A pair of bedside tables or nightstands


TerryMcK

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Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 9 - Drawer guides and top fastening rail

The drawer guides are simply 20mm (3/4") pieces of stock that are glued long grain to long grain internally. I also added infill pieces to guide the drawer.

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There are no web frames on this simple table. The top fastening rails double up as a drawer anti tilt device. I made the top fastening rails out of some 20mm (3/4") thick stock. There is one counterbored hole in the centre of the span to secure the top to the table. The other outermost holes are slotted to permit the fasteners to move due to seasonal expansion/contraction of the top. Again they are counterbored.
I chose this method of fastening the top to the table rather than using the sliding buttons method that would have required a dado to be cut in each of the aprons. As I am also using the fastening rail to double up as a drawer anti-tilt device it made sense to keep it simple.

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If you haven't got one of these equi-dividers then I can really recommend them.
They take a lot of guess work out of positioning holes. You also don't need a rule to measure them off.

I marked out the centre of the fastening rail and used my pantographic equi-dividers to mark out the other holes. Then using the drill press the counterbores were machined and the through holes drilled and slotted where necessary.

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The holes were (roughly) counterbored on what would become the underside face.


Glueing of these parts was simply face to face long grain. No alignment biscuits, dominoes or dowels used - just glue. The parts were left to cure in clamps overnight.

IMG_0314.JPGA few F clamps were used on the glue up.

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Once the clamps were removed the top surfaces were cleaned up

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The resulting drawer aperture was ready to make the drawers

I might just leave that squeeze out for future generations to ponder over the makers mark left behind.

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If you haven't got one of these equi-dividers then I can really recommend them.
They take a lot of guess work out of positioning holes. You also don't need a rule to measure them off.

I have GOT to get me one of those!  Didn't even know they existed...got a link to a nice set?  Thanks for the revelation, Good Sir Knight!

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Fantastic! That equi-divider looks brilliant.

 

I have GOT to get me one of those!  Didn't even know they existed...got a link to a nice set?  Thanks for the revelation, Good Sir Knight!

I've just done some hunting online and if you look for 'point-2-point' you should come across them 

http://www.m-powertools.com/point2point-mk2-layout-divider.htm

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I got mine from Rutlands in the UK

http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+woodworking-whats-hot-special-offers-woodworking-special-offers-equi-divider-dakota+dk1084

 

Here's one on Amazon. Trouble is the price for one and it won't fit in your shirt pocket for two.

http://www.amazon.com/Alvin-Co-Equal-Spacing-Divider/dp/B000HF2LC8

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Reviews say that one is sloppy.  No good for a layout tool.  There's gotta be something available in the US somewhere between sloppy junk and second mortgage for the Alvin.  Lee Valley, are you listening?

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I'm surprised that Rockler don't currently have something similar on their website. The one I have is very well made from stainless steel and brass. Once locked into place (with 4 knobs) it holds its position extremely well. It has sliding pivot points that keep the main bars parallel to each other and the same depth front to back regardless of extension. The Trend one only seems to have two knobs and looks slightly different and doesn't have the sliding pivot points so collapses when extended.

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Useful tool. I think I can make my own.

Terry, would you mind measuring the length of the center and diagonal bars?

Yes no problem Daniel. I'll take a few photos of it next to a ruler so you can see a few of the salient points from it when I'm in the shop tonight.

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Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 10a - Drawers - a quick tip beforehand
I'd been watching a few videos showing the master dovetail maker (I know he is really a master craftsman) Frank Klausz and noticed he made dovetails similar to me except he chopped slightly in front of the base line. He removed all the waste by chopping (same as me - no coping saw used here) and then moved up to the base line and chopped to the centre of the stock on a slight inwards pointing angle (same as me). Then he turned it over to the other side and chopped again to the centre.

I did all this before but didn't chop in front of the base line so gave it a try out on these two drawers. I can report that the results are even better than before. There is very little chance of the wedge action of the chisel pushing the base line away from the line due to the small amount of waste left. I still cut a knife wall on the base line as I always have done before starting the cuts (Frank does this too).

So here we start some more boring pictures of dovetailing. My method is tails first.

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I have a few of these spacers of standard thickness 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4" (12, 16 and 19 mm) that I use on my bench vise to stop it crabbing.
If you have a crapo vise like mine with a central screw and twin guides you will find that when trying to hold something like a board for cutting dovetail sawcuts it will crab. The vise will stop on your stock but continue on at the other side causing it to tilt and not hold the workpiece properly. Put one of these in the other side and it will tighten properly on the stock - cost zero. Alternatively spend $$$$ on Benchcrafted hardware, a shed load of lumber and make a Roubo :D.

The piece of hardboard or ply nailed to the top of the spacer stops it continually falling on the floor when you open the vise. The hole is to hang it on a convenient hook.

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A non crabbing vise

After milling all the stock to thickness which in my case was 3/4" for the drawer fronts and 1/2" for the rest of the drawer parts I squared off one end from each of the tail boards. I also cut the drawer fronts so they fit into the drawer aperture with about 1/32" clearance at the top and sides. This clearance is ok in my climate but you may wish to vary according to your own seasonal conditions.
Marking out.

Frank doesn't mark out - I do.
The first thing to do is set your marking gauge at the thickness of the tail boards, lock the gauge and then scribe all around the squared off end of each tail board. At this stage the back end of the tail boards needn't be the correct length nor square. You can adjust that later.

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Using the Veritas marking gauge - I prefer this over a traditional gauge

Then mounting the board in the vise (with a spacer at the other end in my case) I used the metric (I know it's the work of the devil :) ) Incra rule to mark off from one end and then turn it over to mark from the other end.

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Incra rule

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Define the lines with a square and 0.5mm pencil

I then used a Veritas 1:8 saddle gauge to guide me when marking off the slope of the saw lines. Again Frank doesn't even use a pencil to mark his line he just saws away - he's been doing it a lot longer than me.

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Veritas 1:8 hardwood marking saddle. You don't really need one of these as I got away with a sliding bevel for years but they are great.

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Position it so you can see the pencil mark

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Make sure you mark both sides if you are not practiced at keeping the saw square. You can then do a little at a time while peering over the other side from time to time.


Sawing wood 

Then using a dovetail saw I cut close to the base line at all marks. I use beeswax on the teeth and plate for lubrication.

IMG_0244.JPGI use a Japanese pull saw (this is a Veritas one) and have been known to use one with a back sometimes too!

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Take your time to keep the saw square to the cut and follow the line. You are aiming to keep the graphite on the keeper.

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Try to get as close to the baseline as you can without going beyond it.

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Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 10c - Drawers - cleaning tailboards 
It's essential that all traces of the waste are removed. This includes anything left in the corner of the tails and any higher bits than the base lines.
I use a couple of skew chisels. You can also use a fishtail chisel (I think Lie Nielsen are the only ones making these at the moment) or some fine bench chisels.

The skews are my favourites  and are made by Kirschen under their Two Cherries brand. They keep an edge really well. When honing or re-establishing the bevel you need to use the Veritas MKII Honing guide with its skew registration jig - both of which I own. It's easy to do with some practice.

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Two cherries 1/2" skew chisels

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Pare to the centre of the board and make sure you don't let the non cutting side touch the other dovetail. Otherwise you will have a chisel shaped ding to fill

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Always use your square to make sure that you are level and nothing sticks up beyond the base lines. If it does pare it down again. If all is well chamfer the inner faces of the tails to ensure that they seat in the dovetail sockets of the pin board. This ONLY applies if you are fitting these tails into a half blind socket (making half blind dovetails as I am here). If using through dovetails don't chamfer them as it is not necessary.

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Chamfered inner tails - only for half-blind dovetails

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