Fig. 27.
In making a similar table with a drawer, the same operations have to be gone through, but the upper frame is somewhat differently constructed, and the corners of the drawer are united with dovetails. Plane up the legs as before, but cut mortices as at A. Fig. 27, which represents the right-hand hinder leg as you would see it standing in front of the table, and before the framework had been fitted in its place. B is the other hind leg, with the tenoned strips just ready to be driven in. The piece E is made as before, as is also C and its opposite piece at the ends of the table. But this pair of mortices, you see, are made shorter than before, and the strip C is notched at the bottom as well as at the top, forming a regular tenon, as it is called. Below this first is a second mortice, cut the other way, the longest side standing across the leg to receive a strip, D, upon which afterwards another strip, X, will be nailed or glued, forming the rebate in which the drawer will slide, and of which the upper surface must be level with that of the strip M. There is a plane for cutting out rebates without the necessity of adding a strip, but I do not suppose you as yet to have such a one. When these pieces, C and D, are driven up close into their places, they will touch along their sides, so that on the outside they will appear as one piece. Of course there will be a similar pair on the right-hand side of the table. D ought to be tenoned, so that the side on which X is to be nailed will lie flush or level with the corner of the leg, so that the strip X shall project wholly beyond it.
The left-hand front leg is shown at P, with its mortices, and the tenoned strips between which the front of the drawer will lie, closely fitting when shut. These front strips should be each 2 inches wide, the mortices 1 inch long, or as long as you can safely cut them; you must tenon the cross pieces, of course, to fit these.
All the rails may be of half-inch board. Mark all tenons across with the square as before, so as to give the exact inside dimensions, and you cannot well go wrong. These lines, too, will guide you in keeping the framework square and true; for if you have planed the legs correctly, and your strips are inserted exactly to the aforesaid lines, it stands to reason the work will be satisfactory. To make the drawer, observe, first, that it is not like a box as most boys would make it, for when turned upside down, as in Fig. 28, Fig. B, you will find the sides projecting beyond the bottom, which projections rest in the rebate, X, of the last figure, and take the whole weight of the drawer, enabling it to slide easily and smoothly in and out, especially if those surfaces which are in contact are rubbed with soap or blacklead, or a mixture of the two. At C you have a drawing of the same, with the bottom removed. This, you see, is a square or oblong frame dovetailed together, and when it is glued and dry, the bottom is slid in along the grooves in the sides (one of which is seen at x x), and a couple of brads driven through it into the back rail, K, fixes it completely. The front board of the drawer is cut and planed to fit exactly between the two rails which were morticed into the legs, as shown in the last fig., and is always of thicker stuff than the sides or bottom. It may, in the present case, be half-inch, and the rest quarter-inch.
Fig. 28.
If you look at C, you will observe that the front and sides of the drawer are of the same depth, and that only the back is narrower. (Remember that in this cut the drawer is seen from below, the groove x x being near the bottom of the sides, and level with the bottom of the back.)
To cut dovetails is not difficult, but requires neatness and care—a fine saw (dovetail or light tenon-saw) and a really sharp chisel; and, above all things, remember not to cut out the lines which have been drawn as guides. H is the end of the front of the drawer; L the left side. Having cut out the latter, and planed it up nicely, draw a line, by the aid of the square, one quarter or three eighths of an inch from the end across it. This will be the line o p of the bottom of the dovetails. Then mark and cut out two or three, as seen in the drawing, using the saw where you are able, and clearing out with the chisel in other places. From o p, measure the exact inside width of your drawer, and beyond the second line made across at that distance, leave a quarter of an inch for the second dovetails, and cut them out as you did the first. Now, prepare a second precisely similar piece for the opposite side. Next lay L in place upon H very truly, and with a fine-pointed hard pencil, or a scriber (a sharp-pointed steel marker), trace round the dovetails, marking them on the end of H, and with a sharp chisel cut them in a quarter of an inch deep, which will allow them to take the side piece exactly flush and level. Mark these two which have been so fitted, and proceed to do the same at the other end of the front piece, tracing these, as before, from the dovetails of the opposite side, which are to be there inserted. You do exactly the same with the back piece; but as this is both narrower and thinner, the dovetails will be cut quite through it, and will be seen on both pieces after being glued up, and there will only be room for one dovetail, instead of two. When all are cut, lay the pieces in position, glue quickly, press all together, and contrive to wedge up or bind round the whole until dry, testing with the square and adjusting, as maybe necessary. We shall return to dovetailing again, but these not requiring excessive neatness, will be a good beginning, and show you in what special points care is needed in such work. Nothing remains but to plane a piece for the bottom, and slide it into place.
