Work continues on the lower portion of the cabinet carcase framing, an ‘ice cube tray’-like structure of interconnected horizontal and vertical dividers. Here are the 24 drawer runner supports, completely cut out save for a final chamfering:
Q-q-q-quartersawn, baby!
The other end of the same supports are dovetailed:
My match marks might be a little on the quirky side.
Later on, after milling the dadoes, I had a chance to check the fit of one of the drawer runners to one of the main vertical support boards:
This is just what I wanted at this stage – a close ‘light interference’ fit which can be eased very slightly later on. Just a shaving away, that sort of thing.
The horizontals – the rails- are pretty much complete:
Another view – the spear point miter remain long at this stage:
The spear points are about 1/16″ (1.5mm) long at this point. Fitting spear point miter joints requires a cautious approach I have found. You can creep up on your lines, cut by cut, but things can take a bad turn if you go beyond those lines. It’s the sort of work I now find suited to aid with an Optivisor, put it that way.
Another view:
Test fitting the rear rails to the vertical dividers, the connections involve pairs of simple half lap joints:
A little closer look:
This joint is about halfway from the fully closed position, and seems to be going together without undue complaint. There is very little ‘crushability’ with bubinga.
A view from the other side shows the open mortise on the rail to accept the runner support piece’s tenon:
The other set:
I know from measuring the parts that these joints for the rear rails should close right up, and they’re feeling about right so far, so no point smacking them all the way down with the mallet just yet.
The wider boards which serve as vertical dividers will need some further mortising yet, however they are getting there. The bottom of these boards will have multiple tenons, while the top end will feature a stepped arrangement of sliding dovetails.
All for today- have yourself the best possible weekend! On top post 38.
Looking great thus far! I love those sword-tip mitres, I really need tog et in some more practice on those.
Med,
thanks for the comment and you and me both as far as needing practice on those miters!
~C
Great work Chris, I love the figure of the panels in the last photo…when the finish is on this piece will look great! The number of pieces and the joinery is mind boggling. Thanks again so much for all you work posting.
Joe M,
good to hear from you. Those pieces in the last photo are not visible, save for the front edges only, in the cabinet. They will be obscured by the drawers, which will also be in contact with the faces, so I'm thinking at this point that the finish will only be on the exposed portions. We'll see….
~C
Gorgeous! I am really enjoying this web framing system! The sachi pins are a cool idea for this, being able to pretension this assembly will add a layer of sturdiness to the cabinet.
Brian,
most kind. This is my first multi-drawer cabinet in many years, so I had been thinking about the framing details for a while. Having opportunity to design a framing system for the drawers has been a lot of fun and looks like it should work. Nothing ventured ,nothing gained as they say.
~C