Oriental Box of Draws WIP

[jack55]

Hi, I have decided to have a go at making Jeff Greef's Oriental Box of draws. http://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/pnc/Boxes/Oriental/.

I started with the top rails and drew out the design so it could be cut out and pasted onto the wood, as suggested in the text on Jeff's web site I allowed enough width for the top draw front . Had to draw two one for the front rail and one for the back rail.

Gave the bottom a quick sand to make sure it was flat and square to fit on the template I made to finish off the top curve.

The top rails were taped together before taping them to the bottom rails so the mortises could be cut through the top rail and into the bottom rail.

A rebate has to be cut into the inside of both top rails to take the roofing slats.

I use the bandsaw to cut the tenons in the uprights and the cross rails and trim them to the final size with a chisel.

Again the front and back opposite uprights are taped together and the mortises cut through them both.

The tenons on the side rails are offset to allow the rails to act as the guides for the draws. the outer edges of the rails have a slight curve on them.

First dry assembly

 

[Tierney]

Looks good.

DT

 

[mailee]

That looks like a very interesting build. I shall be following this one with great interest. Great work so far.

 

[MickCheese]

I like the look of that. Keep up the WIP.

Mick

 

[andersonec]

I have previously downloaded those plans with the intention of attacking it at some time so I will keep your build on file to see how it pans out, don't have the machinery you do though so it will be mostly by hand if I ever get round to it.

Andy

 

[jack55]

finished the frame now. the top is a series of roofing slats which I made narrower than the suggested 3/4" as they follow the contour better.

Started on the four draws, which are being dove tailed. the drawings suggest the fronts and back should be 3/4" thick, which I thought was a bit heavy for a draw only 10" square, so decided to keep all the parts at the 1/2" the sides need to be. However, having then cut the dovetails I realised the fronts are half blind so maybe 3/4" on the front may have been better. But then again its only a small draw not carrying a lot of weight so fingers crossed it should be okay.

I am not that experienced at dovetails so I used the woodrat, only I can never get the cam settings to work as per the instructions so I use an alternate method. the pins are cut the normal way but then the side is clamped under the rat base and the cam clamp used to hold the next piece so the pins can be transferred. I then set the pivot anywhere and use a a dovetail guide to transfer the angle to an adjustable marker and set the cam locks that way.

The half blind sockets have the bulk removed on the rat and then tidied up with a chisel. The though dovetails fit straight off the rat.
These are just dry fitted

 

[MickCheese]

I have only just got a woodrat and found this tutorial very useful.

ftp://ftp.meekings.net/WoodRat/Mike_Humphreys_tutorial.pdf

Mick

 

[gwaithcoed]

Lovely job. Great to see the WIP photo's

Alan.

 

[jack55]

The top draw requires a slightly different approach having the curved shape on top. The draw front is the same piece from which the top rail was cut. However, after sanding the top rail the shape is not an identical match any more. So I re-cut it (still from the same piece) by sitting it on the draw below and marking the shape from the inside.

Two problems them arose. The top draw front is a much lighter colour than the other three draws, and the other three draws are boring.

The flash does highlight a bit of grain but without it they just look too plain. So I planed some material off the draws to give them some definition, still not sure if it improves the situation. The top draw needs to be redone to match the other three, or the option is to redo all the draws in either sycamore or elm????