Drawer Slides 'n Guides

Twenty years ago I made this computer desk for my wife. I had since made anther one for her. This old one became my desk. It had no drawers and I never saw the need for any but when I wanted to try box joinery, shown in the next photo, I found just the place for the drawers. But, as you can tell the desk does not have rails or guides to accommodate the drawers. The challenge was how to build and mount the guides - using the least amount of material and with as little disruption to the desk.

Used same 1/2 inch Baltic plywood as the drawers.

Tip: Brass spacer keys are a quick way to adjust table saw guide from the saw blade - 1/2 inch, in this case.

Ripped 1/2 by 1/2 inch walnut that will be used as drawer guide rails.

Pocket holes will serve in attaching one of the guides underneath the desk. See how it works later.

The 1/2 inch walnut were glued to the edges of the plywood guide, screws provided added strength

Dry fitting the drawer box

Counter sunk holes are for attaching one mating guide with screws to the side of the desk

Tip: The walnut rails were initially longer and cut after the glue had dried for a perfect flush with the plywood guide support ends.

Half of the guide panel is attached with screws as shown

Tip: Inserting a plastic spacer, then tighten the guide panels with the drawer sandwiched in between provides for just the right space - not too loose, not too tight - for the drawers to slide in and out, once the spacer is removed after installing with screws.

The other half of the guide panel is attached through the pocket holes

Double sided tapes are a way to hold the drawer face to the drawer while adjusting its position on the box before attaching it with screws.

The desk now looks like it had drawers all along since twenty years ago.

Knife Stand 9G

Woodworking is about joinery. If one is not joining pieces together then he or she is not doing woodworking. Cutting, smoothing and polishing are all good steps but until one has joined two or more pieces together to become one piece for a specific purpose then woodworking has not been completed. This is version 9 of a knife stand. Knives stored together inside drawers, blades hitting other blades, are like cattle in a cattle car. Knives, if one values them for either their utility and purpose or for their sentimental or exquisite values, should be stored individually, in full view and easy access.

This piece of material was purchased a long time ago, discounted by a woodworking store when this particular wood pieces had languished in a bin of unsold merchandise.

A joiner flattens one edge

A 2-1/2 inch piece was ripped on the table saw.

One piece was split in half edgewise.

A scraper removes the saw marks.

Walnut pieces ripped into 1/4 X 1/4 ribs.

Gluing the ribbed pieces along the edge of one piece effectively created a channel.

The other mating piece is used to aid in the glue up of the ribs. It was dry so it was removed after the ribs were set. It will be permanently glued to the channeled part later

A 45 degree cut. You can follow the process with the next photos.

A dry fitting

Another dry fitting

Applying glue before putting the two halved-pieces together but not quite glued the base.

Gluing up the top piece to the channeled piece.

It is not all power tools.

All the pieces before final glue up.

There were slight variations in the other construction but they all served one purpose - keep individual knives in their own stands.

The fluted profile here can only be made possible by the construction process shown.

The two photos below are of an earlier project. The stand is tiptoed on edge like a diver about to do a backward flip from a diving board. I have not taken photos of its construction so I cannot explain how it was constructed. It might seem that the joinery is flimsy or weak but rest assured it is strong. Perhaps later if I do make a version 2 of this, detailed photos will explain.