Whole Lotta Dados - the Chest of Drawers Project

The first project I'd like to blog is this chest of drawers project from American Woodworker, March /April 1988. This issue:

Black and white - Back in the good old days before the magazine was bought by Reader's Digest or whoever took it over. Here's the project (BTW, I'd like to make those shaker rockers on the cover, too):



Lotta drawers. Part of the reason I'm doing this is learning to trim and fit drawers.



The magazine explains the project as if you were using machines. Except for ripping to dimension with the tablesaw, and resawing the drawer sides with a bandsaw, I'm doing it all with hand tools. More fun that way.


Now I've already started, and the first job was to cut all those dados in the sides for the drawer dividers. Like this:

Rabbets along the back side to accept the back of the case.

I did the dados with a handsaw and a Stanley 39 3/8, bought from Patrick Leach at www.supertool.com - a great tool and a great tool dealer.

Here's two photos that show the basics of the process:

Enough for today. Blogging is hard work! I'm working on drawer dividers today and there is a lot more that I'd like to share. See ya!