The Joys of Drawers

[LeftyTom]

Ahhh, nothing likely carefully measuring the opening, followed by cutting the pieces (mitered corners) and double-checking the dimensions. Then glue up 3 sides, assuring the sides are 90 degrees to the face. Cut the luan for the bottoms, adding felt for a posh look. At last, I glue the backs on the 6 drawers, dry overnight, then find only one of the drawers is a good fit :BangHead:, but two others can be used :cry_smile.

Back to the basement this evening, for more pontification. :realmad:

 

[BarryC]

Sorry to hear it. Its one of those things that make you go DOH!

 

[Will Goodwin]

Make me go more than DOH! I'm not at the stage where I have a stack of wood to pull from if something goes wrong :BangHead: ... mistakes cost $$. Good thing my first real project is made from cheap wood or I'd be :realmad:. Well if you can learn from it I guess that is one good thing. Did you figure out where you went wrong? :widea:

 

[JimmyC]

Make me go more than DOH! I'm not at the stage where I have a stack of wood to pull from if something goes wrong :BangHead: ... mistakes cost $$. Good thing my first real project is made from cheap wood or I'd be :realmad:. Well if you can learn from it I guess that is one good thing. Did you figure out where you went wrong? :widea:

A wise man once said "A great woodworker is not one that makes no mistakes, rather he is one that can fix the ones he makes" .

Jimmy

 

[LeftyTom]

I think my foul up was not trimming a bit more off the bottoms. One sure foul up was my double-checked measurements were way off on a couple of the drawers (over 1/4"). I wasn't even tired when I measured...:nah:

This time, I will dry fit the parts together and verify it fits the opening, then glue.

 

[Tar Heel]

BTDT and I can feel your pain.

 

[Bas]

I feel your pain. Sledgehammer time? My fudge factor for buying lumber has gone up steadily from 30% to 50%.....I've found it to be much easier to just plan for mistakes.

Relax. It's just wood.

(WHAAAAAAA!!!!)

 

[Trent Mason]

I'm sorry to hear that Tom. I'm about to be building my first drawer very soon, so don't feel bad. I'll probably have to build it 20 times before it fits. :rotflm:

Trent

 

[CarvedTones]

If it makes you feel any better (prolly not), things have happened to me in the shop that required changing my drawers also. :gar-Bi

I will have to take some pictures of furniture I built and you will understand why I carve. Dang - I better think of something encouraging to finish this out... Since one is perfect and two more are usable, it sounds like you did them right :thumbs_up and just had bad luck with materials:thumbs_do.

 

[Travis Porter]

BTDT except the last time I did it, it was 14 drawers.

 

[DaveO]

If it makes you feel any better (prolly not), things have happened to me in the shop that required changing my drawers also. :gar-Bi

.

:rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

Dave

 

[Canuck]

Tom,

It's happened to me before too!!!!:roll::roll::roll:

Don't scrap what you have though!!!!! Just hang on to your drawer misfits and once this project is fitted with new drawers, just use the boo boo's and build another case for them!!!:wsmile::wsmile:

All is not lost!!!! AND just think of all of the drawer construction experience you've gained. Sounds like this negative can become a win-win!!!:eusa_danc

Don't want to waste good material, now!!:eusa_naug:eusa_naug

Wayne

 

[TracyP]

Happened to me not too long ago, I think the drawers grew and the desk shrunk all at the same time.

 

[dick541]

I am working on 7 drawers this week just finished all the dove tales sunday now I have to wait till next weekend to see if any will fit.
dick

 

[FredP]

mitered? :eusa_thin I've dadoed drawers, lock mitered drawers .rabited drawers,dovetailed drawers and prolly even filled my drawers a few times, :gar-La; but I've never mitered em. are you planning to cut keys or splines in them?:dontknow: mitered corners aren't all that strong unless you use some mechanical fasteners of some kind.:nah: PICS lefty WE NEED PICS!!:rotflm: I always measure half dozen times then measure again. THEN I cut em too short.:gar-La; good luck next time around and as others said keep em fer the next project.:icon_thum

fred

 

[LeftyTom]

Fred, the drawers are going (supposed?) to be piston fit, for the jewelry armoire I am building. The largest is 5 9/16" L by 3 1/2" D by 3"H. The mitered corners should be up to the job, I think (which always gets me in trouble).

 

[tonyps]

:rotflm: Whew... I am sooooo :BangHead: glad (not that you had to go through this) that I am not the only one to have done this. I recently made 15 drawers, each turned out 1/4" shy of the correct width. I even made a test drawer first, that fit correctly (DOH!!!) So, then proceeded to measure and cut all the other pieces. I ended up using a 1/4" hardboard spacer between each of the left drawer runners and the drawer, on each darn one. Luckily, the drawers all have a face to hide the OOOPS!!
"Live and learn"..

Tony ...

 

[FredP]

I was thinking larger drawers.:wink_smil something that small should hold up fine. they wont get a lot of abuse. dry fit with some tape to hold em together before you build them and all will go as planned. [maybe! ] :gar-La; need pics so I can steal er, um, I mean, borrow your design.ccasion1

 

[Don Sorensen]

"The largest is 5 9/16" L by 3 1/2" D by 3"H."

Sounds like the perfect size for some hand-made dovetails!..might even get through one drawer before your head explodes..
:rotflm: