serpentine bow front desk #5: drawers are 99 percent done

ugh… well these drawers didnt turn out to be as hard as i thought. theyre just regular half blinds with a little bit of extra fitting and different side lengths. dont let curves intimidate you. its not as hard as it looks. just a few little tips. you need to make sure that both of the ends of your drawer fronts are parallel. the picture below shows now to find that. just use two squares and set the front up in between them. if the surface your squares sit on is flat the blades will be parallel and therefore if the contact flat against the sides then your sides are parallel. all the layout takes place on these sides so them being parallel is crucial.

then also you want to keep these faces square to your table while you are chopping. a simple setup like the one in the picture below works wonderfully but i switched to a bessey because i needed more pressure.

so the dovetails in the end came out great. time consuming but they really came out nice. the face side is the most important part and that needs to fit nice. no exceptions.

the edges also need to be tight. but where the edge is not flat its not as big of a deal. there are no large gaps or anything they do need to be decent but its not as big of a deal. especially if its on the bottom of a drawer.. thats where the gap in the picture is. never gonna be seen.

and then the back is a different story. they are never going to be seen once the stops are in so its really not big deal. i just cut them right off the saw as you see them now and then after i patch them up a bit if needed after the glue up. just a personal thing but again once the stops are in they will never be seen. then you can see how i just cut them so that i can put the drawer slide in later.

so then a couple of pictures with the drawers in the desk

so all i have left to do is the drawer bottoms and reveal. the reveal is simple. i dont try and fuss around with the reveal i just make it as simple of possible… the next picture explains it

like it :)

i just use the spiral cut bit all the way around and trim where the legs are with a block plane. really really simple and goof proof. its a downcut in the picture but i prefer an upcut so the bottom edge will be crisp and the fuzzies will be on the top where they can be easily reached.

then also the hardware. simple enough just chippendale brass pulls.

i ordered ones a little bit bigger. this one is too small but again attaching them is really simple. ill go over it when i do it but again really simple. so next blog the desk will be done. finally. this one took way longer than i would have liked. vacation really got in my way!!!