Making Bow front drawers

[Ronn W]

Making and veneering bow front drawers.

So a I am making 3 drawers: 4 1/2", 6 1/4" and 8 1/4" tall.  All three are 26" wide. Since spindle sander is not tall enough, I made the drawers by laying up 3/4" brick work pieces.  End glued the 3 pieices of poplar for the first layer. Run across joiner, flip and run through planer.

Draw inside and outsdie curve on the first Layer. Using template from bulding the front rails of the cabinet.

Cut on bandsaw and smooth the curves on the spindle sander.

Double check to be sure the bottom is square to the outside face.

End glue the second layer peices. - joiner - planar

Using layer 1 as template, trace inside and outside curves on Layer 2

Glue layer 2 to layer 1, cut close to line on bandsaw and flush trim layer 2 using layer 1 as your template.

Repeat for all layers - several layers for my tall drawer.  You add each consecutive layer to the bottom so the flush trim bit is referencing off of the previous layer

Here is where I began for notice a problem -----The flush trim bit is not perfect.  The very slight error in the "flushness" is compound as you add more and more layers.  No big deal for 3 or 4 layers but not acceptable for 9 or 10 layers.  To address this I ran the bottom of each layer across the jointer holding the outside face tight to the fence to make sure that the bottom layer was sqaure to the drawer front.  This also solved the problem variarions in the glue thickness between layers that would affect squarenss.  I also tested the curve of the drawers on the curved rails in the cabinet and they did not all follow the cruve of rails exactly.  I test each one upside down and right side up and found that the top of each drawer did not have exaclty the same curve as the bottom - each drawer was build with a slight "warp" due to laying up the bricks and using the fluch trim bit.

Then I realized that I need a form if I was going to veneer the inside and outside of the drawer front in the vacuum bag.  I built a form to fit the inside curve - allowing for the thickness of a couple layers of plywood and the veneer.  Then I test fit each of the 3 drawer front sto the form and discovered that there was a slight variation between the 3 drawers.  In other words the form does not fit all 3 drawers.  In my case there was more variation than I thought I could correct with a layer foam to spread the load.

Conclusion: Brick layup method is not accurate enough - especcially if surfaces are to be veneered.

Solution:   Build the form first.  Use 6 layers of 1/8" flexply to laminate drawers to 3/4" thick.  Make the form wide enough to laminate a drawer front as wide as the sum fo all three drawer heights and cut them apart later.  This rasies another concern-- If there is any spring back of the drawers coming out of the press, the curve will not match the curve of the rails in the cabinet front.  At this point I can only hope because the cabinet is build and stained.  Consider the flexiblity fo the flex ply and the fact that thecurz is very gradual , I don't think there will be any spring back.  The hard part will be making the form perfectly.  If I were to make another project like this I would build the drawer fronts first and then adjust the curve of the cabinet on paper to match the curve of the drawer fronts.

A couple of weeks wasted but a lot learned.

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks for sharing that learning experience!

[BillyJack]

A lot of the  older pieces would have a flat back, but a bowed front. I feel they did that for stability..

[Ronn W]

On 5/3/2024 at 2:15 PM, BillyJack said:

A lot of the  older pieces would have a flat back, but a bowed front. I feel they did that for stability..

Yeah,  I thought of that but that would make a really heavy draw front - about 2 1/2" thick in the center.  12/4 lumber? Thinking out loud>>>>>>I could glue 2 or 3 boards together to get the thickness.  Joints won't show if I veneer the outside.  It would give me a nice reference surface for cuttting the drawer to final width and it would make laying out the dovetails much easier.  Then, I could hog (resaw) out the back of the drawer with the band saw and sand it smooth.  Yeah, if I do this again I may just take your suggestion.  Making the fronts curved- laminated has created all kinds of extra work and challenges because I don't have good reference surfaces.  I am at the point of trying to figure out how to do the dovetails on the end of a curved laminated board that I can't put in a vise like I usually do to scribe the dovetail shape on the end of the front.  Thanks for the comment.

[derekcohen]

I've built many bow front drawers. Here is an example (pictorial) ..

Part 1:  http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/PowerHandTogether5.html

Part 2:  http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/PowerHandTogether6.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Ronn W]

I am now putting th cock beading on the bow front drawers.  This has been a real challenge.  Cutting the 1/8" rabbets for the 1/8" thick beading - especially along the curve on the top and bottom edges of the drawers had a real pucker factor.  Creating the cock bead profile on a curved piece.  And, believe it or not, I think that one of my curved cock beading pieces relieved some stress when I cut it to final width on the band saw because the curve changed.  I have found very little guidance on curved drawer cockbeading on line.  Most reference and videos show the cockbeading attached to the case instead of the drawers,  Having gone through the anguish and swearing while making them attaching them to the drawers, now I think I know why.

[dwilliam]

Thank you for sharing your detailed process and insights! Your journey with making and veneering bow front drawers is truly enlightening. The challenges you faced with the brick layup method and the solution of using 1/8" flexply to laminate the drawers are very helpful for anyone attempting a similar project. Building the form first and considering the potential for spring back shows great foresight. Your advice on making the drawer fronts before adjusting the cabinet curve is especially valuable. While it may feel like time lost, the knowledge gained is invaluable. Keep up the fantastic work!