The Kansas City Woodworkers Guild is a shared shop that has a variety of sawstops, bandsaws and jointers as well as drill presses, mortising machine, wide-beltsanders, lathes and lathes. We also have router tables, CNC machines, hand tools, and countless other power tools. All this equipment is available for a low annual membership fee of only about €/year. The most striking feature for me is the hand tool cupboard, which contains all of the Lie Nielsen hand planes and saws currently in production, including the special joinery plans. Except for the bandsaw, I would trade all of the machines for that cabinet. The cabinet is the bench room, a space designated specifically for hand work and separate from the machine area.
The swipe of a plane, the shush of a saw, the tapping of a chisel. I find happiness in these quiet, pleasing sounds of work at the bench, where sawdust gathers in soft piles and shavings thinner than paper roll along the floor. I find happiness in my tools that facilitate the desire to do good work by their very existence. Far away from the buzzing, shouting, and biting machines of the shop, this calm setting has, at its heart, an intuited expectation of precision and craft, leaving my head clear and ready to do work worth putting my name on.
I prefer to be as far away from machines as possible. Most of the time, its too loud, dusty, and distressing for me to justify setting up and using a machine across the shop when theres a beautiful handsaw right there. As I said, the guild is a community shop that can make it difficult to reach the chop saw and the jointers on busy days.
If my reservations about working in a shared shop sound a little harsh, its only because they easily illuminate the virtues of hand tool work. The guild members have a strong sense of camaraderie. The shop is run by volunteers and welcomes members from all skill levels. The members are friendly and helpful, especially during large, multi-person glue-ups. It was a great way to learn almost everything, especially by being there, asking questions, and seeing how others approach similar situations to mine.
As a guild member, I have been exposed to many styles and methods that I wouldn’t have known about. Before joining the guild, Shaker was just a style of kitchen cabinet to me, but thanks to my friend Dave (a foreman at the guild and absolute expert on American Colonial, Shaker, Amish, Mennonite, and vernacular furniture), it has become my favorite style to emulate. The Shaker sewing counters are the inspiration for this piece. However, it has been redesigned to improve the lines and dimensions of the panels and drawer pulls. It also adds some flair to the drawer fronts by using rosewood and Tiger maple. So while it maintains its Shaker soul, its updated, a little more spacious, and a perfect project to pay respects to my greatest influence.
Layout and Cut List
No. Item Dimensions (inches) Materials/Comments
T w l
4 A Legs 2 x 2 x 31 / Cherry
1 B Top /4 x 22x 38 Cherry
7 C Large Rails (F/B / x 2/2 / x 29/ (4 cherry fronts and 3 fir backs).
2 D Middle rails (F/B) /2 x 2 /2 x 18 / (1 cherry front, 1 fir back)
4 E Small Rails (F/B /x 2 /x 11 / (2 Cherry Fronts, 2 Fir Backs)
1 F Front drawer divider / x 2 x 10 Cherry
8 G Thin runners* / 2 x 15 Fir
6 H Thin runners* / x 2 x 15 / Fir
2 I Workhelf guides ** /2x/x16 Fir
11 J Drawing guides ** /x /8×16 Fir
4 K Side Aprons / x2 x18 / Cherry (2 per side)
2 L Back aprons / x 2 x 30 Cherry
4 M Styles / x 2 x 15/ Chery (1 side, 2 back).
4 N Side panels /2 x 8 x 14 / Figured cherry (2 for each side)
3 O Front panels / x8 / x14 / Figured cherry
Workshelf and Drawers
1 P Workshelf / x 18 x 24 / Cherry
2 Q Bread board ends /4 x 2 /2 x 18 Cherry
2 R Large Drawer (F/B). /4 x 5/2 x 28 Maple
2 S Large drawer (sides) /4 x 5 / x 18 Maple
1 T Large drawer (bottom) /4 x 27 x 15 / Maple
4 U Medium drawer (F/B) /4 x 4 x 17 / Maple
4 V Medium drawers (sides)
2 W Medium drawers (bottoms)/x16 /x16 Maple
6 X Small drawer (F/B) / x 2 /2 x 10 Maple
6 Y Small drawer (sides). /2×2 /2×18 Maple
3 Z Small drawer (bottoms) /4 x 9 x 15 / Maple
*Use thick runners (G) with large rails (C) to create large drawer webbings. Use thin runners (H) with medium rails (D) & small rails (E) to create small and medium drawer webbings.
**Rub-joint drawer guides and workshelf ( I/ J) flush with the slots.
Bookmatching for tops works best with tight, straight grain. Continuous grain creates a seamless appearance.
Choosing Stock
Once I have cut all of my lumber to rough dimensions, I begin with the top and legs. These are the largest pieces and must be chosen based on appearance and grain in order to create a good layout. If possible, I book-match stock for my tops. To ensure straight grain down all four sides of the legs, I use knot-free stock that is pulled from the edges my board. If youre milling the drawer lumber at the same time, its worth noting that nice straight grain is excellent drawer side material, but depending on the wood youre using, it isnt always necessary. Maple is stable enough that you can use regular flat-sawn stock but try to at least select visually pleasing grain patterns and definitely avoid knots, voids, checks, and other defects.
Glue up the spring joint using even pressure.
Spring Joint
After selecting my stock, I glue the panels that will make the top and work shelf. I don’t use dominos or cookies because they are unnecessary. A spring joint is an edge joint with a shallow hollow at the center that allows for a smooth panel. To remove machine marks, I fold the two pieces against each other. I start by making very thin shavings. I do two to three stops in the middle, then two more passes that extend past the center. I may make one more full-length pass. This ensures that the ends of the spring joint will have no gaps, and the clamping pressure and glue will close the very slim gap in the middle. The panels can be left slightly thicker and saved for later.
A carpenter’s triangle is used to mark reference faces.
Leg Joinery
Next, I prepare the legs for the joinery. This cabinet is made from frame and panel construction. On both the sides and the back of the legs, there are mortises for the aprons and grooves running between them. The grooves house the tongues of the panels. I lay out all my mortises from the reference surface, which in this case is the top of the leg and the outside faces. This ensures that the joinery will all line up. This is even more important than exact measurements. When it comes to hand-tool work, I will often only measure the frame of a piece, then adjust any measurements as necessary. Each piece of work will vary from the perfect plan because I don’t use machines or batch-producing parts. I account for this by transferring layout lines rather than measuring them. Or, I take measurements for pieces as I go, such as the drawer construction (though I aim for the drawers to be a certain size after I glue up the case I simply take the sizes from their pockets). This, I think, is a great expedite to a process that doesnt allow for batch work. These measurements are only guidelines.
Use a small auger bit to remove most of the waste.
I use a brace and a bit with a Sharpie marker for a depth stop to drill holes to remove most of my leg mortises’ waste. I dont have to drill perfectly perpendicular because I use a slightly undersized bit and then I square everything lines with a chisel. If you dont trust yourself, you can set a square on the leg next to your bit to check. You can make your joints manually but don’t have a brace or set of auger bits. You can use a mortise-chisel for the entire process, or a drill press to square everything.
Chisel to your scribe lines.
The mortises for the front of the piece will house the drawer rails. I use double mortises to increase the glue surface since the rail tenons are smaller than the apron tenons.
Plow the stopped grooves for the panels.
I then plow stopped grooves in the mortises between the frame to finish the leg joinery. I start with my combination plane just to get the groove established. If I kept up like this, I would have a bowed bottom groove since the skates of the plane are lifted by the leg beyond the mortise. A router plane is used to finish the groove. The router planes of guilds don’t have fences. Otherwise, I would use the router plane to finish the groove. If you have a router plane with a fence, I highly recommend that method instead. You can also use plow planes that have relatively short noses. Of course, you could use a power router with a fence or a router table.
Start at the base of your leg. As youre planning, start cuts further up the leg until youve created a line parallel to your taper layout. Then plane to your marked line.
The inside faces of the legs are tapered. I use a hand plane to add that taper. First, I lay out the angle and the starting point. Then I remove the material at the foot by slowly planing, moving up the leg as the angle is achieved. This can be tedious or time-consuming if you don’t trust your ability to get the angle right. You can also remove the majority of the waste from the tablesaw or bandsaw with a tapering Jig and then finish the job with a handplane. However, I have to say that the best part about hand tool work is the long shavings made with a sharp plane.
Fill knife lines with pencil lead for better visibility.
Panel Joinery
Next, the rails. I tenon and groove the rails for the back and sides. A handsaw removes most of the waste from the tenons, but I clean up the tenon cheeks to the layout lines with a router plane. A shoulder plane works here as well, but I find my hand wanders a little and I can end up with tapered tenons. Using the router plane with lots of pressure on the handle over the rail face allows you to dial in the fit and keep the cheeks perfectly parallel to the rail faces. After checking the fit, I transfer the groove layout with a knife to make sure they line up. Next, I use the combination plane to groove the rails. You could also cut the / groove if you have a dado-stack. It runs all the length of the rail. Stiles can be made in the same way as rails, but with shorter tenons. They fit into shallow mortises cut in the grooves of the rails. The stiles have grooved edges.
Saw lines for the tenon cheeks.
To remove cheek waste, use a bench hook.
Chisel to scribe line for a tight fit.
Use a router plane to make the cheeks parallel to the faces of the rail.
Transfer the groove location from the mortise to the tenon.
You have the option to experiment with the panel construction and panels included in this frame. A complementary wood could be used for the frame. You could also add other woods to the front, if you’re like me. This is what I did. So, I added a shadow gap at the edges of the panels.
Its a nice, refined look without the formality of a raised panel with a defined field. To achieve this, its a matter of adjusting the fence on the combination plane to cut the tongue a fraction longer than the groove is deep. I left a gap so that the rabbet of my panel can fit into the groove. These gaps may need to be trimmed. To reduce excess tongue width and to shorten the gap, I use a block plane.
Plow grooves all the way across.
The front rails are a little different. The top rail connects with the top of the legs using half-blind dovetails. This locks the sides into position and helps prevent racking.
Cut the half-blind dovetails for the top rail.
With the case semi-constructed, transfer the layout to the tops of the front legs.
Meanwhile, the drawer rails are a little thicker than their double tenons, but they have fingers that wrap around the legs and will house the drawer webbing. When sizing double tenons I use a pair chisel rather than a saw to remove any waste from the layout line. A router plane works as well, but not a table saw. The blade would slice into the back of the finger. You can practice your pairing skills by carefully working at the router table.
The double tenons were also seen.
Take out the waste between the tenons.
The scribe line should be enlarged.
Drawer Webbing
It’s time to get out your secondary woods. Your second woods can be any of the following depending on where you live. Maple is stable and cost-effective if you don’t mind the extra weight and expense. Poplar is my preferred choice. It is easy to work with, lightweight, inexpensive, and stable. It is fir, which I am using here, but it has splintered so easily that I promised myself that it would not be used again.
Pare waste to fit the tenons.
The drawer webbing is simple mortise and tenon construction. There are two places that differ and need some careful layout. The middle divider is dadoed into place from the back (it will be locked there by the middle runners), and it houses three sets of through mortises. In the back of the case, the divider is dadoed into place similarly, but I cut dadoes in its sides to house the incoming drawer runners allowing them to telescope with seasonal changes. Through dadoes are easy.
Drawer webbing comes fully assembled and is ready to use.
Layout for the notches is made easy by transferring the marks from the front leg.
The trick is to cut down the trench, then clean out the debris with a router plane and a chisel. A stopped dado requires careful sawing and chopping with a chisel before switching to the router plane. The back legs get notches cut into their inside corners to house the drawer webbing. These are laid out by simply moving the mortises from the front legs to the back.
Establishing knife lines in the notch layout makes chopping out smooth and easy.
Table Top
You can now grab the panel you will use as the top and flatten it. I chamferred the top by drawing a 45-degree line at the corners. Then, using a low angle jack plane, I planed to the line. Start with the end grain so that any chip out at the end will be removed when chamfering the edge grain. Once Ive got it nice and consistent all the way around, I sand the end grain up to 400 to help ensure it gets sealed up with the finish. The top is finished with a few coats shellac, followed by a few coats furniture wax. This is my favorite finish. It is reversible, repairable, non-toxic and traditional.
Prefinishing components, such as this side assembly, not only makes it easier to get a good finish, but also makes squeeze out easier to remove. The glue won’t stick to the surfaces.
Glue-Up
More glue-up tips can be found here
The glue-up process involves drilling pilot holes in top rails, installing fasteners, and prefinishing case components. The most difficult part of the design was attaching the top. Metal fasteners are the best choice because of the work shelf’s inaccessibility to buttons. I highly recommend using very short fasteners, like figure-8 fasteners so that you can fit your screwdriver between the apron side and the drawer runner. Place them in regular spacing along the sides and back. Then trace the shapes onto the top of your apron. Install them on the aprons.
The front rail has no space to fit screws and a screwdriver, so it will need to be attached to the top before glue-up. At four equal distances, I drilled holes through the rail and counter-sunk them on the bottom to allow the screws to sit well inside the rail and not scratch the work shelf. The case was dry fitted (minus some rails) and the top rail was hammered into the dovetail housing. Next, I placed the top in its final position and marked the pilot holes for both the front rails and figure-8 fasteners with a center punch. With that done, I screwed the top rail into the bottom of the table top. Essentially, the top is now just a rail with a large growth over it and it will be hammered into place during glue-up as normal but without having to worry over driving the screws.
This is the case glue-up without any drawer webbing. This allows you position the top and mark where to place the countersunk screws.
Although this is the most difficult part of glue up, it doesn’t mean that the rest isn’t possible. Though everything is straightforward to put together, it helps to have a friend around. I start by assembling and gluing up the sides of the case and leave them to dry overnight. Meanwhile, I glue the webbing into the front rails but leave the back rails friction fit to allow for telescoping.
Once these are set, I insert all the rails, webbing, back aprons, and panels into one side of the case as seen in Photo 27, add glue to the remaining tenons (not the webbing that fits into the notches) and ask a friendly guild member to help me fit the opposite side. We ensure that everything fits snugly with two sets of eyes and hands, and then we hammer it all down before driving the top rail (with its attached top) into the dovetails. I set clamps spanning the rails and back aprons.
Fortunately, the guild allows me to enlist the help of others while I glue up large parts.
Lastly, with the cabinet set upside down, I finagle my way to the figure-8 fasteners and with a special ratchet screwdriver for tight spaces, I drive the screws that hold the top in place. It took me three complete dry fits to ensure that everything was just right. It may be fussy, but with so many points of contact, its necessary. Spread glue can lead to a nasty situation. Dont forget to thank your friends for their help!
There are so many articles about dovetails that I won’t be able to list just two. It is much easier to gang-cut tails with narrow stock.
To make my cut more parallel to the floor, I tilt my boards. This helps me to keep my kerf straight.
Drawer Construction
Half-blind dovetails serve as drawer fronts. This allows the groove to hold the bottoms to remain hidden. To ensure that the joints are flush with the drawer faces when I clean them up after laying them out, I leave the sides slightly higher than the drawer face. You will also need to ensure that the grain of your side boards is appropriate for the direction you are planning. Otherwise, you might end up with a tear-out. It will also force you to plan towards the drawer fronts, which could lead to chipping.
Using an angled guide, cut the walls of the sliding dovetail.
Chisel out the waste.
Transfer the trench thickness onto the end of your backboard.
I use a sliding, half-dovetail joint to connect the back of the drawers. This allows the sides of the drawers and back to extend beyond the back, allowing the drawer to be fully extended. So that the bottom panel can slide underneath it, the back is made narrower than its sides. A sliding dovetail can be cut in the same way as a dado. I have a strip of scrap that has one side ripped to 80 in order to match the angle on my dovetail plane. I cut one wall of the dado at 90. I then use the strip as a guide and run my tenon saw at that angle. Next, I transfer the thickness of the dado to the back and plane away until it slides into place. To avoid chipout, I suggest making a small cut along your planning path’s gauge line.
Sever fibers at the end of dovetail.
Plane to the transferred line.
Groove for the bottom.
Work Shelf
The work shelf is a simple panel that has breadboard ends. Layout for this is similar to laying out dovetails or finger joints, but first, I cut a groove in the ends and create a large tenon in the board. Next, cut the excess material and lay three smaller tenons. Move them to their respective locations. Next, cut the mortises at the ends. Instead of drilling for the pegs I decided to fix the front tenon. This directs all seasonal movement toward the back of the case-same as the fasteners for the table top.
Using a round file, elongate the hole in the middle and back tenon.
After trying different ways to wedge it as it approaches full extension, I decided to let it flounder without any stops or wedges. This will make it easy to take it apart and fix it if it is damaged. If you want, you could screw a narrow stop into the bottom of the worksurface after it has been inserted past the front rail. Of course, the drawers will have to be removed to access the stop, but its at least reversible and prevents pulling the worksurface all the way out.
Remove the excess dowel with the flush-cut saw.
Finish
The last thing you need to do is install the stops and drawer guides. I do this with hide glue and a rub joint, so no clamps are necessary. Next, fit the drawers and finish with wax. Finally, install the pulls. Horton Brasses knobs were my choice for pulls. Whatever you choose, just make sure to graduate them with the drawer sizes.
You can give everything a soft shine by applying a few coats of wax and then another coat of shellac. This will make all your drawers work smoothly.
Parts of the piece are usually finished as soon as they are glued up. This makes it easier to clean up any squeeze-out and also prevents me from leaving little marks in corners and nooks of the piece. Shellac and wax are my preferred options for furniture. To remove any bumps from subsequent coats of shellac, after the first coat I sand. If you anticipate the higher amount of wear, I like Tried and True varnish or General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. Since I don’t have a spray booth I hand-rub all finishes. I also avoid polyurethanes because they can give a piece a plasticky appearance. You will love your new sewing machine as much as me, regardless of the finish.
Recommendations for Product
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