I posted a question a while back concerning squaring frames for tables and the answers that I received were very, very helpful. So, in the August 2002 (FWW #157) issue is an article by Janet A. Collins of, at that time, N. Bennet Street School, wherein she writes,
“Now, when you assemble the dovetails, you have four pieces of wood that are starting to resemble a drawer. At this point, you can glue up the drawer, making sure that it is kept square while you clamp it.”
Suppose that it is not square? How do you square it? Is there something you do while clamping the drawer to make it square? Or am I just off the deep end and making a mountain out of a mole hill?
Thanks,
dlb
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The undisciplined life is not worth examining.
Replies
1. Check for squareness when clamping, and skew the clamps if necessary in order to get the drawer right before the glue sets.
2. Attaching the bottom piece can tweak the squareness just a bit on larger sized drawers. This is only a fine-tuning.
DR
Can also put another clamp on the longer diagonal measurement across the drawer, and as you tighten you'll square it up.
The place to check for squareness is the dry fit, BEFORE you have glue on. If you can't easily get it square, then you have to do some fiddling with the parts so the lengths are all the same, or to correct joints that don't fit together squarely.
Then the glue up is a matter of keeping it square, not making it square.
The easiest way (that I learned from Frank Klaus' video) is to make sure your drawer bottom is square. Glue up the joints. clamp, and slide the bottom into place. If it's square, and you get in fully seated, your drawer is automatically squared.
Mike Hennessy
Hi dlb,
I check for square using pinch rods, a folding rule, or a measuring tape to check opposing diagonals. If the assembly is slightly out-of-square, move the clamps more parallel to the long dimension; I adjust a little at a time, waiting a minute to allow the glue-up to squirm into position, rather than moving the clamps a little too much and overshootiing the mark. Recheck after about 15 minutes to make sure your adjustments have held steady.
Good luck,
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Edited 12/2/2005 9:13 pm by jazzdogg
Do you want the truth? You're off the deep end making a mountain out of a mole hill.
After you saw the drawer sides, stand them up together and make sure they are the same length. If they aren't clamp them together and plane the end grain a little. The drawer front and back needn't be perfect.
When you glue up the drawer put a square inside the two front corners (presuming clamps are across the sides in front and back, limiting your access to outside corners) and check to see if the drawer is parallelogramming. If it is, you can put a clamp corner to corner or just push it right by hand.
Know this: Piston fit drawers are a mistake (whether intentional or unintentional), and not a legimate design goal. Real wood moves too much for that. You need a good gap around your drawers so they will work in all kinds of weather. So a drawer that's a little out of square isn't a big deal. Just set the drawer stops so that when the drawer is shut, it sits nicely.
Time to beat on a hand made drawer with half blind fronts is roughly one hour per drawer. Depending on the drawer, I'm still hovering in the 1-1/2 to 2 hour range, but most of my drawers of late have been pretty large. The trick to matching the masters' pace is not adding arbitrary requirements.
Adam
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