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Plans NOWwww . P l a n s NOW . c om
clean & elegant
5-DrawerDesk
Some desk projects can be a bit overwhelming too large to use and too challeng-
ing to build. But this desk is designed to be differ-ent. Its easily do-able, both in
terms of size and construction. First, as you can see, the feel of this desk is very inviting.
Its small size and elegant look allow it to fit in anywhere in your home. And from a
woodworkers stand-point, its also a winner. The neat thing is that it all goes together in
small pieces somewhat modu-lar. The case is actually three, small cases that are builtseparately and then fastened together. The legs then simply bolt to the case assembly in
knockdown fashion. Add the eye-catching frame and panel top and the five drawers,
and youre done. Youll find that its all very manage-able and easy to work on. But dont
get the idea that this project doesnt offer any challenging or interesting woodworking.
Youll find that the design details will give your skills a good test as well as a nice sense
of accomplishment when the job is complete.
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NOTE: Case partsare "plywood#/4
NOTE: Drawers slide on
side-mount runnersNOTE: Bolt-on legs
simplify construction
NOTE: Desk case is
assembled from threeindividual casesfor ease of construction
Threaded rod glued intotop of leg used tobolt leg to case
Cherry footdoweled to
bottom of leg
Groove in drawerside slides overrunner in case
Locking rabbetjoints used for
drawer construction
Case side and edgingare beveled to createan invisible joint
CherryShaker-style
knobs
End case
End case
Center case
Figured veneer top pancreate focal po
Pencil tray helpskeep center drawer
organized
Legs are taperedon two sides
Legs are solidlybolted to case
Locatingpin
Drawer
runner
Mitered and splinedhardwood framecaptures panels
Contrasting cherryband creates transitionbetween leg and case
OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 54"W x 24"D x 30"H
LEG/CASE
ASSEMBLYDETAIL
Locating pin in topof leg keeps it
in position
Legbanding
Threadedrod
Leg
Washer andlock nut
TOP AND CASE CORNERASSEMBLY DETAIL
Tongue andgroove joinery used toconstruct frameand panel top
Splined mitersat corners
of top
Bevelededging
Tongue anddado case
construction
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Building the three plywood casesthat make up the case assembly is
the best place to start the project.There are two, mirror-image end
cases that lank a shallower cen-ter case. I started with the moreinvolved end cases, shown above.
Beveled edging. Theres one detailto these two cases that needs a little
advance explanation. The designincorporates a beveled edging that
mates with a beveled rabbet on theront and back o the case sides. Thiseature serves to hide the plywood
core while also hiding the act that
youve applied edging. The resultis the cases have a much cleaner,
seamless look. Detail b aboveshows you how the beveled rabbet
will look on the two end cases.
The Joinery. With this in mind, you
can get started by cutting the ourcase side pieces to size. Note herethat the grain runs vertically.
Next, youre going to give yourdado blade a workout. As you can
see in detail a, the case sides arejoined to the top and bottom witha tongue and dado. And the center
divider its into a ull-width dado.
Furthermore, the runners that thedrawers slide on also it into dadoes
cut in the case sides.
A Beveled rABBeT. Once all these da-
does are cut, youll need to brieyswitch back to a standard blade to
cut the beveled rabbets or the edg-ing. Youll fnd the technique I usedor this in the box below. Finally, the
back edges also need a secondaryrabbet that holds the 34" plywood
back panel (detail b above).
Tops, BoTToms, And dividers. At this
point, you can set the sides in a saespot and turn your attention to the
NOTE:All parts except drawerrunners are plywood#/4"
NOTE: Grain on case sides andback panels runs vertically
NOTE: Twoend casesare mirrorimages
NOTE: Installdrawer runners before
assembling case
END CASE
SIDE
END
CASE
BACK
PANEL
END CASE
DRAWER
RUNNER
END CASE
BOTTOM
END CASE
DIVIDER
END CASE
TOP
Outer face ofback panel israbbeted to acceptedging. See boxon page 2.
Bevel frontedges of
runners
Beveled rabbet cuton edges of sides.
See box below
E
D
D
D
D
C
C
B B
B
B
A
A
A
A
#/8
#/4
#/4
222!/16
921
21
9
13
13
&/8 %/16
#/8
"-dia. x "deep counterbore
with "- dia.through hole
building the Cases
CASE
SIDE
ATall auxilaryfence
Blade tiltedto 45
A Bevel Cut. First, I made a 45 bevel cut
with the case side standing on edge. A tall
fence helps guide the workpiece.
How-To: A Beveled Rabbet
Drawer runner
flush to rabbet
in case side
Bevel
D
C
A
!/81
c.
#/8#/4
#/4
!/4
!/4
D
C
B
A
FRONT
SECTION VIEW
1%/16
1%/16
a.
CASE SIDE
A
Stopblock
Bladeat 90
Aux. miterfence
A Square Cut. Next, I removed the waste with a
square cut. A stop block clamped to an auxiliary
fence will help you make the cut accurately.
A
Cut secondary rabbetat back edge of sidesAux.fence
Aux. fence
Secondary Rabbet. I used a dado
blade to cut the deeper, secondary
rabbets that hold the back panels.
END
VIEW
A
Tall
aux.
fence
!/4
!/4
a. END VIEW
A
Square cutremoveswaste
!/4
!/4
a.
A
END
VIEW
Aux.
fence
#/4
!/4
a.
E
A
B
TOP SECTION
VIEW
1
#/4
%/16
!/4
1#/8
1!/8
Beveledrabbetholdsedging
1!/4!/4
!/41%/8
!/4&/16
"-dia. x"-deep on
bottom sideof panel
b.
!/2
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tops, bottoms, and center
dividers. All these parts aresized to it lush to the rontand back rabbets in the sides,
as shown in detail b a let.Then tongues are cut on
the tops and bottoms to itthe dadoes in the case sides
(detail a on page 3).
A few holes. With this joinerycomplete, the outside cornerso the case bottoms have apair o holes that need to be drilled
(detail b at let). The irst is a coun-terbored bolt hole used to attach the
leg. A second 14"-dia. hole is drilledon the underside to hold a locating
pin to help position the legs. Notethat the hole locations are dierentat the ront and back.
drAwer runners. Now, beoreassembling the pieces, I made and
installed the drawer runners on thecase sides. Its just easier to do thisbeorehand. Detail c on the oppo-
site page shows how the ront edgeso the runners are beveled to ease
the it o the drawers.
BAck pAnels. With all these parts
assembled, adding the back panelswill inish up the basic casework.
The backs are sized to it betweenthe rabbets in the case sides andlush with the case top and bottom.
And once the panels are it, youllneed cut rabbets on all our o the
outside edges. These rabbets com-plete the pockets that hold the edg-ing youll apply to the back o the
case (detail b on opposite page).
The box below gives you guid-ance on cutting these rabbets, but
let me point out a couple o things.First, the top and bottom rabbets are
a dierent width than those alongthe sides. And all the rabbets aresized to include a 116" shadowlinethat separates the edging rom theback panel. When ready, the backs
can be glued in place.The cenTer cAse. Now, building the
center case, shown above, is muchsimpler. I wont go through the
whole process, but there are a ewimportant dierences to mention.
First, note that the inished centercase is two inches shallower, ront to
back, than the end cases. And sincethe sides o this case wont show, I
didnt bother with beveled edgingit into a beveled rabbet (detail aabove). But the rabbeted back panel
is it into the case in the same way,as shown in detail b above.
One last thing. The three cases willbe astened together with screws
installed through the center casesides into the end cases. I drilled thecountersunk holes or these screws
beore assembling the case.
IECut rabbet
on outer face
Aux.
fence
Dado
blade
Narrow Rabbets. A rabbet cut along the sides
of the back panels will complete the pocket for
the edging and create a shadowline.
Back Panel Rabbets
IE%/16
!/4
%/16 rabbet cuton side edgesof back panel
"
Aux.fence
END VIEWa.
{ Rabbetsinthebackpanelscrea
pocketsfortheedgingpieces.
CENTER CASE TOP
CENTER CASE
BACK PANEL
CENTER CASE
BOTTOM
CENTER CASE
SIDE
Outer face of bpanel is rabbet
See box bel
I
H
H
G
G
F
F
CENTER CASE
DRAWER RUNNER
NOTE: Tongueand dado joineryidentical to thatof end cases
NOTE: Drill andcountersink holesbefore assembly
NOTE: Center case isshallower front toback than end cases
NOTE: Front and backedges of center casesides are cut square
23 19
19!/2
194&/8
4&/8
23
19
1&/16
1
1!/2
23
Drill and
countersink
for #8 Fh
woodscrew
Drawer
runners
fit dadoes incase sides
H
G
G
F1 16
a.
I
H
G
F
Top andbottom edgesof back panel
have same rabbet
!#/16
!/4!/2
Simplerabbet iback edg
of caseside
b.
NOTE: Rabbets along topand bottom edges of side
cases and center caseare equal dimension
NOTE: Rabbets alongside edges of back
panel are equaldimension
Side assem
Centercase
assembly
IE
Aux.fence
NOTE: Makecut in two
passes
Dadoblade
Cut wider rabbets
on top andbottom edges
Wider Rabbets. The top and bot-
tom of the panels get a rabbet the full
width of the edging and shadowline.
IE
END VIEW
Aux.
fence
!#/16
!/4
a.
%/
%/
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At this point, most of the hardwork on the three cases is done.
But they still need the thin edgingthat completes their clean look.
And once this is added, the threecases can be combined into a moredesk-like case assembly.
End CasE Edging.
I tackled the slightlytrickier end cases first. A quick look
at the drawing above will show youhow this edging is applied.
Both the front and the back ofeach case need identically sized
edging. On the front, the 14"-thickedging pieces should fit flush with
the faces of the plywood (detaila). At the back, the edging creates
a narrow shadowline around theback panel, as seen in detail b.
First, BEvElEd Edging.The order of
installation is the trick. The beveled,vertical, side edging comes first.
Once its fit and glued in place, add-ing the horizontal pieces is easy.
There are two minor challengeshere. The first is making the small
beveled pieces accurately, and thesecond is gluing them in place on
the case. Both are important to giv-ing you the seamless look youre
after. The box below gives you sometips on accomplishing this.
To make this edging, I started with
over-sized pieces and then used apush block to carefully bevel them
to width. After cutting the pieces tolength, I glued them in place, oneat a time, applying clamps in both
directions to pull the joint tight(main drawing in box).
When both side pieces are inplace, the horizontal pieces are cut
to fit between them and glued on. Ifound that getting a good result was
just a matter of taking my time.
thE CEntEr CasE. Adding the edging
to the center case goes just the same.But without the beveled sides piecesor a center divider to deal with,
youll get through it a lot quicker.
OnE assEmBly. Thats it for the edg-
ing. The cases are now ready to bejoined into one assembly. But beforegluing and screwing the cases
together, take a quick look at detailsa and b above. The center case
should be recessed 1" from the sidecases at both the front and back.
END CASE
VERTICAL EDGING
END CASE
HORIZONTAL EDGING
CENTER CASE
VERTICAL EDGING
CENTER CASE
HORIZONTAL EDGING
M
M
M
L
L
L
L
K
K
K
K
K
J
J
J
J
J
JNOTE: Vertical
edging on centercase is notbeveled
NOTE: Three cases are screwedand glued together after
edging is applied
NOTE: Edging pieces areglued in place, see box below
All edging is sized to fitflush with faces of plywood
Front and backvertical edging is
beveled to match caseside edges. See box below
9
4&/8
12!/222!/2
L
K
M
J
TOP SECTION VIEW
#8 x 1
Fh
woodscrew
!/4"
Center
Case
End Case
#/4
!/4
#/41
a.
L
J
TOP
SECTIONVIEW
CenterCase
Gap between edgingand back creates
shadow line
EndCase
Caseback
Caseback
1
b.
completing the
Cases
TOP
SECTION
VIEWNarrowcaulprotectsbevelededge
Case side
Case back
a. TOPSECTION
VIEW
Waxedcaul
Avoidclampingcorner
b.
NOTE: Clampside edging intwo directionsfor a tight joint
Cauls
Caul
Notchedpushblock
Edgingblank
Bladetiltedto 45
Beveled Edges. A long, narrow
push block will help you cut the
bevel on the side edging pieces.
END VIEW
Narrowpush block
to clearblade
a.
How-To: Edging
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LEG
BLANK
LEG
BANDIN
FOOT
BLANK
FOOT
BLANK
LEGBLANK
P
PP
P
P
O
O
N
N
2!/42!/4
1#/4
1!/2
1#/4
20finished
leg length
!/4"
!/8 roundoveron all four sides
of leg foot
"
Rabbetcut intop o
leg holdbanding
Dowel
Threadedrod gluedinto topof leg
%/16 #/4x 3threaded
rod
" "
Locatingpin
!/4 -dia.x 1
locatingpin
""NOTE: Taper legs
on inside faces.See page 13
NOTE:All four legs
are identical
NOTE: Leg blanks cutfrom 3 square turning
stock. See page 11for another option
"-
NOTE: Foot blankdoweled to leg blankbefore tapers are cu
18#/4
2#/4
!/2
#/8
!/2!/2dia.
1dowel
"-"
{ Thetwo,taperedfacesofeachlegcanbecut
quicklyandaccuratelyonthetablesawwiththe
helpofasimplesled.Seepage13fordetails.
Now you can start on making
the legs that support the caseassembly. The tapered legs, with
their contrasting feet and transi-tional banding, really complement
the clean lines of the desk.thE right OrdEr. A breakdown of
the legs is shown in the drawing
at right. And despite the amountof detail, making the four identical
legs isnt hard. Its just a matter ofdoing things in the right order.
The first thing you need to do iscut four leg blanks to size. I cut my
blanks from 3"-sq. turning stock,
but youll find another good optionin the article on page 11.
mOunting hOlEs. As you know, thelegs will be bolted to the corners
of the case assembly. To do this,I glued (with epoxy) a section ofthreaded rod into the end of each
leg. And a dowel locating pin helpsposition the leg (detail a). So drill-
ing two holes on the inside cornerof each blank is the next job.
The key is drilling these holesaccurately. If you own a doweling
jig, this is a good job for it. Or, youllfind another method on page 11.
raBBEts. With the holes completed,
I took the legs back to the table saw.Here, I used a dado blade to cut
shallow rabbets around the top ofeach blank that will hold the con-trasting banding (detail b).
thE FEEt. Now you can turn yourattention to the lower end of the
legs. Before cutting the two-sidedtapers, youll want to attach the
feet to the blanks. This
way you can taper theleg foot and all.
A look at detail cshows how the foot
blank is attached tothe leg blank. Since thelegs will be tapered to
118" sq. at the bottom,you dont need to use a
full-size piece. But notethat the foot blank is
positioned flush withthe outside faces ofthe leg blank. And the
dowel used to attachthe foot is centered on
the finished foot, notthe oversized blank, as
you can see in detail c.
thE tapErs. Once the feet are gluedonto the legs, you can cut tapers on
the two inside faces, as shown inthe photo at right. Youll find more
details on this on page 11.
add thE Banding. The last item is the
cherry banding. Fitting these piecesjust takes patience. I simply cut a
couple of extra-long pieces to size,and then mitered individual piecesto fit (drawing above). Glue and
clamps will complete the job.
assEmBly. Now the legs can be
installed. First, youll need to gluethe threaded rods and the position-ing pins in place. Then turn the case
upside down, position one leg, adda washer and tighten down the nut.
Add the other three legs, and thedesk can stand on its own.
adding theLegs
Insidecornerof leg
Legblank
#/8
%/16 dia. x3 deep holefor threaded
rod
"-"-
!/4#/4
-dia. xdeep hole
for dowel
""
#/8
#/4
#/4
a.
Rabbet on allfour sides
of leg blankbeforeaddingtapers
!/8
!/2
b.
Outside corner
Matchinghole onbottomof legblank
O
!/2#/4
dia. xdeep
hole
""-
%/8%/8
!/2!/2dia.
x 1dowel
"-"
c.
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With the legs in place, the next stepis to make and install the rameand panel top. Its sure to be a ocal
point o the desk, so the advice Igave mysel beore starting was to
take it slow and easy.
A quick Look. Take a look at the
drawing above and youll see howthe desktop is assembled. The centeris made up o three veneered panels
separated by two hardwood divid-ers. This is all captured by a mitered
hardwood rame. And everythingis solidly constructed using tongueand groove and spline joinery.
Three pAneLs. The easiest way tobuild the top is to work rom the
inside out. So the irst task is tomake the three center panels.
I started making the panels by
cutting three slightly oversize pieceso 34" plywood. Next, I applied the
igured cherry veneer I had pickedout. And once the veneering is done,
the panels can be cut to inal size.Now the joinery starts. As men-
tioned and shown in details a andc, the rame parts are joined to thepanels with a tongue and groove.
This means the next step is to cut acentered tongue on all our sides o
each panel. The let drawing in thebox below gives you the idea.
The FrAme. Cutting the tongues com-pletes work on the panels. So youcan temporarily set them aside and
start on the rame that holds them.First, youll need to cut the ramepieces to inal width and rough
length rom stock that matches thethickness o the veneered panels.
mATching grooves. Next comesthe other hal o your tongue and
groove joints. All o the rame piecesneed centered grooves to match the
tongues you cut on the edges o thepanels. This job will keep you atthe table saw, as shown in the box
below. Beore getting started though,make a note that the outside border
pieces have a groove on only oneedge, while the dividers have twogrooves (details a and c).
DiviDer Tongues. Ater completingthe grooves, I set the outer rame
RQNOTE: Veneer
extends to edges ofpanel
Dadoblade
Waste
Aux.fence
Panel Tongues.A dado blade buried in an
auxiliary rip ence provides a quick, accurate
way to cut centered tongues on the panels.
Standardblade
Top frameblank
NOTE: Cutgroove in
two passes
Frame Grooves. The centered grooves
can be cut by ipping the workpiece
end-or-end between passes.
S
Dado
blade
Aux.
fence
Aux.
fence
Divider Tongues. The two dividers need
a tongue cut on each end sized to ft the
grooves in outer rame pieces.
END VIEW
Waste
!/4
!/4
#/8
Aux.
fence
a.
How-To: Tongue & Groove Joinery
NOTE:
Flip part endfor end
betweenpasses
!/4
!/4
#/8
a.END VIEW
#/8
!/4
!/4Aux.fence
a.
TOP FRAME BACK
TOP FRAME FRONT
TOP
FRAME
SIDE
Spline
Mitered cornersreinforced with
hardboardsplines
!/4"
U
U
T
S
S
R
NOTE:Apply veneerbefore cutting panelsto size
NOTE: Top panelsare plywood#/4"
54
9#/4
24#/4
18#/4
24
3
3
18#/4 18#/4
15
15Figured cherryveneer applied toplywood panels
Tongue cuton ends
of dividers
Cut out mirrorsrecess of center case
Spline
TOP SIDE
PANEL
TOP FRAME DIVIDER
TOP CENTER
PANEL
R
Q
T
U
FRONT SECTION VIEW
R
1 Side casetop
Soften edgesof top frame
after assemblyCaseside
c.TOP FRAME FRONT
FRONT SECTION VIEW
1 radius"1
Tb.
S
FRONT SECTION VIEW
#/8
#/4!/4!/4
R Q
3
a.
constructing theTop
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pieces on the bench and set up to
cut the two dividers to inal length.The length o these pieces allowsor a tongue on each end. So once
the dividers were sized, I switchedback to a dado blade to complete
this detail (see the box on oppositepage). The key is to make sure that
the shoulder-to-shoulder length o
the dividers exactly matches that othe top panels theyll be glued to.
pArTiAL AssembLy. The joinery on thecenter section o the top is done and
these parts are ready to assemble. Sobeore itting the border, I glued the
three panels and two dividers intoone assembly, using the long borderpieces to keep everything aligned.
This makes it easier to accomplishthe next step accurately itting
the mitered rame pieces.
The miTereD FrAme. From here on out,
the box at right shows how thingsare going to proceed. I started ft-
ting the rame by mitering the longront and back pieces to length. Thegoal is to match the inside length
o these pieces to the shoulder-to-shoulder length o the panel
assembly. With this done, you candry clamp these two pieces in placeand then careully ft the short end
pieces between them (Figure 1).
spLines. With the miters ft to your
satisaction, you can take the ramepieces to the router table. Here I
used a slot cutter to cut stoppedspline grooves in the mitered aces,
as shown in Figure 2.
FronT cuTouT. Now, beore gluingthe rame in place, theres one more
thing to do. The ront piece has acutout that mirrors the setback o
the center case. Figures 3 and 4 giveyou guidance on adding this simpledetail to the border.
FinAL AssembLy. Ater smoothing the
completed cutout, you can startgluing the border pieces in placeone at a time, adding a hardboard
spline to each miter joint.
insTALLATion. When the glue was
dry and the clamps put away, Ispent a little time sanding bothsides o the top beore installing it
on the desk. The top is simply glueddown to the case assembly with an
even overhang (reerenced o othe end cases) on all our sides.
SECOND:
Miter longborder pieces tofit and dry clamp
FIRST:
Glue uppanels anddividers
THIRD: Miter endpieces to fit
T
T
U
Long Pieces First, Then Short. Its easier to frst miter the two long rame pieces to ft th
assembly, then complete the border by careully tweaking the ft o the shorter end piece
Stop line
Stopline
Spline Grooves. To make sure the stopped spline
grooves in the mitered aces align, cut them with
the top surace o all the border pieces acing up.
2-dia.Forstner
bit
Clampscrapto workpieceto keep bit fromwandering
Front frameblank
Waste
Cutout, Step One. I started the cutout in the ront
rame piece by using a Forstner bit in the drill press to
to create a 1" radius at either end.
How-To: Fit the Mitered Frame
The veneered frame and
panel top complements the
lines of the desk.
3
2
1
Fit inside corner ofborder miter to corner
of plywood rabbet
Trim untilmiter fits
tightT
U
a.
END VIEW
#/8!/4 -wide
slot cutter
"
a.
Remove waste
between radiused
ends on the
band saw
and sand smooth
Waste
Fron
fram
blan
Complete the Cutout. Next, u
the band saw to remove the was
between the radiused ends.
4
Shapehardboard
spline to fit
routedgrooves
Spline mustnot interferewith panel
tongue
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After completing the top, youreprobably ready for something a lit-
tle less taxing. Building drawers forthe case will fit the bill. And finally,
to wrap up the construction on thedesk, you can build a pencil tray to
fit the center drawer.The Basics. There are five drawers
to build, but the four that fill the
two end cases are identical. And allof the drawers use the same joinery
at the front and back. This keepsthings moving quickly.
The drawing above shows all theconstruction details youll need.
Youll want to note that the frontsand backs are cut from 34"-thickstock, while the sides are only 12"thick. I sized the drawers to leave
a 116" gap around all four sides. Theside-mount runners will keep the
drawers centered.After cutting the parts to size, I
stayed at the table saw and started
work on the locking rabbet joinery,shown in detail a. As mentioned,
this joint is used at both the frontand back. And when youre satis-
fied with the fit of the joints, you cancomplete the basic work by cutting
a groove on the inside edge of eachpiece for the plywood bottoms.
The side grooves. Before gluing thethe drawers together, youll need to
cut the centered grooves in the sidesthat will mate with the runners in
the cases. The key here is to size andposition these grooves so that thedrawers will fit their openings prop-
erly and slide easily. I used a coupleof test pieces to get this right.
After the drawers are assembled,you can complete the grooves
through the backs of the drawers.The box at left gives you a few moredetails on doing these tasks.
Finally, I added some cherry,Shaker-style knobs to the drawers.
These add a nice contrast as well ascomplementing the cherry accentson the legs and top.
a Pencil TrayThe last task is to put together asmall pencil tray/organizer to fit
into the front of the center drawer.The drawing at the top of the oppo-
site page shows how the tray goestogether. And the box at the farright gives you some pointers on
the work involved.
a Trough. I started the tray by rout-
ing a smooth, rounded trough froma solid-wood blank at the router
making theDrawers
A A
SMALL DRAWERFRONT
LARGE
DRAWER
FRONT
LARGE DRAWER
BACK
SMALL
DRAWER
FRONT
LARGE
DRAWER
BOTTOM
LARGE
DRAWER
SIDE
SMALL DRAWER
BACK
SMALL DRAWER
SIDE
Cherry 1 Shaker-style knob
!/8"
Centered groovesized to fit drawer
runner in case
Z
ZY
Y
X
W
W
V
V
NOTE:All four corners of drawersuse locking rabbet joinery
NOTE: Drawer bottomsare plywood !/4"
NOTE: Drawers are sized toallow clearance all around!/16"
NOTE: Drawer fronts and backsare -thick hardwood sides
are -thick hardwood#/4
!/2"
"
NOTE: Drawers in encases are identic
20!/2
18!/2
20
11&/8
12#/8
22#/8
21&/8
12#/8
22#/8
3!/4
3!/4
3!/43!/4
18
3!/2
Drawersideblank
%/8 dadoblade"
NOTE: Cut groovein two passes
Use chisel tocompletegroove
through backof drawerDrawerbackDrawersidegroove
AA
Z
X
W
FRONTSECTION VIEW
!/4#/4
#/16
1!/4
1!/4
!/4
!/4ply.
Drawerrunners
b.
How-To: Dado
AA
Z
Y
XW
V
TOP SECTION VIEW
!/2
!/2
!/4!/8
#/8
!/16" clearance
Center
case
side
End
case
side
a.
Complete the Grooves.Ater assem-
bling the drawers, remove the waste on
the back to complete the job.
Centered Grooves. I cut the grooves in the
sides with two passes over a dado blade,
fipping the piece end-or-end in between.
END VIEW
1!/4 1!/4#/4
a.
Bevel ends ofgroove foreasier fit
Drawerbacka.
#/16
Page 9 of 14 August Home Publishing Company
8/3/2019 5 Drawer Desk
10/14
B B
DD
CC
CC
CC
Center drawer
TRAY BLANK
TRAY END
TRAY SIDE
TRAY
DIVIDER
NOTE: Pencil tray setsat front of center drawer
21#/8
3!/2
!/4
!/41%/8
1!/2
1
2!/2
1
DD
CC
Divider Slots. Next, I cut four, narrow slots acro
the tray blank to hold the dividers and end caps.
B BTRAY
BLANK
1 core
box bit
"
Routing A Trough. I used a core box bit in th
router table to rout a smooth, rounded trough.
B B
!/4 dadoblade"
Aux.fence
Stopblock
table. (I saved time by roughing itout with a dado blade first.)
Next, I let in the two ends and
two dividers by cutting slots acrossthe trough with a narrow dado
blade on the table saw. The dividersand ends can then be cut to size and
glued in place. The final step is tocut to size and glue on a pair of thin
side pieces that hide the exposedends of the slots.
Finish uP. Now this project is ready
for finish. I started with a coat ofwiping varnish to give the wood a
richer color. And this was followedwith two coats of quick-drying,
water-based finish. Then its mov-ing time for your new desk. W
B B
DD
TRAY BLANK !/2
2!/2
!/4!/4
!/4
1
!/8"roundover
!/2"radius
Drawer
front
a.
B B
!/4
1
Base of cutfor dividershould beflush with
bottomof trough
a.
END VIEW
1
Page 10 of 14 August Home Publishing Company
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Materials, Supplies & Cutting DiagramA EndCaseSides(4) 34 ply.-22x9
B EndCaseTops/Btms.(4)34ply.-21x13
C EndCaseDividers(2) 34ply.-21x13
D EndCaseDwr.Runners(8) 34x12-21
E EndCaseBackPnls.(2) 34ply.-13x9
F Ctr.CaseSides(2) 34ply.-1912x478
G Ctr.CaseTop/Btm.(2) 34ply.-19x23H Ctr.CaseDwr.Runners(2) 34x12-19
I Ctr.CaseBackPnl.(1) 34ply.-23x478J EndCaseVert.Edg.(8) 14x34-9
K EndCaseHoriz.Edg.(10) 14x34-1212L Ctr.CaseVert.Edg.(4) 14x34-478M Ctr.CaseHoriz.Edg.(4) 14x34-2212N LegBlanks(4) 214x214-1834O FeetBlanks(4) 134x134-112P LegBanding(16) 38x12-234Q TopCtr.Panel(1) 34ply.-1834x2434R TopSidePanels(2) 34ply.-1834x934S TopFrameDividers(2) 34x3-1834
T TopFrameFronts/Backs(2)3
4x3-54U TopFrameSides(2) 34x3-24
V Sm.Dwr.Front/Back(8) 34x314-1238W Sm.Dwr.Sides(8) 12x314-2012X Sm.Dwr.Btm.(4) 14ply.-20x1178Y Lg.Dwr.Fronts/Backs(2)34x314-2238Z Lg.Dwr.Sides(2) 12x314-1812AALg.Dwr.Btm.(1) 14ply.-18x2178BB TrayBlank(1) 112x212-2138CC TrayDividers/Ends(4) 14x1-212DDTraySides(2) 14x158-2138
(6)118"-dia.Shaker-StyleKnobs
(1)FiguredCherryVeneer(8Sq.Ft.)
(1)516"x16"ThreadedRod
(4)516"FlatWashers
(4)516"LockNuts
(14)#8x114"FhWoodscrews
W W
W
W
W
W
W
W
NOTE: Parts W andZ planed to " thick!/2
#/4" " "x 7 - 96 Hard Maple (4.7 Bd. Ft.)
#/4" " "x 7 - 72 Hard Maple (3.5 Bd. Ft.)
#/4" " "x7 - 96 Hard Maple (4.7 Bd. Ft.)
#/4" " "x 7 - 96 Hard Maple (4.7 Bd. Ft.)
1 x 3 - 12 Cherry (.5 Bd. Ft.)#/4" " "
3 x 3 - 30 Hard Maple Turning Blanks (Four Needed)" " "
#/4"- " "48 x 96 Maple Plywood
#/4"- "24" x 48 Birch Plywood
!/4"- "48 x 48 Maple Plywood
1 " " "#/4 x 4 - 24 Hard Maple (1.3 Bd. Ft.)
A
N
B
BA
A B
BBCCO
P
S U
T Y
J, K, L, M
T
HD
Z Z
D
Y
V V V V
V V V VS U
DD
C GE
X X AA
Q R R
E
I
F F
GB CA
X X
Page 11 of 14 August Home Publishing Company
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The irst thing I notice on a well-
made table or desk (like the oneon page 1) is the legs. Pleasinglegs with straight, even grain
really make a project stand out.But theres a little more to getting
great-looking legs than just rip-ping a blank to size. It starts withgrain and lumber selection.
Wild Grain. The problem you run
into when cutting a leg rom solidstock is drastic grain dierences.Usually, what youll get are two
sides with straight, even grain.But oten, the other two sides will
have mismatched grain patterns.This doesnt mean you have
to settle or less than satisactory
legs. Thankully, you have someoptions. Ill share two methods
with you that give me reliableresults every time.
TurninG Blank
One leg-making technique is tosimply cut the leg rom a turn-ing blank. You can ind these
solid wood blanks in many wood-working catalogs and rom local
hardwood lumber dealers.These blanks are usually rough-
sawn (upper photo at let). But all
that matters is that you can see the
growth rings on the end.layouT. Beore you do any cut-
ting, the frst thing you need to
do is lay out the leg on the endo the blank. And or this, I make
a simple hardboard template,as shown in the margin. (I liketo make the template about 18"
larger than the fnal size o the legto allow or cleanup.)
Laying out the shape o the legis a simple matter o orienting the
template to ind the best grain pat-
tern. What youre looking or hereis to lay out the leg so the grainruns o the edge at 45 to 60 on
each ace, as in Step One on the
next page. In this orientation,
the grain on the leg aces will bestraight and clear.
MakinG The CuTs. Since the blankis rough, I make the frst two cuts
over at the band saw. The mainphoto above and Step Two on the
next page shows the setup or
making the frst cut. Ater clean-ing up the cut ace on the jointer,
you can repeat the process to cutan adjacent side.
Once you have two aces cut,
cleaned up and square to eachother, you can complete the pro-
cess at the table saw (Step Three).This way, you wont need to do
going with the grain
Techniquesfor Making Legs
Take your table or desk to the next level. Here are two fool-
proof techniques to get outstanding legs without a lot of fuss.Turning Blank
Glued-Up Blank
Make hardboard templateslightly larger than inal
leg size
3"-square blanks arelarge enough or
most legs
Glue up over-size blank to
lay out legalong glue
joint
details of craftsmanship
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any urther cleanup. Thats really allthere is to this technique.
Now i using a turning blank isntpossible or practical or you, theresanother technique I use thats a little
more economical. And all the cut-ting takes place on the table saw.
Glued-up Blank
Instead o working with a solidrough blank, this method uses a
glued-up blank (lower margin photoon the acing page). And just like theprevious technique, the blank starts
out oversize. This way, you can cutthe leg to conceal the glue lines.
prepare The Blank. Now you cant just take any two pieces o wood
and glue them together. You wantto select stock to get straight grainon the leg. For more on wood selec-
tion, take a look at the box below.In Step One below, you can see
how the two pieces are arranged.By gluing the boards together in this
orientation, the grain will be straighton all our sides o the leg.
Now, youre ready to lay out the
shape o the leg. Here again, I liketo use a template. Ater lining it
up and tracing the proile, you canhead over to the table saw.
CuTTinG The Blank. At this point,youre ready to cut the leg out o
the blank. But since the leg isntsquare to the blank, the frst twocuts will be bevel rips like you see
in Step Two below.Once two aces o the leg are
exposed, you can reposition theence and set the blade square to the
table or the remaining cuts (StepThree). And what you are let withis a clean, straight-grained blank, as
the margin photo at right shows.No matter which technique you
use, you can be sure the legs willstand out or the right reasons. W
It can be tricky to select the right
pieces o wood or table and desklegs. To get a pleasing, straightgrain on all our sides, the best
approach is to look at the endgrain o the workpiece.
For thinner legs, the perectboard will be ritsawn (top).The grain runs at 45 to 60 to all the suraces and results in
even, straight grain. From the ace, a quartersawn board(middle) seems like a good choice, but the edges will have
wild, cathedral grain. For the glue-up technique shownabove, latsawn lumber (bottom) works best.
STEP ONE STEP TWO
STEP THREESTEP ONE STEP TWO
STEP THREE
Riftsawn
Cut edges o widefatsawn boards to get
smaller ritsawn stock
Ater cutting,straight grainvisible onall sides
Glue liruns corn
to corn
Quartersawn
Flatsawn
CompletedTurning Blank
Leg
CompletedGlued-Up Leg
Growth ringscreate wild grain
on aces
Growthrings run60 to 90
Growth rings
are 45 to 60to ace
Straight, evengrain on all sides
Flat,cathedralgrain along
edges
How-To: Choose the Right Grain
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tips from our shop
Simple Tapering JigWhen it came to cutting the tapers
on the legs of the desk , I put togetherthe simple tapering jig shown in the
photo. The jig holds the leg blankat the correct angle as you run itthrough the saw blade.
As the drawing in the mar-gin shows, the jig consists of a
hardboard base and a two-piece, L-shaped stop. The base rides against
your saws rip fence, while the stop
positions the workpiece and holds it
in place while cutting the taper.To attach the stop at the correct
angle, I first laid out the taper on
one of the leg blanks. Next, I set
the blank on the base of the jig, sothe layout marks lined up with the
edges of the base. Then, I fastenedthe stop in place.
Once the jig is built, cutting the
tapers is just a matter of using it toguide the blanks through the saw
(see photo above). But becauseonly the inside faces of the leg aretapered, youll need to pay close
attention to the sequence and orien-tation of the leg blank when you cut
the tapers (two drawings at left).Safety Note: Use double-sided
tape to hold the blanks to the jig.
Drilling Guide
a.
which sides of the legs you want
to show. Since the holes are to bedrilled on the inside corners (seemain drawing on page 6), their
location determines which facesare seen on the outside of the desk.
Once you determine the orientationof the legs, you can drill the holes.
I placed the guide on the endof the leg and clamped it in place,making sure the hardboard guides
were tight to the workpiece. Thenyou can drill the holes with your
hand drill (drawing at left).If your drill bit for the larger hole
isnt quite long enough to reach the
full depth you need, use the guideto drill as deep as you can. Then just
remove the guide and finish drillingthe hole to the required depth.
Drilling accurate holes in the endof a long workpiece can be a real
challenge. So, when making thelegs for the desk , I used the guide
block you see here to drill theholes for the threaded rodsand locating pins that will be
used to attach the legs.
The first thing to do is to cuta 1"-thick block to match the topof the legs. Then, take the block
to the drill press and drill theguide holes (detail a).
Next, you can glue two
hardboard pieces on adjacentsides of the block (drawing at right).
They will register the block on theinside faces of the legs.
Before drilling the holes, you
should take a minute to determine
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