Completing Drawers

Today I finished up making the drawer parts. This started out by cutting and shaping the back pieces, then I trimmed the drawer bottoms to length and did a little detail sanding on them so they will slide into place easily when the time comes. I also rounded over the outer corners of the drawer fronts and outer-upper edges of the drawer sides. I’ll round over the inner-upper edges of the sides and back once the backs are glued in place.

Then I set up the jig used to provide a solution to the one nagging concern that had always been part of these drawer assemblies: namely, how do we support a partial drawer of CDs so they don’t fall over every time you pull out a drawer? We have tried a number of solutions over the years but none really worked out well – until we hit on this: we use shelf support pins. The same system that allows for adjustable shelving in bookcases or cabinets works well here two, we just use it horizontally.

We start by boring a series of evenly spaced holes in the drawer sides near the upper edge using a jig and special drill bit/guide combo. Later I will drive steel sleeves with a rolled outer edge on into these holes, as I have done with one sleeve in the piece of scrap wood in the center, the pins then fit snugly into the sleeves. As the drawers contents grow, you just move the pair of pins back to the next pair of holes. When the drawer is nearly full, take the pins out and drop them in the bottom of the drawer in the back. End result, an attractive, effective system for supporting a less-than-full drawer of CDs that does not take up space that could be better used by storing more CDs.

I will need to lacquer the drawer boxes before installing the sleeves and the guide claws, so this completes the basic construction phase of this project. On Monday we’ll do the fussy fitting and construction sanding that will allow us to start gluing things together. Because this project is to be stained, some parts must be stained before we can do the gluing, so the finishing phase will actually start before construction is complete. Seems strange, but it’s what we must do to insure that bare wood does not creep out of the panel edges and that the drawer boxes don’t get all smudged up with stain.

Therefore it will be time to run the 3rd progress payment on this job once the fussy fitting is done: Monday evening, maybe Tuesday.

I hope you have a blessed weekend!

Doug