I see lots of magazine articles where someone is hand planing a drawer side, built with half-blind dovetails, to trim the pins and to fit it in the carcass.
The same magazines are full of pictures of beautifully fitted drawers with say stained cherry fronts and unfinished maple sides with nary a drop of stain on the sides.
What's the secret? I can see prestaining/finishing the fronts and then gluing up but I doubt these flawless fits could be achieved that way.
Ideas?
Wes Stewart asks:
Build the box, then build the front. Finish the front. Screw it onto the box.
Charlie Self "Brevity is the soul of lingerie." Dorothy Parker
Are you sure the drawer fronts are "stained"? If you start with a dark colored wood for the front and a light colored wood for the sides (maple, birch) then you have the effect you are talking about. I don't know how many people in this group will stain a darker wood. I have never stained cherry or walnut as I like the way they look with a clear finish. Come to think of it, I have only stained oak and pine.
Bill
Damn, she was good. I'd never heard that one before, but I've heard a lot of hers. That Algonquin Club must have been a real trip.
LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
On 08 Jan 2004 00:56:25 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.comnotforme (Charlie Self) brought forth from the murky depths:
Build the box, build the drawer. Plane to perfection. Finish the entire thing -without- stain.
Now relax, sit back, and enjoy the fruits of your effort with pride!
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|Are you sure the drawer fronts are "stained"? If you start with a dark |colored wood for the front and a light colored wood for the sides (maple, |birch) then you have the effect you are talking about. I don't know how |many people in this group will stain a darker wood. I have never stained |cherry or walnut as I like the way they look with a clear finish. Come to |think of it, I have only stained oak and pine.
Mmmm. My current project is a cherry end table that will have a drawer to hold all of the remote controls for the home electronics. The electronics are housed in an Ethan Allen entertainment center ($7,000 worth, gulp) that is definitely stained.
The pins of the half-blind machine-cut dovetails on the E-A drawers are stained but the drawer sides are not.
I am going to attempt to get close to the shade of the E-A stuff, although an exact match isn't likely or necessary. I'm considering a wash coat of shellac to control blotching, some glazing for coloration and a top coat of (don't say it) poly. The purists are going nuts about the latter, but this piece will be next to my favorite chair and when I spill a little wine on the top, I don't want to have to refinish.
The cover photo on FWW No. 86 shows what I'm asking about.
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