So when people finish their hand dovetailed drawers what is the preferred method? I recently made some with walnut fronts, poplar sides and maple backs. I wanted to use a medium dark Danish oil on the fronts but keep the rest light. I have seen pictures of drawers with a swipe of finish down the sides to get the ends of the pins but the rest of the side left natural (or shellacked.) I did not really want to do that here as it would be a rather dark stripe.
Any suggestions?
BTW, I managed to incorporate my wife’s initials (BHW) into the front half blind dovetails of her drawer. They are not as tight as I would like but not bad, I think, for my first try. What other shapes do people use besides triangles for their “dovetail” joints?
Replies
When I want the fronts to be darker than the sides, I usually stain 'em (and sometimes finish 'em) before I glue them up. Otherwise, I'll just use a small brush and be careful. (By this I mean, let my wife - who has far more patience for this sort of thing than I do - do it.) ;- )
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I'm not one of the veterans, but I also stained the front prior to gluing up the drawer, after the dry-fitting test. Looks alright.
Any pics of your drawers?
Julien the happy woodworker
At least my workbench understands me...
Thanks for the thoughts. In the future I will finish the fronts before assembly. Here is a pic of the dovetails with the initials, BHW. Thanks to everyone on the Knots lists for inspiring me to try this.
Chris
Man, that is just COOL. Nice picJulien the happy woodworker
At least my workbench understands me...
I agree with Julien. I'm making a piece for my sister's housewarming this summer, I think I will copy your idea.
Nice work, and thanks for sharing it!My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
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