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Another Coffee Table: Planning and Building a Drawer

Last time the base was completed, and we had a quick look at the parts together. It is not fully sanded yet, and no finish obviously. It feels very solid in the legs - I know there were some that were concerned about the 10 degree splay ....

The - almost - last lap is here, the building of the drawer. I do not want to bore the pants off all with yet another dovetailing, so rather here are some pictures of the decisions and tasks that need to take place for a well-fitted drawer.


The first decision was to choose the wood for the drawer front, and the panel at the other side (the drawer will open on one side of the coffee table, and the other side will be a fixed panel similar to the drawer front).


There is just enough of the Fiddleback Jarrah for these panels. The orientation of the figure needs to be chosen, otherwise it will look like a dog's breakfast ...








It is beautiful wood, but very interlocked. The double iron works its wonders ..





The length is short enough to joint on a shooting board ..





Mark the width ..





... and shoot to the line.


The ends are squared ...





I frequently read how important it is to have a backing board when shooting end grain to prevent spelching. This is not important at all. The best strategy is to score the line you will plane to, and then add a chamfer at the end. Use the shooting plane for this ...





Now plane until the chamfer disappears ...





No spelching ...





The fitted drawer front ...





... is tight to the sides and has about 1mm gap at the top.


The back board of the drawer, and the rear panel ...





These are the drawer parts: the front is 19mm thick, the quarter sawn Tasmanian Oak sides are 10mm (slightly thicker than my usual 8mm as it needs to be a little beefier) and the rear is 12mm ...





A peek at the drawer ...





All the details in the last chapter next time.


Regards from Perth


Derek

January 2019