Tell Your Friends
about this page. Click here to send an email.
Thank You!



Pipe Clamps
One of the most versatile clamps, because you can use them with pipe of any length.


Porter Cable Deluxe Biscuit Joiner
Biscuit joiners are useful for many joinery tasks.



Jeff Greef Woodworking

To see more Furniture Plans on this site, go to:
Printed Furniture Plans or Downloadable Furniture Plans or Furniture Plan Books


Page 2, Secretary Desk
Go back to Page 1.
Go to Page 3.
Go to Page 4.

PANELS

Photo 1- Edge glue stock together to get the wide parts you'll need. I make wide glue ups like this and then rip the glue up to get several parts. Using biscuit splines or dowels to align the boards during glue up makes the procedure go fast and easy.

To see biscuit joiners click here.
For clamps click here.

Begin by gluing up the panels, as in photo 1. You'll need a panel for each side, one wide one for the desk top and lid, as well as several for the drawer parts. If you are lucky you'll find stock wide enough for the drawer parts, but I wasn't so I glued together pieces wide enough to rip out three drawer parts at once. Nesting the parts this way makes for less clamping since you are dealing with less panels.

You'll need thin stock for the drawers and cubbies. If you don't have a planer, visit a page on this site with info about making thin stock by clicking here.

Dealing with wood movement begins with laying out the sticks for this panel glue up. Not only will the panels tend to change dimension along their width, but if the sticks are flat sawn they will tend to cup slightly with moisture changes. This is because the moisture-related movement of most woods is greater in the direction parallel to the growth rings than it is perpendicular to the rings (see drawing). Since shrinkage (or expansion) is greater one way than the other, tensions build up which cause the wood to bend, or cup.

This cupping is usually not very great, but if all the sticks in a glued up panel that is 18" wide cup in the same direction, the combined effect can be enough to make the entire panel cup a quarter inch or more. If the panel is screwed to something straight, the cupping will pull against the straight part and the result could be a split panel or a very twisted piece of furniture.

The solution is to arrange the panels so that the individual sticks in it do not all cup in the same direction (see drawing). Do this by orienting the tree center direction of each stick on the opposite side from the adjacent sticks. This way if cupping occurs, the effect on the panel will be to make it follow an "S" curve, which will reduce the overall effect of the movement and keep the panel relatively flat.

DRAWER FRAMES

The drawer frames consist of rails that run between the desk sides, and runners that "run" along the sides. These runners serve double duty both as a place for the drawer above to rest and slide upon, and as the kicker for the drawer below. The kicker prevents the drawer from tilting down when it is pulled out. There is no drawer frame above the top drawer to act as kicker, so you must apply kickers for it later. The desk top would serve as this kicker, but then when the desk lid is opened it would hit the top of the uppermost drawer front, so it must have space between the lid and the top drawer. This space is provided by a front and rear rail. Note that the bottom drawer frame runners are shorter than the others. This frame fits between the two bottom rails, rather than on top of them, and thus has less room.

6" Carbide Dado Set
Economical Freud dado set.


Jorgensen Hand Screws

Photo 2- Use this table saw dado setup to cut grooves in the drawer frame fronts and rears to serve as mortises. If you don't have a dado set for your saw, you can use a regular combination blade, just do several setups to get a mortise that is 1/4" wide and centered in the part.

To see dado sets click here.
If you are looking for a table saw click here.

Join the frames with slot mortises and stub tenons cut on the table saw. Set up a 1/4" wide dado, 1/2" above the table as in photo 2. Clamp a stop on the fence as shown to limit the length of the slot to 1-1/2" at its deepest point. This stop must have the same slot cut in it so you can locate it over the blade. Center the slot along the 3/4" thickness of the parts and cut the slots on the inside edges of all front and rear rails.

Sure Lock Miter Gauge
With fence and flip stop.


Delta Miter Jig
Rigid, precise tool.

Photo 3- Cut tenons on the ends of the drawer frame runners using your miter gauge at the table saw like so. Again, you don't need to use a dado set here, you can make the cuts with repeated passes using a combination blade.

To see various types of miter gauges click here.

To cut the tenons on the runners, leave the 1/4" dado setup on the saw, remove the stop, and put your miter gauge on the table. Set the fence 1/2" from the outside of the dado, and lower the blade to about 3/16" from the table top. Cut out the tenons as shown in photo 3, making two passes on each side to clear out the waste. With the dado at 3/16" above the table, the resulting tenon will be too thick to fit the mortises. Raise the blade a hair and recut the tenon, then check the fit. Adjust and fit until the tenon is a snug fit in the mortise- not so tight that it pushes the mortise walls apart, but not so loose that it rattles around in there.


C-Clamps
Various different sizes.


Photo 4- Glue up the drawer frames. Before you put on the C-clamps, check to see that the frame is square by putting your tape on the diagonals across far corners. When these two measures are equal, the frame is square.

If you need a measuring tape click here.

Glue up the frames by pulling them together with bar clamps, then cinching down the mortises onto the tenons with C clamps as in photo 4. Check that the frames are square before you put on the C clamps, after they are on you can remove the bar clamps.

CARCASE

When the panels are out of clamps sand them flat and smooth. You're a better woodworker than I if you can do this really well with a belt sander. I take mine to a local cabinet shop with a wide belt sander, which levels the panels accurately and leaves an excellent finish. They will have a minimum charge of 20 bucks or so, but it is well worth it. Machine sanding will also reduce the thickness of the panels significantly. If you start with stock that is 13/16" thick (as much standard 1x lumber is) you can have it all sanded to ¾ finish thickness. Have the drawer frames sanded to the same thickness at the same time, and do the same for the drawer and cubbie parts so that they have consistent thickness. This will help the dovetailing procedures a great deal.

This is Page 2 of this project.
Go to Page 3.
Go to Page 4.
Go to Page 1.



You are visitor number 40092 to this page.