Wednesday 19 September 2012

Drawer pulls for the chest of drawers

During a period of ongoing illness I got a little down with lack of shop time. My wife suggested I go out and finish off the drawer pulls for the chest of drawers and just do what I can without over exerting myself.

I went out and spent a few hours over a weekend with the bandsaw and the oscillating spindle sander and made 10 drawer pulls. They are made from oak and sapele and finished off with General Finishes Enduro Var. I was pleased with the results. I also spent another night making a drill jig/fixture ready to hold the parts for the pilot holes. Then I will transfer the holes to the drawers and screw them in place. Here are a few pictures.
Original Sketchup design
Pulls waiting to be fitted
Pulls temporarily fitted with Blutack

The stepped rear face on the original Sketchup drawing didn't quite work on a test piece I made so on the final pieces that feature has been omitted. The lump on the very front of the pull has come out well as per the specification I got from my client and I'm pleased with it.
It doesn't show very well on these photographs but the contrasting sapele against the face of the drawer makes the entire drawer pull seem slimmer.

I also retained the template I made so I can reproduce these again should I need to. The pieces are much too small to be made safely on the router table, I know as I broke a couple early on in manufacture using the router, hence I went down the band saw and sanding to a line route. I then finished off most of the radii with a round over bit and a little hand sanding. They feel right in the hand and a friend said they look organic as if they had been taken straight from a tree branch.