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Alternate Drawer Joinery

14K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Ger21 
#1 ·
Jig creation

I was watching PBS one Saturday afternoon when Scott Phillips took a trip to a jig creators workshop. The show left me with the desire to create something different (at least different for me). I had been looking at some furniture in a local "Antiques" store, trying to get ideas for future projects, and had noticed a strange joint used to hold the drawers together. It looked like little half moons with pins in them & I wondered "now how did they do that?"


Well, thanks to Scott & my personal curiosity, here's how I do it.

First I created a pattern out of 3/4" pine. I added a 3/4" forstner bit to the drill. I set up a fence so that the drill point was an 1 1/2" from the fence on my drill press. I then added a stop block to the fence about 8" from the drill point. I then created blocks of 3/4 poplar (I used poplar because I machined it with my planer & I checked the thickness with a dial caliper for accuracy) to be used as position guides. Placed a stack of the poplar blocks against the stop, set my pine template in place against the fence, and drilled the first 3/4" hole. I then removed a poplar block, slid the pine over and drilled the next hole. Continued until I had a pine board with nothing but holes. To free the 2 halves simply saw the ends off.
This gave me a template the I cut onto a piece of 1/4" plastic (in my case an old router base that I made years ago). I then attached a block of wood about 2 1/2" tall by 1" thick and the length of the plastic.
 
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#3 ·
Routing the drawer front

Now I have the following items.
1. Router table with a 3/4" pattern bit installed in the router.
2. Drawer front
3. Drawer sides
4. Router template/jig


Using your template and drawer side stacked, adjust the bit height so that the cut is a 1/64" too deep (if I set it flush I end up unsatisfied with the fit)

Set the template on the end of the drawer front with the best grain towards the template fence . Then center the front so that the teeth (for lack of a better term) are even, top & bottom. Then clamp in place.


Standing the template on your router table face down, run the drawer front across the bit (I have used a plunge router with the drawer front clamped upright in a vise but, I like moving the drawer front better than moving the router).
 
#6 ·
Draw sides

Now that the drawer front is complete, it's time to work on the sides. Trace the template onto the sides.

I use a scroll saw to cut this but small band saw blade or coping saw would work. Once the sides are sawed, glue the drawers together.

Once the drawers are dry, setup a plunge router with a 3/4" collar and a 1/4" drill bit. I ground the point to a very flat angle (mimic a router bit) and the side flutes slightly just for use in the router (since dowel rods are typically slightly under-size).



Now re-install the template and use the router (set on a slow speed) as a drill press and drill the dowel holes.



Glue and insert dowels into the holes & trim with saw or chisel & your done.



I have had friends look at dovetails and not make a single comment (not knowing how much work is involved). None of them can help but say "How did you do that?" when they see this joint.



And I can't bring myself to tell them that it's actually easier to do than the dovetails.
 
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