Underbench cabinet: 8. Drawer Dividers (part 1)

comment

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I do like procedures that remove any chance of error and the one you have for layout meets this requirement. I would not discourage anyone from using it.

If bold however, the process can be shortened. I just stack the blades, indexing the ends in alignment, and mark across all of them the position of the "dividers" (English for vertical dividers). Ditto for the case sides to mark the blade positions ( English for horizontal divider). As a personal preference I don't like repetitive dry fit assembly of case to enable marking drawers from the assembled case.

Re: comment

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Bill, I get what you write. As I understand what you are suggesting, this works if all parts (namely, the dovetails) are machine-made and identical. Where there is variation, even slight, owing to hand cut joinery, it will ultimately throw off the accuracy of the drawer case.

I have a reasonable method for making the dovetails, and we will hopefully discuss this - advantages and disadvantages - when I post it next.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: comment

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

It often works out that subtle details drive us to do what we do, rendering what we do inappropriate/inconvenient/ etc. for someone whose details differ. Makes discussions interesting.

Lonnie Byrd teaches what you do for marking.

I do have a question though. The distance between the dovetail shoulders of your blades must be identical no matter how you cut the dovetails. If these are aligned a scribe mark across all the involved blades will fix the divider (vertical) location as accurate as any method. ?correct?

Re: comment

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

It often works out that subtle details drive us to do what we do, rendering what we do inappropriate/inconvenient/ etc. for someone whose details differ. Makes discussions interesting.

Lonnie Byrd teaches what you do for marking.

I do have a question though. The distance between the dovetail shoulders of your blades must be identical no matter how you cut the dovetails. If these are aligned a scribe mark across all the involved blades will fix the divider (vertical) location as accurate as any method. ?correct?

Thanks Bill

I looked up Lonnie Bird (he writes for FWW) and found a Desk Gallery he had built ..

There is a relevant difference in this example. Lonnie is building with solid wood panels, into which he creates the stopped dado. I have done this many times. It is intuitively easier than working with frames.

The present build requires a couple of stopped sliding dovetails. I have done this before, and it is always a challenge - not in creating the joint, but in being precisely accurate (coplanar and square).

The drawer blades for the Lingerie Chest, several years ago, rested on sliding dovetail, with the front sections being stopped ...

As you noted, the shoulders for the dividers (in the current build) are all the same. It is the slight variations in the dovetail that makes it tricky to fit. The Lingerie Chest had the advantage of single drawers in a row. Adjusting for height is more forgiving than adjusting for width.

Let me know your thoughts after I post the next part, which is about the sliding dovetails at the rear of the chest.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: comment

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Lonnie is just down the road a bit from where I live. A friend has taken classes with him involving case work. I took one and it was useless to me; but that is another story. He teaches laying out blades and dividers in cases just as you have described. Friend (Mayberry see Gallery desk) employed it on a chest of drawers. Decided too fiddly and went back to marking more or less as I have described, and many use.

The box you are building is functionally no different than the box for a tall chest of drawers where the drawers might be in ranks of 3/2/1/1/1.

Re: comment

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Bill, I think you have a point. What you suggest is essentially what I did with the Lingerie Chest - create front and rear sockets together, then separate them. I shall do this next time.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: comment

Bud

Derek and Bill,

I've spent a weekend in a class and didn't get as much info as reading all of your posts.

Second the notion

Jim Matthews

Organized classes always descend to the lowest skill level.

When that was mine, it was fine.

Afterwards, it was an expensive drag.

Derek's website is invaluable to me.