Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 10e - Drawers - completion.

Once the front pin boards are completed and they mate perfectly with their corresponding side tail boards it's time to take a measurement from the table to cut the tailboards to length. I normally make the tailboard about 3/16" to 1/4" shy of the full inside length of the drawer compartment. Then while the pinboard is attached to the two side tailboards transfer the measurement to the tailboard.

Dimension measured from the table

Dimension transferred to the drawer with the front
pin board attached.

Then the tailboards are separated from the pin board and cut to length. I just do this on the tablesaw with the crosscut sled keeping the parts square to the blade.
Then proceeding exactly as before the tails were cut, transferred to the rear pin board and then the pins cut. This time they are through dovetails. This type of dovetail can also be done very easily by cutting the pins first, transferring the pins to the tailboard and then cutting the tails. It's entirely up to you which way to cut dovetails and I generally like tails first.

Rear thru dovetails complete

Once all dovetails and pins are cut lay the parts out on the bench and with a pencil (scribble) mark the position of the groove for the drawer bottom. I find this bit is essential as it's so easy to get the part the wrong way around on the router table when doing this. The drawer bottoms on these drawers are 1/4" (6mm) plywood. I used a 1/4" bit in the router table to cut the grooves. The pin boards are easy through cuts but the side tail boards need stop cuts on the rear edges. This is to ensure that the groove does not show through when the drawer is glued up. The front of each tail board can be through grooves as they are covered by the front pin board (half blind DTs).

A test dry fit

Then I cut the drawer bottoms to fit into the grooves. The grooves are 3/16" deep (on 1/2" stock) and the drawer bottoms are cut 3/32" less than the dimension from bottom of each groove to the corresponding part on the opposite side.

Drawer groove dimension 14 1/2" - 3/32"  (368mm -  2.5mm) 

The very next job to do is to remove the machining marks from the inside of the drawers. I used a random orbit sander up to 180 grit but could have just used a smoothing plane set to remove an absolute minimum.

Then all parts were glued up with Titebond II dark, the drawer bottom inserted into the grooves and the final side board pressed into place. When clamping I like to use a couple of clamping squares on the inside of the drawer, I normally place them on the front panel to the side panels (one on each side). Then at least the front/sides will be square. The rear panel to the sides can be slightly out of square to each other but it won't matter as that is not seen.

Then the drawers were placed into parallel clamps and left to setup overnight.

When removed from the clamps each drawer had their respective joints cleaned up with a combination of hand planes and sanding. Then each drawer would fit perfectly with a piston fit in each drawer aperture.

Drawers complete.

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 10d - Drawers front pin boards

I'm making half blind dovetails on these table drawer fronts - they are also flush mounting drawers. This is still very easy to do but you can only use the saw to cut a 45 degree kerf into the pin board. I had already cut the drawer front Again start by lightly marking a line with your marking gauge on the end grain and on the inside face of the pin board.
Then using a method I have described in another article clamp the pin board vertical in the vise protruding very slightly above the benchtop. Use a square to ensure the adjacent face is square. (I'm showing through dovetails on these next few photos but the principle is exactly the same.)

Mark up the tailboards to ensure you don't get them mixed up. Place one of the tailboards with the chamfered tails inner-most onto the pin board and line up the base of the pins with the edge of the far (the edge furthest from you). Then using the square make sure the tail board is square to the bench apron and level with the edges of the pin board.

Mark around the tails with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil or a knife.

Using a 0.5mm mechanical pencil

Then after removing the pin board from the vise use the marking gauge to make more distinct lines in the waste of the pin board. Some people mark the waste with an X to avoid confusion.

Clamp the pin board in the vise, waste towards you and use your favourite dovetail saw to cut in the waste side. You should start at around 45 degree angle and aim to be as close to the graphite as you can without cutting into it much, keeping the saw plate vertical.

Then you can use the same method of chopping and paring as before to remove the waste. Vertical chop needs to be around 1/16" from the baseline (Franks method) Finally finish off with a shallow vertical chop at the base line. Regular bench chisels work well with this as long as they have bevelled edges. Square edged firmers are not a good idea but bevelled edge firmers are the best (tapered slightly front to back).

Of course you may get the management occasionally inspecting the work.

"What's going on here? You're slacking"

Anna's seal of approval

It is time consuming to do this by hand and you have to make sure you get into the corners of the sockets to remove all waste. The Veritas marking gauge is great to use as a depth gauge to check progress too. It can be used to gauge both the height and depth of the pin.

Veritas gauge used in depth mode to ensure
the pins and to depth

and length

Pin board after clean up

Do a test fit and if you have to remove any stock remove it from the pin board. First undercut the pin slightly and then pare the sides of the socket on the face that is tight. In general if you have been accurate with your sawing and chiselling you should get it to fit first time.

Remember when doing a test fit you need to keep the boards square to each other and you are aiming for a light press fit. If you get a sloppy fit it's not the end of the world as look down at your feet. You see all those bits of end grain shavings? Well you can slide them in the loose fit afterwards and when sanded and finished it'll look just like the surrounding wood (assuming you use the same species!)

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 10c - Drawers - cleaning tailboards

It's essential that all traces of the waste are removed. This includes anything left in the corner of the tails and any higher bits than the base lines.
I use a couple of skew chisels. You can also use a fishtail chisel (I think Lie Nielsen are the only ones making these at the moment) or some fine bench chisels.

The skews are my favourites  and are made by Kirschen under their Two Cherries brand. They keep and edge really well. When honing or re-establishing the bevel you need to use the Veritas MKII Honing guide with its skew registration jog - both of which I own. It's easy to do with some practice.

Two cherries 1/2" skew chisels

Pare to the centre of the board and make sure
you don't let the non cutting side touch the other
dovetail. Otherwise you will have a chisel shaped ding to fill

Always use you square to make sure that you are level and nothing stick up
beyond the base lines. If it does pare it down again.

If all is well chamfer the inner faces of the tails to ensire that that seat in the dovetail sockets of the pin board. This ONLY applies if you are fitting these tails into a blind socket (making half blind dovetails as I am here). If using through dovetails don't chamfer them as it is not necessary.

Chamfered inner tails - only for half-blind dovetails

Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 10b - Drawers - chopping out tailboards

Then I cut a knife wall at the base line of each scribe mark in the waste. This is to define a clean line that your chisel shouldn't go beyond. As mentioned in the previous post Frank Klausz starts his initial chop about 1/16" away from the base line so that is what I did this time too. I normally work on a sacrificial surface as I like to minimize wear to the bench top as much as I can.

Cutting a knife wall bu undercutting the scribe line
created by the marking gauge

Initial chop about 1/16" from the base line.
This is also repeated on the other side

Excavate at the waste either by simply chopping away or as I do pairing a wedge and then chop away. Do this on both sides so you meet in the middle.

Paring and chopping the waste away

Once the waste is thin enough you can chop it away and it comes out as a lump

A lump of waste being chopped out

Then hold the chisel in the base line scribe and tip it slightly at a couple of degrees off vertical. The chisel handle will be sloping away from the tail board. You can then chop to the middle of the board. Turn it over and repeat and then you will have the base lines of both edges higher than the centre,

Chopping to the centre of the board

Edges.

Removing the waste at the edges is just the same but this time you need to keep the chisel as near to plumb as you can. This will be seen and if you are off by a couple of degrees it will be obvious.

Start again cutting a knife wall with a chisel and then crosscut the waste away getting as close to the baseline as you can (I normally get around 1/32" away)

Cutting a knife wall

Some paring to be done

Now get the chisel as square as you can and simply chop (very lightly) at the waste. I normally use the same width chisel as the stock to do this.

Chopping or paring the edge waste away
while keeping as square as possible

You sometimes find that the saw-cuts are not deep enough so you have to push into the end grain to release the waste.

Paring the waste away down the angle of the dovetail

The finished results can be really good.

A little cleaning up and it will be done