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Boring Tools Till – Starting to Finish the Drawer Fronts

Jan 9, 2022

This morning I started finishing the drawer fronts. It will probably be at least a two-day process.

First up was trimming the height of the bottom row. Pretty easy to mark, just reach around behind and use the bottom of the carcasse to make pencil marks at each end of a drawer front, and then connect the dots.

Using a combination square to mark where to cut the drawer-front

After sawing them off, I started on each drawer. For each, as I pulled it, I first marked which side was up on the back.

A drawer front with a pencilled arrow indicating which direction is up on the board

Then I planed the front as smooth as I could with my small smoother. It needs some tuning for dealing with the interlocked grain of elm, so I couldn't get a surface I liked just from the plane.

My small smoothing plane resting on a drawer front

Depending on the board, I used 60, 120 and 220 grit sanding blocks as needed. I also used a block plane and 60 grit on the end grain of a couple pieces where there were nubbins left at the end of the saw cut.

A drawer front positioned in the face vise, end grain up, with a sanding block with coarse sandpaper resting nearby

A drawer front resting on the bench with a sanding block atop it. The sandpaper is marked with "120"

A drawer front resting on the bench with a sanding block atop it. The sandpaper is marked with "220"

And finally, I fixed any cracks from behind with some CA glue. It's not a strong fix, but these will be glued to the drawer boxes, so there shouldn't be any great need for strength.

The back of a drawer-front with a crack showing signs of having recently been glued with CA glue

Here's one done, finished with a coat of linseed oil.

The upper-left drawer front is complete

And completed.

All of the drawer fronts have been sanded and oiled

Contents #woodworking #storage

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