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The drawer is a real eye-catcher. It features protruding, unequally spaced finger joints and a gently curved drawer handle. The “cloud lifts” on the aprons are another well-known Greene & Greene design element. Without the details, this table just wouldn’t be the same.
Building the drawer is not as difficult as you might think. We devised a simple system using spacers to position the cuts. You’ll see how easy it is after you’ve made a few test finger joints.
Don’t let all the decorative plugs scare you, either. A couple of inexpensive mortising machine chisels take the tedium out of making square holes and guarantee perfect results.
This project requires you to work with precision. At the same time, the techniques we’ve developed will minimize the headaches. Be sure to make plenty of extra pieces to test your router and saw setups before machining the final pieces.
Materials and Machines
We ordered two 12-ft.-long pieces of 5/4 mahogany and asked that the boards come sequentially from the same tree.
We cut each 12-ft.-long board into three 47-in. boards. The resulting six boards, from which we’ll choose our top, share similar grain and color. The remaining boards will be used for the aprons. The wood will cost you about $250.
A jointer, planer, tablesaw, bandsaw, router table, drill press and biscuit joiner are required for this project. You’ll also need a handful of standard router bits: a 3-wing slot cutter with arbor and bearing, a rabbeting bit, 3/8-in. and 1/4-in. straight bits, a flush-trim bit, and 1/4-in. and 1/8-in. round-over bits (see Sources, above). Even if you don’t own a mortising machine, you’ll want a pair of 3/8-in. and 1/4-in. mortising chisels to square all the holes and slots for the ebony plugs. They’re much faster and more accurate than using a regular chisel. OK, enough talk; let’s cut some wood.
Make the Top
1. Joint and plane the rough stock to 1-in. thick. Choose your best mahogany boards for the top (A) (Photo 1) and rip them to 5 in. wide. Plane these boards to 7/8-in. thickness.
2. Edge glue the top boards one joint at a time to ensure the joints are absolutely flush.
3. Sand the top with 120-grit paper to remove any irregularities. Then cut the top to its final length.
4. Plane some scrap wood to the same thickness as the sanded top for testing router table setups.
The Breadboard Ends
The breadboard ends (B) are thicker than the top. The tongue-and-groove joint is offset so the breadboard end is flush with the top’s bottom and stands proud of the upper surface. This offset calls for special care when machining the breadboard ends, because the tongue on the top is centered but the corresponding groove in the breadboard end is not. It’s easy to get disoriented and rout a groove or a slot in the wrong place. The same is true with the grooves for the ebony splines and plugs (Fig. B). Be sure to clearly mark the top and bottom of each piece.
5. Cut and plane the breadboard ends to size. Make four scrap wood extras exactly the same size for testing all the routing setups.
6. Rout a radius on the outside edges and outside corners of the breadboard ends with a 1/8-in round-over bit. Ease the top inside edges and inside corners to about a 1/16-in. radius (Fig. B, below).
7. Cut the tongue grooves (Fig. B) on the mahogany breadboard ends (Photo 2) and on your test pieces.
8. Rout the offset 3/8-in.-wide spline grooves (Fig. B) in the breadboard ends (Photo 3).
9. Rout the 3/8-in.-wide plug grooves (Fig. B) on the edge of the breadboard ends (Photo 4).
10. Square the corners of the spline and plug grooves (Photo 5).
Fit the Beadboard Ends to the Top
11. Cut the tongues on the top (Photo 6). Make test cuts on your scrap pieces first to ensure the breadboard ends and the top are flush at the bottom and the tongue fits snugly in the groove.
12. Cut the spline grooves in the edges of the top using a router table with a tall fence and a 3/8-in. straight bit. Use a featherboard to hold the top tight to the fence and a stop block to control the grooves’ length. Again, use your scrap pieces and make adjustments until the groove in the top matches the groove in the breadboard end exactly.
13. Square the end of each groove with a mortise chisel.
14. On the drill press, drill three 9/64-in. holes centered in each plug hole in the breadboard ends. For now, these holes are sized only to hold the No. 6 screws in place for marking the pilot holes in the ends of the top.
15. Mark the screw locations on the top (Photo 7). Drill pilot holes in the top tongues.
16. Enlarge the two outside screw holes in the breadboard ends with a 1/4-in. bit. The oversize holes allow the top to expand and contract on either side of the captured center screw.
17. Finish-sand the top and breadboard ends and use screws to attach the breadboard ends to the top (Fig. A). Note: Do not use any glue on this joint. Set the top aside for now.
Make the Base
When your table is a collection of loose parts, it’s easy to lose track of what piece goes where. To avoid confusion, label the front, back, inside, outside, top and bottom of the legs and aprons.
For a seamless look, we’ll show you how to cut the drawer front right out of the apron.
18. Plane the 1-in. stock left from making the top to 7/8 in. Choose the best-looking piece for the front apron (D).
19. Lay out the drawer front (F) and the rip lines on the front apron (see Fig. A, Detail 2, page 52). Rip the front apron into three pieces and crosscut the drawer front from the middle piece. Then, reassemble the front apron (Photo 8). This yields a seamless grain match for the drawer front.
20. After the glue dries, plane the apron stock to 3/4 in. and cut to length. Note: Cut an equal amount off both ends of the front apron so the drawer opening stays centered. Leave the drawer front 7/8 in. thick until after the finger joints are cut.
21. Make 1/4-in.-thick fiberboard templates for the cloud lifts (Fig. A, Detail 2). Then, rout the cloud lifts (Photo 9).
22. Cut the legs (C) to size and sand smooth.
23. Lay out the ebony plug holes. On the drill press, make 3/16-in.-dia. holes 1/4 in. deep for each plug. Square the holes with a 1/4-in. mortise machine chisel.
24. Lay out the locations of the biscuits that join the legs and aprons. The aprons are set back 1/4-in. from the faces of the legs (Fig. A, Detail 2).
25. Place a 1/4-in. spacer on the face of your apron and adjust your plate joiner to cut at the center of the apron (Photo 10).
26. Use the same fence setting to cut the slots in the legs without the spacer.
27. Rout a 1/4-in. round-over on the long edges and around the bottom of the legs.
28. Rout an 1/8-in. round-over on the aprons’ bottom edges.
29. Finish-sand the legs and aprons before assembly.
30. Glue and clamp the back legs to the back apron and the front legs to the front apron. Then glue and clamp the front and back assemblies to the side aprons to complete the base assembly (Photo 11).
31. Cut the apron cleats (L), drawer runners (M) and drawer guides (N) to size.
32. Drill and counterbore the screw holes in the upper apron cleats for attaching the top. Elongate the screw holes in the upper rear apron cleat so the top can expand and contract. Make sure the counterbore is deep enough to keep the screw heads from interfering with the drawer.
33. Lay out the biscuit grooves in the apron cleats for the drawer runners. Use a biscuit joiner to cut theses grooves. Cut the drawer stop notch (Fig. A, Detail 1, page 52).
34. Cut the grooves all the way across the ends of the drawer runners using a router table and a 5/32-in. x 1/2-in.-deep slot cutter.
35. Glue and clamp the apron cleats to the assembled base. The lower apron cleats are set 1/16 in. above the lower edge of the drawer opening in the front apron (Fig. A, Detail 1).
36. Glue biscuits in the apron cleat biscuit grooves and add the drawer runners (Photo 12).
Add the Ebony Accents
Despite being one of the denser woods on the planet, ebony is surprisingly easy to work with. If you’ve ever worked with hard maple, you won’t find ebony to be much different.
37. Rip the blanks for the ebony plugs and splines (Photo 13).
38. Sand pillow shapes on the tops of the ebony plug strips. Cut the plugs (X) to length (Photo 14). Repeat until all the plugs (and a few extra) are made.
39. Add a drop of glue to the hole and tap the plug in place (Photo 15).
40. Cut, fit and shape the breadboard end splines (R). When you’re done, glue the splines to the top spline grooves only.
41. Cut, fit and shape the breadboard end plugs (S and T). The long plugs need to be tapped in with care because the laminate shield can’t be used here.
Build the Drawer
Spacer sticks are used to cut the unusual protruding fingers on the drawer joint. The 5/8-in. and 3/4-in. spacers must exactly equal the cut your dado blade makes. To size your spacers, use your dado blade to cut a 5/8-in. notch in a block of wood. Cut a second 3/4-in. notch. Cut test spacers from 3/4-in. fiberboard and check their fit in the notches (Photo 16). Adjust the width of the spacers until they slip into the notch with minimal pressure. You’ll need three 5/8-in. x 7-in. spacers and two 3/4-in. x 7-in. spacers to cut the drawer joints. Label the fronts of the spacers so you keep them oriented correctly.
You’ll also need a tall fence attached to your miter gauge. The fence is just a doubled up piece of fiberboard with an adjustable stop block screwed to one end (Photo 17).
42. Cut the drawer sides (G) to size, but leave them 5/8 in. thick for now. Make four extra sides from scrap wood for testing the setups.Trim the drawer front and a test piece to finish width.
43. Set a 3/4-in. dado blade 7/8 in. high. Attach the tall fence with a stop block to the miter gauge so the distance between the stop and the dado blade is equal to the width of the drawer front.
44. Lay out the finger cutouts on a test drawer side. Make the first cut on a side piece using a 5/8-in. and a 3/4-in. spacers (Photo 17). Always keep the top edges of the drawer pieces against the spacers.
45. Make the second cut (Photo 18). Then measure the outside fingers—a caliper works great for this. Adjust the stop and keep making new test cuts until both fingers are equal in width. Note: Don’t cut your final pieces yet.
46. Lay out the drawer front fingers on a test piece. Make the first cut on the drawer front (Photo 19). Add one 5/8-in. and one 3/4-in. spacer to the setup and make the second cut. Add another 5/8-in. and 3/4-in. pair of spacers for the third cut.
47. Check the fit of the two test pieces together. They should fit beautifully. If they’re loose, your spacers need to be slightly wider. If they’re tight, your spacers need to be slightly narrower.
48. When you get a good test fit, go ahead and make the cuts on your final drawer parts.
Assemble the Drawer
49. Plane the drawer sides and front to their final thickness. This should remove any blowout that might have occurred.
50. Cut dadoes on the drawer sides to fit the drawer back (H). Rout the stopped grooves for the drawer bottom (Q) in the drawer sides. The groove on the drawer front is cut all the way through.
51. Cut the drawer back to size, and size the drawer bottom so it slides easily in the grooves.
52. Drill and chop the square holes for the ebony plugs on the drawer front just as you did on the legs.
53. Sand the pillow-top shapes on the finger ends of the drawer sides. Finish sanding the rest of the drawer parts.
54. Add the ebony drawer front plugs (X) before assembly. Note: These plugs should fit easily in the holes. A tight fit could cause the short grain on the end of the drawer front to break out.
55. Glue and clamp the drawer parts together, making sure the drawer is square (Photo 20).
56. When the glued drawer parts are dry, sand the drawer front fingers flush to the sides.
57. Drill three elongated holes near the back edge of the drawer bottom. Put a small amount of glue in the dado groove in the drawer front. Slide the drawer bottom in the drawer and insert the screws.
Fit and Finish the Drawer
58. Mount the drawer guides (N) to the runners (M, Photo 21).
59. Start with a 3-in.-wide blank to make the drawer handle (J). Rout the ebony plug grooves while the stock is still square.
60. Cut the curved shape (Fig. C, Detail 1, page 60) on your bandsaw and rout the 1/8-in.-radius round-over on the edges.
61. Rip the drawer handle front off the blank on the tablesaw.
62. Use the remaining stock to make the drawer handle back (K). Glue and clamp the drawer handle front and back pieces together. Add the drawer handle plugs (U and V).
63. Make and attach the drawer stop (see Fig. A, Detail 1, below). Insert the screw head flush with the bottom of the apron cleat, so the stop will hang down and hit the back of the drawer.
64. Drill the drawer handle screw mounting holes in the front of the drawer. Align and screw the drawer handle to the drawer.
Finishing Touches
65. Align the base on the top and screw them together (Photo 22).
66. Unscrew and remove the top, drawer handle and drawer bottom. Do any additional finish sanding.
67. Apply two or three coats of natural Danish oil finish. When the finish is dry, reassemble the table. Then step back and be prepared to accept the kudos!
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