Building a Small Chest of Drawers Part 1

Well it's been a while, and life has gotten in the way, but I'm finally able to continue some contributions to my journey in woodworking.

This little project was born out of a confluence of disparate stimuli - a gift for the love of my life, a picture of a small chest of drawers seen in a book, and the opportunity presented by covid19 lockdowns.

With nothing but the picture to go from, no plans or exact dimensions, it fell to trial and error to establish sizing, proportions and layout.

For the carcass, I wanted something in a lighter coloured timber - as this is my wife's preference, and I chose southern silky oak - grevillia robusta.  I knew that we had some rough milled boards over at the Woodworkers Guild timber yard, and I thought that I might be able to get the sizes that I wanted out of those.

For the drawer fronts I will look for a complementary colour - but not too dark - more on that later. The bodies of the drawers themselves will look good in kauri or hoop pine - I might have enough in my shed if I use both.

Laying out the stock

I dressed the timber through the club planer, and finished preliminary planing of the faces by hand to a thickness of 20mm. A number 5 followed by a number 4 sized plane works well, and with sharp blades silky oak is a pleasure to plane.

Some of this timber will be further cut down for drawer web frames, so those knots and knarly bits will become waste.

Since the sizing of the drawers will be the most important part of the aesthetics of this piece, I will make the drawer web frames first. These support the drawers and tie the carcass together.

Making the Drawer Web Frames

I am careful to choose the best pieces for the front of the web frames, with the less handsome timber making up the sides and the backs - as these won't be seen.

The fronts and backs of the web frames are morticed. While I like cutting mortices and tenons by hand, there are a lot to do here, so a router and a jig work best for me.

I used my home-made router table and a simple jig to cut the mortices in the ends.

The jig was re- arranged to cut the centre mortices.

The web frames are not very long, but they need the middle rails as every second drawer will be a pair of doubles, and they need runners, as well as supports at the top for when they are fully open.

The sides and centre rails are measured, and tenons cut on each end. I have a couple of old tenon saws that are comfortable and a pleasure to use. This Spear and Jackson is my favourite. The handle isn't as old-school as some, but it is a joy in the hand.

I found this little Disston at the bottom of a rusty box of old tools and iron scraps that was gifted to me. It has a pitted blade, and the handle had sat in the rusting goop for so long that it has been ebonised on one side. It is small, and has the most teeth per inch of my tenon saws. It still cuts like a dream.

Because the mortices were cut with a router, the ends are rounded. I find it easier to round out the tenons than to square up the mortices, so this is done with a sharp chisel.

Sometimes the tenons need refining in thickness as well for a snug fit. A small shoulder plane is perfect for this, and this little Stanley gets the job done. While not as pretty as the Records, Prestons and others, this Stanley fits my hand well and is easy to manage one handed.

I am careful to label all matching mortices and tenons as it is easy to mix them up.

Here is a trial fit - not too shabby.

Looks pretty snug to me - hope they are all this good.

More on the web frames in Part 2

Happy shavings to all

Tom