NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 43, $3.50 Making ... - Wood Tools

After glue-up, the fiberboard and edge-banding assembly Jhown above will be veneered
tben crOJJcut to yield a cabinet door and drawer front with continuouJ grain. Figure 4,
below, JhoWJ a Jimilar Jetup for a bank of drawerJ.
Fig. 4: Drawer face cores
Fig. 5: Drawers and guides
Carcase side
Moun t drawer guides
in grooves milled
into carcase sides.
58
To ensure grain continuity
in a bank of dra wers,
glue up the fiberboard
core and edge-banding,
then veneer and
crosscut.
Bore holes before veneering,
to mark for cutting later
Fiberboard core
to
Side
Glue grooved
center guide
drawer bottom.
Drawer
bottom
"-_-\--- -\;- -- -
To adjust drawers,
pivot center guide
rail on screw, gluing
it when dra wer
fronts align with
front of case.
me. We usually pick veneers from the
same flitch, and it's fun to flip through
the stack, envisioning how the raw log
was sliced into so many thin sheets. We
organize the veneers to be bookmatched
or slip-matched in sequence for each
door and drawer face. To assure grain
continuity between a drawer face situated
above a door or in a bank of drawer
faces, I glue up a sandwich core (figure
4 and photo at left) which is then
CUt into components after it's veneered.
If I've gOt only a few doors to make,
I veneer them myself on a shop made
press. Otherwise, I job out the work,
sending the matched, taped veneers and
cores to a local architectural millwork
house, preferably one equipped with hot
presses. If you don't want to bother
with veneered or frame-and-panel doors,
fiber-core hardwood plywood edged
with solid wood is a stable alternative.
To hang the doors, refer to the box on
the facing page.
I like the whisper of a well-fitted
wooden drawer sliding on a wooden
track, so I use the drawer scheme shown
in figure 5. The drawers slide on bearing
rails grooved into the sides of the carcase.
A grooved member glued to the
drawer bottom slides on a center guide
rail, making for smooth, accurate travel.
But practically any method for hanging
drawers is okay for kitchen cabinets, including
metal ball-bearing slides, which
are quicker to install than wooden
tracks. Most metal slides require at least
1:; in. of clearance between the inside of
the carcase and each side of the drawer,
so be sure to allow for it.
Honduras mahogany router-dovetailed
together makes strong, attractive drawers,
but poplar, maple and Baltic birch
plywood are excellent, less expensive alternatives.
In fact, I recommend making
drawers deeper than 10 in. Out of plywood-they'll
be less likely to warp.
Once I've hung and fit the drawers to
my satisfaction, I install the drawer
fronts with screws driven in from the inside
of the drawer. Make sure the edges
of the drawer fronts align with each other
and with the doors.
With all the doors and drawers in
place, and before I apply the finish, I
make any final adjustments that require
planing or cutting. I coat the carcases,
doors and drawers with nitrocellulose
vinyl sanding sealer, followed by a fine
sanding two to three hours later. A coat
or two of Flecto Varathane completes
the finish. 0