Replies

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Dec 28, 2006 02:42am | #1

   The best way is to choose the grain direction before you lay out your dovetails, GWB.

   We're trained to lay out the grain on the drawers primarily so that you can plane the drawer to fit, going from the front to the back.

   If you have your grain direction chosen properly, then it is a doddle to get the drawer to fit.

   Cheers,

   eddie

2. 
   Samson | Dec 28, 2006 02:49am | #2

   I like to do the lion's share of the cleaning with a paring chisel using a sort of pivoting slicing stroke - i.e., a good portion of the back fo the balde is registered on the side of the drawer and you swivel the edge so one corner makes an arc shaped cut though the protruding end grain of the tails or pins.  This allows great control and eliminates some of the pitfalls that can sometimes come with using a plane right off - principally break out at the ends.  Once the chisel has brought the ends down, I often come back with a plane to take very light final shavings - as the shavings are so fine, break out is much less likely.

3. 
   philip | Dec 28, 2006 04:21am | #3

   Here is what I do:
   For h/b's I plane from front to back and use a comparatively heavy plane such as a 51/2 which also has some toe. The drawer must be well supported-for shallow drawers the vise and for wide ones I have a bench contraption that supports inside from underneath. The technique is to bring the cutter up to edge, get a "bite" then continue with the pass with definite down pressure. Grain direction? Ideally one would want it to suit planing from front to back too, but I prefer the appearance to decide that one: so if it is found to be against the grain i.e you may geta rough finish I still plane from the front, but it will be a very short pass, the plane being lifted as soon as it has cut the dovetailed area- then come from the other direction , then there is time to lift before breaking out the front.
   For through d/t's basically the same technique.
   One can also plane across the grain to level , then with for final smoothing.
   Ofcourse, if the plane is not well set up, things get complicated, with the plane telling you what to do- that is the wrong way round.
   I favour first the 51/2 then the 41/2 because I like weight or heft especially for levelling d/t's. Block planes to me are fine for mini doves etc, not the usual furniture size doves.
   Sanding of drawer sides is usually not a good idea unless one is cutting back some sort of finish like shellac sealer that is good for drawer sides, when all that the sanding is doing is rendering the surfaces smooth to the touch.Card scrapers are good ....
   The picture shows a drawer side where conditions were not ideal-meaning that it was necessary to plane the "wrong" way.
   However if you are at home with handplaning there should be no problem.

   Philip Marcou

   
1. 
   Rich14 | Dec 29, 2006 12:31am | #4

   In addition to the above, hopefully the grain of the side pieces has been oriented to allow planing from front to back for not only the faces of the sides, but for the top edges of the sides as well. The plane starts at about the midpoint of the top edge of the front and continues in one unbroken sweep onto the top edge of the side piece, from front to back.

   Rich