Entry hall table for a niece

[Derek Cohen]

We ended the last session with the drawer dividers installed ...



Everything was nice and square, but the more I thought about what I had done, the unhappier I became. Such an elementary oversight. I cannot believe I did it, and also that no one pulled me up for it. What was it? Two items:

The first was that the grain for the drawer dividers runs the wrong way. Although the boards are as close to quarter grain as possible, which adds to stability, they will expand vertically. That could cause them to buckle, and then the drawers will not run nicely.

The second is that I could have built in a way to close up the drawer dividers against the back of the (to-be-built) side lipped drawer fronts ... this is to be used as a drawer stop ... at this stage it would be necessary to add a filler. Not good.

So I re-did the drawer dividers. Here is the rear of the case. The drawers are left long on purpose ...



Provision is made for the dividers to be adjustable in length (to close up with the back of the drawer front). They are given rebates to slide further forward ... it will be necessary that they move around 15mm forward (to within 5-6mm of the opening).



The rebate is 2mm deep (the depth of the dados), and largely created with a cutting gauge. The blade slices away end grain, and the resulting splitting away makes it easy to chop the remainder.

Here are the dividers, further forward than before, and capable of moving a little more still ...





The plan was to glue up the case. However, before this is done, it is wise to fit the drawer fronts across the width (the height will be done at a later date).

This is the board for the three drawers.



Removing one end, the board is set on the case ...



It is now apparent that the front of the bevel, where it meets the drawers, is not straight. It is possible to see a small amount of flat ...



This is especially noticeable in this corner ..



This is fairly easy to remedy ... mark with a pencil, and then plane away the pencil marks ...



Perfect now ...



The other end needs no more than a smidgeon removed ..



The upper side is now treated the same way. Interestingly, this needs no work at all.

Time to saw the drawer fronts to size.

First step is to mark the middle point of each divider (since the lips will share the divider). The mark can be seen in the rebate ...



The drawer board across the front ...



Transfer the mark, and then saw the drawer front ...

[Derek Cohen]

This process is repeated. Here are the three sequential drawer fronts. You can just make out the breaks ...





I am happy with this.

And so, finally, the case is glued up (Titebond Liquid Hide Glue - reversibility and long open time). Looking like a trussed up fowl ....



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

The case was glued up yesterday, with everything tight and square as one could wish, but I did not sleep well. I was haunted by the thought that there was a problem that would come to a head some time in the future.



If you look at the grain direction of the two centre drawer dividers, you notice that the grain is vertical. That is the way it should be. Wood moves, expands and contracts. It does this in reaction to moisture in the air. When it moves, it does so across the grain. That is why solid wood drawer bottoms have grain across the width - allowing the drawer bottom to move towards the back of the drawer, rather than towards the sides (where it will be blocked and then buckle).

These drawer dividers will be butted up against the rear of the drawer lips and act as drawer stops. The front third of the divider will be glued in the dado, forcing any expansion towards the rear of the case. All good.

The two spacers at the inside ends of the case have the grain running horizontally. I glued this in before I realised that I had cut them this way. I had done the same with the internal dividers, but re-cut them, as shown in the previous article. The end spacers will expand vertically, and to allow for this, I provided a 2mm gap below and above the panels. That is what kept me awake.

The end spacers are 6mm thick. The case, to which they are glued, is 20mm thick and about 40mm wider. Initially I was concerned that the spacer would be overwhelmed by the case moving, and buckle. Having thought some more about this, I am no longer concerned that this will occur. Why? Because movement in the case would instead "stretch" the spacer length-wise. I started to breath again.

In the end, I decided to reduce the height of the spacers by half. This would allow them plenty of space to expand, when necessary, as well as reducing their impact inside the case.

Here is one side ...



Taped for visibility and protection ...



The saw is a 16" Wenzloff & Sons tenon saw (10 tpi) ...



Three kerfs ...



Deepened with a Japanese Azebiki ...



... and split out with a firmer chisel ...



A Bahco carbide scraper cleans up ...



The result ...





Final cleanup was aided by the only shoulder plane that fitted inside the space
...



Regards from Perth

Derek

p.s. no one seems to be reading here, so I shall just post on the Hand Tool forum

[stav]

That is great progress.  I have to admit that I missed the issues you pointed out. 

Regarding where people read this, I look in both places because the comments and responses are different.  Either way, I'll keep up.

[Tapper]

Just a bump.

Doug

[stav]

Head over to Hand Tools if you want to see the latest.

[Derek Cohen]

The entire build, in chapters, is on this webpage index: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/index.html

Scroll down to "Entry Hall Table for my niece".

Regards from Perth

Derek

[GeeDub]

LOL, that table is a lot bigger than I thought or that's a miniature shoulder plane ;-)