left side of the body to the bench; hold the chisel with the left hand, with the left elbow on the side to keep it down. The mallet should be in the right hand, the fingers of which can be used to guide the chisel. Always have a piece of waste wood under the work to save the bench. Cut half way through, inclining the chisel inwards to the slightest degree; turn the side over, and cut from the other side. To cut perfectly square right through would be better, but this is impossible to do by hand.
To chisel out the necessary part of the wood to form the dovetails in the front is very difficult for the beginner, as the saw cuts can only be carried half-way, and great care is required, particularly if the wood is "short” or cross grained. The best tool to get into the corners is a nearly worn-out carver's chisel. Being short it is more under control, and being broader at the edge, enables it to get into the oblique angle.
Carpenters' chisels are often poor tools for very fine dovetailing; they are too thick and very often soft. Carvers chisels are much better; but they will not stand rough usage. Some shops keep a 3/8 -in. carver's chisel ground out of the square, the same angle as the dovetail, both sides being bevelled to enable it to be used for either right hand or left hand.
Before trying together the various parts, take a little off the edges of the dovetails on the inside of the sides, not quite out to the back end, or it will show. See that the sides enter the back and front; but do not drive home. They should fit just tight enough to require gentle tapping with a hammer. They will go in much easier with the glue, which, if hot enough, will act as a lubricant.
Considerable care is required to cut the dovetail pins the right size, and any error will now be apparent. If too tight they will split or bruise away the sides; if too small they will not hold. One or two misfits may be rectified by paring away a little, or inserting a little "joiner " beside the pin; but if the dovetails are not marked and cut correctly, no amount of botching will make a good fit.
If the inside of the drawer is planed clean it is better not to glasspaper it.
In gluing up, unless the room is very warm, the dovetails should be warmed, not made hot. Place the front upright in the bench screw, and with a small flat brush rapidly cover the dovetails with rather thick but very hot glue, then those of the side, and tap home gently with a hammer. With a wide drawer, place a piece of narrow wood on the side to send it home altogether, or the side may split. When apparently home, hit harder with the hammer, but do not bruise the side. The remaining three corners are best glued and driven home on the bench, completing the one side first, then the other end of the front, and lastly the side and back. Make sure that all the joints are close, and afterwards hammer just a little. This will spread out the wood softened with the glue, and ensure a close joint. Wash off with warm water all superfluous glue from the outside, and this will raise any bruises which may have been made with the hammer. Only a slight bead of glue should find its way out of the joint on the inside. This must be taken off with a chisel when nearly dry; washing will discolour the wood. Set the drawer square, measuring from corner to corner, and leave for six hours or all night for the glue to harden.
The slips (see Figs. 779 and 780) are made by ploughing a board of 3/8 in. from the edge, rounding over and sawing off wide as shown. Planed flat and even on the back, they can be made to hold to the sides simply by warming and gluing the inside and pressing down with the hands; but it is better to use weights or hand-screws if possible. The front end of the slip is squared off, and the back end is notched to run past the bottom. The bottom should be got to exact length and parallel, and the front edge made to fit the front edge of the carcase, allowing a little for the latter being wider at the back.
Large drawers have the bottom in the form of two panels and a muntin in the centre. To bevel the bottom evenly to the proper thickness, take a piece of wood 1 1/4 in. thick, cut off a corner at an angle of 45°, plough the edge in the centre the same width and depth as the slip, and cut it off 2 in. or 3 in. wide (see Fig. 781). The bottom should be bevelled down until this gauge can be passed along its whole length easily without shake from end to end. Take off the sharp edge on the top of the bottom to enable it to enter without breaking away the plough groove. Then drive in the bottom.
The drawer is now ready to be fitted in. First see that the bottom is out of wind, then reduce the sides, trying one at a time until it will nearly enter. Next plane off the sides until the end grain of the back and front is reached, then a little more off the top edges until the drawer will enter, but very tightly; In theory the drawer ought to run either right side up or upside down; but the opening is never quite rectangular, consequently gauging and squaring must not be depended on to ensure a good fit.
When the drawer fits into the carcase as tightly as it will go without injuring it, see that the front is set in evenly all round, and then fix the stops. It is usual to place these on the front rail for the front to hit against. A better plan is to put them at the back against the ends of the sides. There is then no strain on the dovetails.
Lastly, glue two or three little blocks underneath in the angle formed by the bottom and front. These will keep the whole firmly fixed. The drawer front may now be cleaned up for the polishing, after which the handles may be fixed on.
In common work the bottom of the drawer may enter a groove cut in the sides, as in Fig. 782, the slip shown in Fig. 783 being dispensed with; blocks, as in Fig. 783, may be glued on underneath when the bottom is not reduced in thickness.
