Deluxe Sewing Center

This morning we start the day by taking apart the casework we assembled yesterday and re-assembling it... with glue this time.  The pieces are marked as we disassemble them to insure that each one will go back in the same way it came out.  Clamps are used to help draw things up for a snug fit while I reinsert the screws.

While the glue sets up, I use a 45° bevel bit in the router table to ease the inside edges of the pull cut-outs in the drawer fronts.  Then I use a spindle sander to clean up the insides of the semi-circular cut and make them really smooth to the touch.

Next I return to the dado head on the table saw and cut the rabbets on the ends of the drawer fronts that will house the drawer sides.  These rabbets but be precisely sized and perfectly square if the drawer is to come out square.  Being out of square will mean that the drawer front will be 'cocked' in it's opening, requiring that extra material be sanded away to get it to fit, and that means larger gaps around the drawers than I want.  The miter fence works well for the thin drawers, but the deeper ones require being run through the dado head against a temporary sacrificial fence.

Next we begin making the drawer boxes.  We use poplar for this because it is stable, tight grained and light weight, making the drawers run easier.  Two of the drawers in this cabinet are almost 10 inches deep, and normally that would require joining two 4/4x6's, but I just happen to have a couple of 12" wide boards on hand that will work splendidly here.  So, I lay out my cuts and begin cutting 8 foot long planks into rough-sized billets.

After getting the billets roughed out, I use a surface planer to reduce the thickness of the boards from just about an inch down to the 1/2" thickness that the drawer box stock needs to be.  This takes a while because 6 of the billets are 10" wide, and if I take very much off on each pass, the wide shavings from the planer choke the dust collection hood and it backs up into the knives.  I also have to keep an eye on the dust collector bag, for these planer shavings fill the bag rapidly, and I have to be sure to empty is as needed.

By the end of the day all of the drawer box parts are roughed out and planed to thickness.  Tomorrow we'll make boxes.

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