Hand Dovetailed Drawers *LINK*

sanding before cuting?

bill tindall

>I avoid sanding operations until cutting operations are completed, where possible. My concern is grits shed from sanding will dull cutting tools. I know that sanding with abrasive coated sheets ( ordinary sandpaper) will lessen the life of card scraper edges. What are other's thoughts on this point?

a'yup

Andrew F in Australia

>Hi Bill,

Without having the time to read the article, yes, it's correct.

You need to get the drawer fitting well, and if you sand after cutting you change dimensions by a mm or so.

As well, dovetails don't fit as well if you change the dimensions of the boards after you cut them.

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: sanding before cuting?

Charles

>If you scrape you don't need to sand. Get rid of the paper.

No paper method

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>If it is a small drawer, I make it about 1/16 too big and then plane the drawer side (with dovetail) to fit the drawer opening. It makes the pins flush with the tail side and also makes the drawer close with a whisper.

Seems odd....

Tim of Livermore

>Hand cut the dovetails but used a tailed sander to surface prep the boards.... :- ).

You can skirt the sandpaper issue by surfacing with a plane prior to dovetailing.

Tim

Missed the use of the drum sander

Tim of Livermore

>so I guess I'd skip all the machine sanding first (easy since I don't have a drum sander ;- )). But then a bit more attention needs to be done during the glue up stage if you're taking lots of off-rips to make drawer stock.

Tim

If I had a drum sander....I'd probably do as the author and not worry too much about it.