Wood drawer pull tenon. Wedge or no wedge?

Re: Wood drawer pull tenon. Wedge or no wedge?

John in NM

Shop I used to work for did a lot of round pulls. We just epoxied them in.

If you have a good tight fit, hide glue is also a good choice.

I've never bothered wedging them, but I do line up the grain with the drawer to some extent, don't know if it helps but it can't hurt.

Re: Wood drawer pull tenon. Wedge or no wedge?

roger lance

Wedged looks pretty.....certainly attractive......but, not worth the trouble in your case.

A drawer that contained a very large amount of weight might benefit from a wedged tenon.....in a tampered hole.

You might not have to drill a hole all the way through your drawer front if it is thick enough.....let the adhesive do the job.

Re: Wood drawer pull tenon. Wedge or no wedge?

Virgil Johnson

Like you I will be lining up the grain. Just seems "like the way it should be done".

Depends

Ellis Walentine

I don't know if there's a traditional approach to this one, Virgil, but mechanical design should be dependent on the application. If you're putting these pulls on drawer that will contain heavy things, you might consider the benefit of a wedged tenon. For a lighter-duty drawer, adhesives will probably be all you need.

If you want to get into the weeds on this, keep in mind that dowels and round tenons shrink disproportionately, and depending on the wood, may become more oval in section, which reduces the contact surfaces for your adhesive. An oval tenon in a round hole is theoretically only tight at two points. This is a common failure mode for chair rungs and other types of round tenons.

Ellis

Re: Wood drawer pull tenon. Wedge or no wedge?

Don Stephan

Never tried it, but I wonder if it would be relatively easy to widen the through drilled mortise on the inside of the drawer front with a small round rasp, to make wedges more effective. But there likely is a relatively narrow shoulder on the pull tenon to hide "rasp bites" on the front side of the drilled mortise.

Re: Wood drawer pull tenon. Wedge or no wedge?

William Duffield

If I were concerned about rasp bites (depends on the project, sometimes yes; sometimes no), I would use my finest half-round rasp followed by a half round file with a similar or the same sweep. My choice is based on the selection of rasps and files at my disposal--my only round rasp is very "angry," and I won't let it anywhere near a finish surface or visible joint.

Use a screw

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I bought some screws from McFeely ideally suited for this job. They are #10 with a coarse thread and a built in washer a bit over 3/8" diameter. The box calls them "round washer recex". I counter sink these screws when used in a drawer. It makes for a tidy installation.



The advantage of a screw is the ability to replace the pull 100 years from now and not need to find someone with a lathe to make the knob. Unless striving for Period Correct I don't see any reason to use a tenon. The small tenon will not remain tight over the course of a few years of humidity cycles. Wedging will improve the situation, but why add that complexity when a screw is inherently better?

Re: Use a screw

Virgil Johnson

I was thinking about using a screw today actually. Using it with the tenon and letting the screw be the wedge. Its been my experience that a screw only tends to work loose over time. Pulls are done and they have a 1/2" dia tenon. Got an extra to add a band saw kerf to for the screw/wedge experiment.

Those with a screw loose

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Its been my experience that a screw only tends to work loose over time

Indeed this property is reality. And the looser the screw gets, the looser it continues to get. Owned by someone that lacks the will and ability to tighten upon the first indication of looseness, the screw will eventually fail.

Will Lock-tite work on wood? I have solved this deficiency by adding a drop of quick set epoxy to the screw threads upon installation. I add what I hope is enough to act like Lock-tite but not so much that the knob can't be removed if it becomes damaged. I presume that a wooden knob will not last for generations. A screw hole enables replacement where as a doweled knob makes replacement more difficult.

Successful complication.

Virgil Johnson

I have a way to complicate this mundane task. Machine a washer of sufficient diameter and thickness to hold an O-ring in a tree panned groove that will keep tension on the screw during the seasonal changes of the drawer front thickness. Leave about .020 between the washer drawer front for the O-ring to compress. Simple.

Re: Successful complication.

William Duffield

There is an easier way to do that. Use a Belleville spring, a.k.a. Belleville washer or Belleville spring washer.

Re: Successful complication.

Virgil Johnson

The belleville washer is a good alternative but I have the material to do this for free. Likely just cut a flat washer from 1/16" thick 60 durometer rubber and machine a washer thick enough for the countersunk head of a #8 wood screw.