Small Stand is aLesson in Curves Cut joinery first, then saw the curves BY STEPHEN HAMMER ne way to add interest to a case piece is to add a gentle curve to the front plane. I wanted to explore this element of furniture making Owhile attending a 12-week class at the Center for Furniture Crafts- manship in Rockport, Maine, so I designed and built this cherry cabinet, find- ing ways to curve the door and drawers that did not require steam-bending or veneering. The drawer fronts and the door frame are sawn out of thicker stock, and the door panel is coopered to match that curve—methods well- suited to the average small shop. Arriving at a final design for a piece of furniture is often a laborious task. However, a few preliminary steps made this process easier and more suc- cessful. First, small thumbnail sketches allowed me to visualize the overall form quickly and easily. The thumbnails led me to a curved-body design with an overhanging top. Next, I drew the cabinet at quarter scale, where I set the top height at 35 in., then determined the width of the piece. The appearance of this cabinet depended upon the leg shape being correct. I based the leg shape on the classical column, which curves slightly inward, starting one-third up the column height. Called an entasis, this narrowing is meant to keep the eye from thinking that the column is concave—an optical A CASE BOTTOM THAT STAYS PUT Double stub tenons and tongue-and-groove joinery will keep the bottom panel flat and stable. First, rout the mortises and Cut the tenons on the bottom Rout between the tenons to grooves in the side assembly. panel. Transfer their layout di- form the wide tongue. Carefully Move the router in the proper di- rectly from the mortised side as- mark the starting and stopping Test-fit the joinery. Trim the rection, and the cutting force will sembly. Make the cheek and end points on the router-table fence. joints as necessary to eliminate keep it pressed against its guide. cuts, then saw out the waste. any gaps between the panels. 72 FINE WOODWORKING Photo, this page (top): Rodney Diaz 3 CURVED-FRONT STAND Top, ⁄4 in. thick 1 Bevel, 1 ⁄2 in. wide The stand is cherry, with book- 1 by ⁄4 in. deep matched, solid-wood panels. Top back stretcher, 9 Back panels, ⁄16 in. thick by 1 1 in. 1 1 ⁄2 in. wide ⁄2 in. thick Groove, 7 3 1 Lap dovetails, ⁄8 in. long 12 ⁄8 in. ⁄4 in. wide 3 by ⁄8 in. Drawer 5 3 deep Stiles, ⁄8 in. thick by 1 ⁄4 in. runners, 9 wide by 25 ⁄16 in. long 3 ⁄16 in. thick 1 by ⁄2 in. wide 1 Tongue, ⁄4 in. thick 1 Radius of by ⁄4 in. wide Radius of drawer, 5 top, 31 ⁄8 in. door, top stretcher Side panels, and bottom panel, 1 9 in. wide by 30 ⁄4 in. 27 in. tall Top front stretcher, 9 1 ⁄16 in. thick by 1 ⁄2 in. 3 2 ⁄8 in. wide Tongue, 1 1 1 ⁄4 in. ⁄4 in. thick by 3 Bottom ⁄8 in. long stretchers, 5 ⁄8 in. thick 1 Reveal, by 1 ⁄2 in. 1 ⁄8 in. wide 1 Groove, ⁄4 in. 3 wide by ⁄8 in. deep Door panel, 1 ⁄2 in. thick Frame tenons, 1 in. wide by 1 in. long 5 Rails, ⁄8 in. 3 Stub tenons, thick by 1 ⁄4 in. 3 ⁄8 in. wide by wide Door pull, 1 1 in. by ⁄2 in. long 3 Groove for back ⁄8 in. 1 1 Rails and stiles, Tongue, ⁄4 in. frame, ⁄4 in. wide 3 1 ⁄4 in. thick by thick by ⁄4 in. 3 by ⁄8 in. deep Inside edges of long 2 in. wide the legs taper 3 8 1 ⁄ in. beginning Haunched 1 ⁄2 in. 1 Case bottom, at the bottom of tenons, ⁄4 in. 7 1 1 ⁄8 in. thick by 5 the case. 15 ⁄8 in. 20 ⁄2 in. thick by 1 ⁄8 in. 3 in. 12 in. deep at 1 in. long ends 1 1 ⁄8 in. 1 1 ⁄4 in. 9 1 19 ⁄16 in. 34 ⁄4 in. Outside of legs curve DOOR-FRAME DETAIL Haunched Stile 3 7 tenon inward ⁄8 in. Grooves and mortises in 1 ⁄8 in. Rail beginning the stiles are square, and 11 in. from the tenons meet the stiles the bottom. squarely. The curve in the Mortise 1 7 ⁄4 in. rail is cut on the bandsaw. Groove 12 in. 14 in. MAY/JUNE 2003 73 CURVED DRAWER FRONTS 1 3 2 ⁄2 in. Bottom, ⁄8 in. thick, 1 is rabbeted ⁄8 in. to 1 fit ⁄4-in. groove. Groove for drawer 1 runner, ⁄2 in. wide 3 by ⁄16 in. deep by 3 9 ⁄4 in. long Groove, 1 ⁄4 in. wide 3 by ⁄16 in. Sides and deep 3 back, ⁄8 in. thick Side 5 Drawer Drawer pull, ⁄8 in. 1 front thick by ⁄2 in. wide by 2 in. long TEMPLATE FOR THE FRONT CURVE The drawer fronts, the door, the top Drawer front, 3 ⁄4 in. thick by front stretcher and the bottom panel 3 in. wide 2 in. all share the same curve. Use a piece of template stock long enough to con- tain the curve’s center point. illusion that happens when a column’s 7 1 ⁄8 in. sides are parallel. A piece often changes when you take Cut half-blind dovetails from square stock it off paper and put it into three dimen- before curving the front on the bandsaw. sions. To work out the leg details, I made a full-scale mock-up in poplar, panel back. (The grain of the top, sides and filling in the rest of the cabinet with bottom runs in the same direction, so it will cardboard cutouts. I curved the outside expand and contract together.) The front of the legs gently to the top, reducing door is a curved frame and panel, and the 3 the overall thickness by ⁄8 in. The bot- two drawers are side-hung. tom inside edges of the legs taper I often buy 12/4 or larger lumber and re- toward the floor, starting from the case saw everything I need out of a few planks to bottom. I tried different door and get consistent grain and color. When milling 1 drawer dimensions by drawing them the stock, leave it ⁄8 in. oversize in width onto the cardboard. and thickness and 1 in. oversize in length, It may seem like a lot of extra work to then stack and sticker the pieces for about build a mock-up, but the process saves a week so that air can circulate around time during construction because you them. If the boards move during that time, can focus on building the piece instead there still will be enough wood left to cor- of revising its design. Also, you can refer rect slight cupping or twisting. to the mock-up for dimensions. My final Begin construction of the case by assem- Make a simple curve-cutting jig with step was a full-scale drawing to work out bling the sides. I used biscuits to register a stick clamped to the saw table and the joinery details. the panel flush to the legs on the inside a screw driven through the pivot plane of the cabinet. Before the panel and point. The blade should be buried about legs are glued up, shape the legs on the halfway into the stick. Pivoting the work- Choose wood carefully piece delivers a smooth, uniform curve. and then build the case bandsaw and smooth the curves and ta- The case consists of two solid sides joined pers with a handplane and scraper. Use to the legs, a solid bottom and a frame-and- double-faced tape to mate the legs for 74 FINE WOODWORKING Drawings: Bob La Pointe First, lay out the curve. This will determine Cut all of the tails, then transfer the lay- Cut the front curve on the bandsaw. Cut how deep the dovetails can go. out to the drawer front. Clamp the drawer right to the line, then smooth the curve with a front flush with the benchtop. block plane and sandpaper. shaping on the bandsaw, and then clamp them together for the handwork. Before the sides were glued up, I put a handplaned surface on all parts. I also pre- finished as much as possible before glue- up. Prefinishing makes glue cleanup easier and protects the surfaces. I recently have begun using Tried & True Varnish Oil for all of my work. It is pleasant to work with and safe for kitchen pieces. Joinery is next—Once the side panels have been glued up, do all of the joinery for the case. Two stretchers dovetailed to the tops of the legs anchor the top to the case. The front stretcher is curved with the front plane of the cabinet. First, cut the dovetails on the ends of the stretchers. Then transfer their shapes to the legs using a sharp knife. I used a plunge router freehand to rough out the sockets in the legs, getting close to the line and then finishing with a chisel. The bottom stretchers and the case bot- tom are joined to the legs with double mor- tise and tenons. This strong joint helps counteract the racking forces that can weaken a cabinet over time.