The Young Mechanic / Containing directions for the use of all kinds of tools, and for the construction of steam engines and mechanical models, including the art of turning in wood and metal

by James Lukin

Fig. 37.

Fig. 37 is such a cabinet, with six drawers, dovetailed at the corners as usual. The bottom, however, projects beyond the sides, so that the latter are not made lower than the back, as was the case with the table-drawer previously described. The top and sides may be of mahogany, the back and bottom of pine (stained or not at pleasure), or if cost is an object, the whole may be of any other wood; but the grooves in which the drawers slide, can be cut more sharply and neatly in harder wood than pine—birch, for instance, which is very fit for the purpose, and will take a good polish. The outer case is first made like an open box. The dimensions may be regulated according to the intended use, but generally the drawers increase in depth downwards. The top and bottom overlap the sides, the latter to a somewhat greater width than the former. The sides can therefore only be dovetailed to the back; the bottom may be attached with screws, and the top likewise, but the holes must then be plugged to conceal them. If the whole is of deal, and to be painted or veneered, this would be the best plan; but if the top is of mahogany, it is not so easy to fill up the holes above the heads of the screws so as to thoroughly conceal them. If, however, you have no plough to cut a groove to let the sides and back a little way into the top, glue alone will not hold sufficiently. In this case smaller holes may be made to admit 2-inch brads to assist the glue, such holes being easily filled with putty stained to imitate mahogany.

The peculiarity of the drawers consists in their meeting each other quite closely when shut, without the intermediate divisions ordinarily seen. Hence the necessity for a different arrangement of the sliding surfaces as before referred to. The insides of the case have five grooves ploughed across them, as seen at C of this figure, the sixth drawer only being made as usual to slide upon the bottom of the case, and having its sides made lower than the back for this purpose.

In the grooves thus cut, the projecting part of the bottom of the drawers is made to fit and slide, and they will run more smoothly if cut so that the grain of the wood shall run across the bottom, from front to back, and not from side to side. The bottom of the drawer must not come below the level of the front, but either the front should be rebated to take one edge of it, as seen at E, which is the best way, or a slip of wood should be glued along as at F, on which that edge may rest, and to which it can be attached. D exhibits this distinctly, as it is drawn as if the nearest end was removed to show the position of the other parts. The bottom, therefore, will be let into the front, and nailed under the back and sides, and will project rather less than half an inch each way, to fit the grooves in which it is to slide. Another way to effect the same is to make the drawers as usual, with no such projections, and to nail a strip to run in the grooves in the middle of the side pieces, or, if preferred, near the top. The effect is, of course, the same, and such strips being planed up nicely, with the grain running lengthwise, will cause the drawers to work in and out very smoothly.

There is no neater way than this to make a cabinet; and sometimes the whole is closed with a panelled door, for which purpose the case is left to project beyond the drawers. Unless well supplied in the matter of planes, which is hardly to be expected, you will not be able to cut the grooves in the side of the outer case in any way but the following, which, however, will answer very well when the piece in which they are to be cut is not above 9 inches or 1 foot wide. Mark out the places, spacing them with the greatest care, and cut just within the lines with a tenon-saw; then cut out with a chisel the narrow piece which intervenes. There is a plane called a routing-plane used for this by cabinetmakers and joiners, but you may as well exercise your ingenuity to do without it. If you have a plough, you may remove the fence, and let it follow up the saw and chisel, but it will be hardly required if you use the chisel carefully.

I shall now introduce to your notice another very excellent plane, called a side or sash fillister, for cutting rebates of any required depth and width. It is very like the plough in appearance, with a similar wooden guide or fence on two arms to regulate the width, and another of metal, moved by a screw at the top, to regulate the depth of the cut. Fig. 38, A, shows one side of this plane, and B the other. The cutting edge comes down to the level of c d in fig. A; the fence, of which the edge is seen at h, will draw up to the level of a b, or lower to that of the edge. This plane, therefore, is but a more complete rebate-plane, fitted with guides for depth and width. It does its work very perfectly, and is of extensive use.

Fig. 38.

I have given descriptions of these planes, although the young mechanic will not at first possess them, as they are somewhat expensive, because I feel it as well to let him know how work is done by the trade, and why it is that such work is effected more rapidly and better than he himself can do it; but at the same time it is far better that he should, for a long time, work at a disadvantage, by using few tools, and those of the simplest construction, before taking in hand others which cost a good deal of money, which might often be better spent. A look back over these pages will show that with a long (or jack) plane, a smoothing-plane and a rebate-plane, all the work previously alluded to can be done. As, however, I am writing upon the subject of planes, I may as well mention two more—match-planes and beading-planes—to which may be added those for moulding, being an extension only of the last named. Match-planes are always in pairs. Their use is to cut, the one a groove, Fig. 39, A, the other a tenon or tongue, or feather, as it is sometimes called, as Fig. 39, B, down the long sides (with the grain) of boards that are to be joined lengthwise (Fig. 39). If the plough is used, a groove is cut in both pieces, and a slip of board planed up to fit them; either method will answer equally well. When boards joined thus shrink, the tongue or slip fills up space.