Click on right here to obtain the total digital plans for this dresser.
The Hathaway dresser, named for a beloved aunt, is a staple in our store, and we construct it in three codecs—the lengthy, lateral, authentic model with 12 drawers; a five- or six-drawer highboy; and the six-drawer Half Hathaway that we’re constructing on this article.
The unique piece was commissioned by a shopper needing storage in a beneficiant entryway. The excessive, beveled, and tapered legs that outline the case had been the place to begin, designed to permit tall rain boots and different footwear to be tucked under. The spare, flat floor of the piece and the graphic enchantment of drawers punctuated solely by knobs was impressed by Shaker furnishings, whereas the general type takes its cues from Georgian and Edwardian sideboards.
The easy look of the Hatha-way hides a posh association of intricate elements, making it a difficult however rewarding mission. Sliding dovetails, slip tenons, and long-grain laminations present a inflexible construction housing drawers that slide easily on wooden runners. We use precisely the identical construction and joinery—and even most of the similar jigs proven right here—once we’re constructing different variations of the dresser, which makes an exacting course of extra environment friendly. And these similar approaches, which produce a robust, sturdy, and purposeful chest of drawers, might be utilized to case items on the whole.
Legs at the outset
The dresser’s tall legs body the drawer faces and type one clean, flush floor with the aspect panels. Utilizing 8/4 or 9/4 materials, we select straight-grained, rift-sawn boards to guarantee that the legs mix seamlessly with the aspect panels and have minimal grain runoff on the entrance face.
Cease the bevels. With the leg clean nonetheless sq. and the table-saw blade 30° off vertical, use a V-cradle and the miter gauge to make a crosscut establishing the top of the bevel on every nook of the leg.
Begin the taper. Utilizing a taper jig, reduce two faces of every leg.
End the taper. To taper the third and fourth faces of the leg, add a 1/8-in.-thick spacer to the jig.
Noticed 4 bevels. To chop the stopped bevels, use the identical taper jig however with a 15/16-in.-thick auxiliary fence screwed to the principle fence. Set the blade to 45° and clamp a board throughout the outfeed desk to restrict the reduce.
Superb-tune the stopped bevels. Use a chisel to scrub up the nook the place the bevels meet the cease cuts, then a scraper to clean the bevels’ sawn floor.
To form the leg’s tapered and beveled profile, we use two shopmade table-saw sleds. The primary sled, a V-shaped cradle pushed by the miter gauge, produces an angled cease reduce on every of the leg’s 4 corners that defines the highest finish of the bevel. To make this shallow crosscut, the sawblade is ready to 30° and the kerf is reduce 16-3/4 in. from the underside of the leg.
The second sled, with a runner within the miter slot, serves each for tapering and beveling. Utilizing a rip blade, we taper the leg in 4 passes, turning the leg after every go and putting a 1/8-in. spacer between the fence and the leg for the third and fourth passes.
As soon as the legs are tapered, we use the identical jig to chop the stopped bevels. To do that, we screw an auxiliary fence, 15⁄16 in. thick, to the jig’s fence and set the rip blade to 45°. A scrap clamped to the outfeed desk limits the journey of the jig, so the bevels finish simply shy of the cease reduce. Every bevel reduce leaves a barely hooked up waste piece that’s simply pulled off. We take away the remaining materials with a pointy chisel, after which we clear up the faceted surfaces with a cupboard scraper and a sanding block, taking care to maintain the perimeters crisp.
On to the main case elements
The case joinery is a mixture of sliding dovetails and slip tenons. We start it by machining sliding dovetail sockets: within the underside of the highest, within the high internet body, and within the aspect panels. To chop all these sockets we use one jig, which has a pair of fences that management the trail of a router. We mark centerlines on the jig and the workpieces to align the cuts.
One jig handles a raft of sockets. Two parallel fences information the router in reducing hybrid dado-dovetail sockets on the underside of the dresser’s high. A straight bit cuts the central dado that allows set up of the vertical dividers after the highest is in place, after which a dovetail bit cuts sockets at each ends. A roll of tape (high picture, proper) makes a useful router stand.
Aspect-panel sockets. The similar jig is used to rout the dovetail sockets on the case’s aspect panels. The jig will even be used to chop the sockets within the high web-frame rails that may settle for the vertical dividers.
Measure for tails. Use a wheel marking gauge set to the depth of the dovetail socket to scribe shoulder traces on the elements receiving tails. The traces should not for format however are to make sure a cleanly reduce dovetail shoulder.
Tails up. All of the sliding tails are reduce on the router desk. The workpiece is run vertically and supported by a sq. following block. The bit is the similar one used in the handheld router to chop the sockets.
Slip tenons hyperlink legs to sides. Utilizing a Domino joiner, reduce mortises in a aspect panel; a scrap clamped to the bench prevents the workpiece from sliding. Then reduce mating mortises within the legs. A biscuit joiner might be used instead of the Domino for these long-grain joints.
Take a look at the match. After reducing the slip-tenon mortises (rigorously avoiding the dovetail sockets in the aspect panel), dry-fit the leg and aspect panel.
Dry-assembly time. The legs, aspect panels, and internet frames all get dry-assembled in order to evaluate the joinery and custom-fit the vertical dividers.
The dovetail sockets within the underside of the highest, which settle for the vertical dividers, cease in need of the highest’s back and front edges, so the dividers should be slid into place from the middle. To make this potential, the middle part of the joint is a dado wider than the sockets. To create this hybrid dado-dovetail, we begin through the use of a 7/8-in. straight bit to chop a dado 5/16 in. deep and stopped 3 in. from the highest’s entrance edge and 4 in. from the again edge.
With the dadoes accomplished, we use the router and jig once more however change out the straight bit for an 8°, 11/16-in. dovetail bit. Utilizing the dado as an entry level, we reduce 1/4-in.-deep dovetail sockets back and front. They each ought to cease 3/4 in. from the sting of the highest.
The following set of sockets is reduce within the high web-frame rails to simply accept the six vertical drawer dividers. To make these cuts, we clamp the 2 internet rails collectively together with a backer board of the identical thickness. Lastly, once more utilizing the identical router jig and bit, we reduce dovetail sockets within the case aspect panels to simply accept the ends of the web-frame rails. To eradicate the necessity to sq. the top of those sockets, we reduce them 1/4 in. overlong.
To chop the tails on the ends of the online rails and vertical dividers that match into all these dovetail sockets, we use the identical 11/16-in. dovetail bit, however in a router desk. The elements are held vertically for the cuts, and a excessive fence and backer board are utilized in mixture for a steady, clear reduce. The vertical dividers get tails solely on the underside finish for now; the highest finish is left lengthy to be reduce to size and dovetailed after the case is dry-assembled.
Doing the Dominos
Slip tenons make simple, robust connections between elements; additionally they hold adjoining planes aligned and create a really sturdy case together with the dovetail joinery. We reduce them with a Domino joiner, however a plunge router can even do the job.
We start by mortising the legs and aspect panels. Then we flip to the web-frame members, that are linked to one another with Dominos. Solely the entrance internet rails will get glued, nevertheless; the mortises within the rear internet rails are left dry to accommodate wooden motion within the case.
Stretchers and rail caps are subsequent. To chop them to size exactly, we dry-fit the legs, aspect panels, and internet frames; match the stretchers and rail caps; and mark for Dominos.
Match the vertical dividers and the high
At this level, the vertical dividers are nonetheless overlong; to measure their top precisely, we place a 1/4-in. spacer block on high of one of many legs, knife a line on the adjoining divider, and crosscut to the road. As soon as all six dividers are reduce to that size, their high tails might be reduce on the router desk.
Important marks for crosscutting and notching. Sliding a vertical divider into its dovetail socket within the internet body, Earnshaw holds a 1/4-in.-thick spacer on high of the leg to scribe a crosscut line. She will even knife a line on the entrance fringe of the divider to put out the notch the place the divider wraps the leg.
Dovetail the dividers. After crosscutting the divider on the scribe line, reduce the high finish dovetail on the router desk.
Minimize the nook. Two passes on the desk noticed create the notch that lets the divider match round the leg. A clear reduce and good match are necessary, because the notch will likely be a glue floor at meeting.
Don’t overlook the drawers. With the dividers absolutely fitted, reduce the dovetail sockets throughout them that may obtain the runners for the higher drawers. Right here use an 8°, 1/2-in. dovetail bit.
The entrance and rear vertical dividers at each ends of the case get notched across the legs. To put out the notch, we push the divider into place till it contacts the leg, then mark with a knife. On the desk noticed, we reduce the notch in two passes, taking care to suit every nook independently. A superb match will add vital construction when these items are glued to the legs.
With the tails and notches full on the vertical dividers, the highest can now befit. First, we take away the vertical dividers. Then we lay the highest on the dry-fit case and clamp it down in order that it doesn’t transfer as we slide the vertical dividers again into place. We mark the precise size of the highest (which has been left 1/2 in. overlong till now) and map places for Dominos to attach the highest with the highest rear stretcher. We then take away the highest, reduce it to size, and mortise for Dominos.
Drawer works
With the case practically prepared for meeting, we flip our consideration to the drawers. The fronts are milled to thickness however left barely oversize in top and width so there’s room to regulate the reveals as soon as the drawers are hanging.
Half a dovetail socket. The dresser’s extensive decrease drawers run on shopmade slides. The runner housing, which is glued to the underside of the drawer field, has one dovetailed aspect and one sq. aspect.
Routing the runner. The runner, which will be screwed to the internet body, will get a 14° dovetail angle routed on one edge and a rabbet on the different.
Operating collectively. The half-dovetail form of the runner and housing make for a clean, safe sliding motion. They’re simple to regulate and resist sticking.
All of the drawers glide on wooden runners. We desire their appear and feel over business steel slides and may relaxation assured that with slightly wax they are going to proceed to run true for many years with out sagging or needing adjustment. The higher drawer runners are dovetailed into the vertical dividers and run in grooves milled within the sides of the drawer bins. The decrease drawer runners are fixed with screws to the online frames and run in housings which might be glued to the underside of the drawer bins.
To chop the dovetail sockets within the vertical dividers, we use the router desk with an 8°, 1/2-in. dovetail bit and make the sockets 1/4 in. deep. The corresponding tails on the runners might be reduce utilizing the identical bit buried in a fence on the router desk and set to the identical top.
The decrease drawer runners are a half-dovetail in part—angled on one aspect and sq. on the opposite. To make the housings for them, we begin by eradicating a lot of the materials with a dado set on the desk noticed. Then we reduce the angled aspect on the router desk, utilizing a 14°, 3/4-in. dovetail bit.
We make the half-dovetail runners on the router desk. They should be sized in order that they will go freely by the housings with out a lot play. As soon as the match is examined, the housings might be hooked up to the underside of the drawers and the runners to the online frames. To ensure right placement of the housings and runners, we use a sq. spacer panel registered to a centerline.
Glue-up
With most elements machined and prepared, we will start gluing up the case. We take our time and do that in a number of levels to make sure a clear, sq. consequence. That is finest carried out on a flat, degree bench or torsion field.
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Heidi Earnshaw and her assistant Tim Steadman construct {custom} furnishings in Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
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From Superb Woodworking #325 To view the complete article, please click on the View PDF button under. |
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