Even with only four parts, keeping track of what goes where is impossible without a marking system. In this system, face sides go inside, and face edges go down. Left, right, front, and back on the drawer sides are indicated by a quadrant mark on the front bottom. Left and right on the drawer front and back are indicated by a quadrant mark on the bottom edge, either end.
Fitting the front, back and sides to the case.

The drawer involved in this lesson and the next one is built according to the British Arts and Crafts furniture-making tradition. The parts are joined by single-lap dovetails at the front and through dovetails at the back. Whereas ordinary drawer bottoms are grooved into relatively thick sides, the bottom of this drawer fits into a supplementary piece called a drawer slip, which allows the use of thinner sides and increases their bearing surface.

The drawer itself is not a quick or easy project, but it parades quality and elegance, starting with its feel and sound in use, especially as it is closed. Pushed by fingertip pressure, it slows down as air is forced from the case, and it makes a muffled clunk as it comes to rest. (If you don’t make the drawer back narrower than the drawer sides, the trapped, compressed air in the case pops the drawer out an inch or so.)

All the parts, including the bottom, are made of selected quartersawn material. Avoid softwood because it’s not hard enough and flatsawn material because it’s unstable. Although machine tools handle the initial preparation of the stock, the skilled use of a hand plane is essential throughout this project.

One secret to precisely fitted drawers is taking the time to fit all four parts to the case opening before you join them. With that said, let’s move on to the first of the steps.

1. Fit the front: Plane one end of the front to fit the case. Check the fit by offering the front at an angle: the goal is an exact reflection of the opening. Crosscut the other end as close as you can and plane it to fit the opening. A prudent approach is to take a shaving off the inside edges, so the wood has a minute taper toward the inside — that is, the face side. Assuming the case has straight sides, the front now fits on three sides. Leave the top edge proud by 1/16".

2. Fit the back: Fit the ends of the back in the opening, as you did the front. The bottom edge should sit on the bottom of the case with about a 7/8" gap at the top. Make sure the face side is looking at you as you fit the back because that’s how it goes in the case.

3. Fit the sides: Square the ends and cut to length. Plane the top edge until the side is a push-fit that enters halfway or better. To check that you are planing parallel, turn the side around and enter the front end first: it should slide with the same push-fit.

4. Clean up the inside faces: Plane mill marks from the inside faces before you lay out the dovetails. Mill marks must be removed in preparation for finishing later; the outside faces don’t get finished. If you plane the inside of the drawer front and back after you’ve cut the joints, they become smaller and therefore loose.

5. Mark out and cut the single-lap dovetail front joints: For the specifics of this step, see Chapter 5, Lesson 4. You’ll end up making the front and back of the drawer to fit the opening, then making the sides so they’re proud of the end grain. In other words, the drawer will be too big for the opening. But once you plane the sides down to the end grain of the front and back, the drawer will fit perfectly.

6. Cut the groove in the front for the drawer bottom: This is most easily done on a table saw using a 1/8" kerf blade. It goes through a tail socket so it’s not visible on the side of the drawer. Leave 3/8" below the 1/8" groove.

7. Locate the back joints: The top edge of the groove is the line of the bottom edge of the back. Set a marking gauge to the top edge of the groove and gauge the back end of the sides to indicate the first pin.

8. Mark out and cut the through dovetail back joints: The bottom pin socket on the back is dovetailed on one edge only. This avoids fussing with measurements to position the back so that the bottom can slide past it.

9. Radius top edge of the back: Use a plane to gently curve the edge of the back. You may wish to finger-gauge pencil lines down each side 1/16" from the edge as a guide and another down the center of the edge — this line comes off last.

10. Polish the inside faces: To polish means to apply a finish, in this case a traditional Arts and Crafts finish of shellac and wax. Be careful not to get any wax on the joints or the lower surfaces where the drawer slip gets glued.

11. Glue up the joints: Using a shaped wooden paddle, wet all the mating surfaces with glue, but do so sparingly to minimize squeeze-out. Assemble the parts, tap the tails down with a hammer, then close each set of tails one by one with a bar clamp.

12. Check for accuracy: Measure the diagonals to check for square. Sight across the sides to check for twist. Correct any inaccuracies by pushing or twisting the four parts.

13. Edge clamp the front joint: Because the two outer lines on the front joint are not trapped as are the inner glue lines, the glue tends to push the joint open at these interfaces. Close the joint tight with light pressure from a small clamp.