Anatomy of an End Table and Drawer

[thetyreman]

thought some people would find this useful, I now finally know enough information on how to put a drawer in an end table, which was something that was a bit of a mystery before seeing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeVqO-59aCQ

regards,

Tyreman.

 

[El Barto]

That's great. That channel has so much useful stuff.

 

[cowfoot]

Nice little video.
Chris Schwarz makes a very similar Shaker side table in this project -
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-c ... 4-Seg2.pdf
He’s also produced a DVD for Lie-Nielsen making one using hand tools, it’s an excellent introduction to loads of different techniques. I’ve ended up half filling my house with slightly tweaked versions in different woods!

 

[AndyT]

Belated thanks for this.
It's the only description I've found which shows the guides and kickers clearly, which I am thinking carefully about while slowly building a table like this, over in the projects section.

 

[custard]

That's one way Tyreman, and it will absolutely get the job done.

However, in woodworking there are always alternatives! Here are a few worth considering,

The dovetail in the rail that sits above the drawer shouldn't, IMO, be full depth because it risks exposing the edge of the mortice which looks really tacky. Likewise on those double tenons that joint the lower drawer rail into the legs, leave a shoulder so there's no risk that the mortice is visible.

One little thing worth pointing out, I normally secure the top above the drawer with screws straight through the rail. Make sure you drill those holes before assembly (as you can see in the above photo), because if you drill after assembly you won't have access to countersink them.

I secure the top on the other three sides with buttons. In the video the buttons are fairly crude and basic. Nothing wrong with that because they're invisible inside the drawer. But if there's no drawer, then on really high class work you might want to make the buttons a little tidier as the client will see them if the table is ever moved and flipped upside down. I use shaped buttons like these,

if you gang cut them they don't take much longer to make than basic buttons, but they add that fractional bit of extra quality to a project.

The drawer in the video is the simplest form of dovetailed drawer. That's okay, it does the job. However, in order to accommodate the groove the drawer sides have to be that bit thicker, say around 12mm. There's something a little more elegant about a drawer with thinner drawer sides, say around 8mm or even less on a smaller drawer. But with thinner drawer sides there's no room for an adequate groove, so you have to add drawer slips. Unfortunately that one tiny change adds a lot of complexity to drawer making, so it's probably something left for a later effort, but in first class work drawer slips are pretty much mandatory.

This what the underside of a drawer with slips looks like,

But to do the job properly the groove in the slips is then offset from the groove in the drawer front,

Which then requires the drawer bottom to have matching offset tongues,

Like I said, this does start to get a bit complex, but once you've done a few it becomes second nature. One big advantage of this form of drawer construction, besides thinner and more elegant drawer sides, is that for wider drawers you can easily incorporate muntins, the central divider that supports the bottom on wider drawers,

 

[custard]

One other point. When you cut the dovetails on the back of the drawer, don't forget that the drawer bottom will slide in immediately below the back. So it's tidier if instead of a normal dovetail at the bottom you cut it so that it's only angled on the upper side, and is flat on the lower side. This example illustrates the principle,

It's then personal preference if you balance this with a matching "half" dovetail at the top. As you can see from the above photo, that's something I do, but plenty of craftsmen don't and I guess that's okay too!

 

[custard]

A final point. The video talks about drawer stops. It's worth figuring out how you plan on dealing with these before you glue-up, as some options won't be possible afterwards. This is discussed in greater detail in the thread on Andy's build.

 

[Just4Fun]

But to do the job properly the groove in the slips is then offset from the groove in the drawer front

Why?

 

[custard]

But to do the job properly the groove in the slips is then offset from the groove in the drawer front

Why?

Ideally you want the drawer slip flush with the upper surface of the drawer bottom, that's quality as it means that papers or other objects in the drawer can lay flat and not get kinked. Consequently you want offset grooves.