M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 1 71Photo, this page: Michael Pekovich

’ve never seen the virtues of building atable with drawers in the traditionalway—with a double-tenoned stretcher

below the drawer and a dovetailed top rail.It just seems like unnecessary work. I’vedeveloped methods for building a tablewith drawers that are faster and, to mymind, stronger. It’s the same approach Iuse when building a chest of drawers. Ibuild frames to go over and under the

drawers, then simply attach them to pre-assembled ends. This approach makes theentire project more manageable and all butguarantees a smooth and square glue-up.

This library table is adapted from variousStickley catalogs from the turn of the 20thcentury. It would work well as a writingdesk or as a reading table. My approach tothe construction of this traditional Arts andCrafts piece is straightforward. I used quar-

tersawn stock, hand-hammered hardwareand a slightly lighter finish than is custom-ary for this style.

The best boards go on topFor this project, I ordered 100 bd. ft. of oak,then riffled through to choose boards forspecific parts. Once all of the boards hadbeen surfaced, I designated the best of thelot for the tabletop, which I typically glue

An Arts and Crafts

Library Table

A nontraditional approach to building a desk with drawers

B Y E R I C K E I L

I

72 F I N E W O O D W O R K I N G Drawings: Bob La Pointe

up first so that I know what I’m working to-ward. I also sorted all of the other lumber,denoted which pieces will be used whereand milled them to their finished thickness.

The less-attractive lumber was designat-ed for interior parts, such as the twoframes. These frames are identical to faceframes on an ordinary plywood cabinet,but they have a very different use. Just ason a chest of drawers, the frames span thetwo ends, and drawers are housed be-tween them. I built the frames using biscuitjoinery, but mortise-and-tenon joinerywould work, too. Once installed, theframes will be joined in so many ways thatthe chance of their failing is negligible, ifnot impossible. I left the frames slightlyoversized to be squared up later.

Assemble the endsBuilding the ends was the first big task ofthis job. I started with the legs. To ensurefigured surfaces on all four sides, I rippedfour matching quartersawn boards 21⁄4 in.wide, then mitered the edges at 45°. Theeasiest way to make the legs was to miterthe four faces first, see that they fit togethersquare, then cut a solid core. The solid corehelps keep the assembly square duringglue-up and supports and strengthens themortise-and-tenon joinery of the apron. Icut the core piece slightly undersized (asmall 1⁄32 in. or so) to ensure that all of thejoints would close up and to avoid failureof the leg joints during seasonal expansion.

I placed the mitered faces side by sideand taped up the corners, making sure thatthere were no gaps between the pieces.Then I flipped over the assembly, spread

Table-end glue-up

LEGS WITH QUARTERSAWN FIGURE ON FOUR SIDES

Four mitered pieces are required for eachleg. Choose quartersawn stock with matchingfleck patterns, then miter both edges.

Strips of masking tape act as clamps. Setthe mitered edges of the legs tightly againsteach other, then tape them together.

Wrap up the leg. Spread glue on all of the in-terior surfaces, including the core. Then wrapthe four mitered sections around the core andsecure the assembly with additional tape.

Fill-in strip,5⁄8 in. thick by3⁄4 in. wide

Distancebetweenslats, 7⁄8 in.

Tenon atback of tableis mitered.

Side apron, 51⁄8 in. wide by213⁄4 in. long,shoulder toshoulder

Tenon, 1⁄2 in.thick by 3 in.wide by 11⁄2 in.deep

Tenon, 3⁄8 in.thick by 3 in.wide by 1 in. deep

Tenon, 1⁄2 in. thickby 21⁄2 in. wide by21⁄2 in. deep

Leg, 21⁄4 in. squareby 29 in. long

Leg is assembledfrom 5⁄8-in.-thickmitered stockwrapped arounda solid core.

Slat, 5⁄8 in. thickby 33⁄4 in. wideby 161⁄4 in. long,shoulder toshoulder

Through-mortise,1⁄2 in. wide by 7 in.long

Lower rail, 3 in. wideby 213⁄4 in. long,shoulder to shoulder

M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 1 73Photos, except where noted: Matthew Teague; this page (top right): Michael Pekovich

glue in the V-grooves and on the insidefaces. I simply set the core in place, rolledup the entire thing and bound the last cor-ner with tape. If the joinery is cut with care,the pieces should close up without anytrouble. Slight gaps can be coerced shutwith the use of a clamp or two.

I allowed the legs to cure overnight, thencut all of the leg mortises with a 1⁄2-in.straight bit mounted in a plunge router out-fitted with an edge guide. Even thethrough-mortises can be cut this way. Tohandle the through-mortises on the thicklegs, though, I plunged from each side ofthe leg rather than all the way through theleg from one side.

The rest of the end assembly was fairlysimple. All of the mortises were cut with arouter and squared up with a chisel.

I cut the tenons on the tablesaw. First I es-tablished the shoulder cuts with the boardheld horizontally and then the trimmed thecheeks with the workpiece held upright.For efficiency, I cut all of the mortises andtenons for the entire table at the same time.I then angled the blade to 45° and cham-fered the ends of the through-tenons.

Attach the frames and shelfI scratched my head for some time tryingto figure out how to handle the rear apronof this table. I wanted the corbels to be afull 1 in. thick, but that meant they wouldbe flush with the rear apron, which neithermimicked the drawer fronts nor provided anecessary shadow line between the apronand corbel. In the end, I decided to buildout the top and bottom of the rear apron to

Assemble the ends.First fit the slats to theapron and lower rail,then set the assemblyinto the mortises onthe legs.

Biscuits make forfoolproof alignment.After the insides of theends are blocked outflush with the legs, bis-cuit slots are cut to ac-cept the frames.

Rout the mortises. Using an edge guide on aplunge router, drop the bit a little at a time un-til you reach the desired depth.

74 F I N E W O O D W O R K I N G

echo the top and bottom frames on thefront of the desk.

After cutting the tenons on the rearapron, I ran a rabbet 3⁄4 in. wide and 1⁄4 in.deep along the outside edges. After assem-bly, 1⁄2-in.-thick strips will be added to cre-ate raised areas that mimic the front andprovide a necessary change in thicknesswhere the corbel abuts the leg and apron.

Because the frames were to be biscuited

to the ends, I added fill-in strips to the in-side of the apron at top and bottom, mak-ing sure that the strips were flush with thefront and rear legs. The strips can be at-tached with glue or with glue and screws.

Once the fill-in strips were in place, Isquared up the frames using a large sled at the tablesaw, using the length of the rear apron as a reference. I then drilledholes for the tabletop. While I could have

let the drawer dividers into sliding dove-tails, I simply cut them to size, set them inplace at the front and back of the framesand doweled them from above and below.Once the drawer glides are installed, thedividers will be locked in place by aboutfive different joints.

I used #20 biscuits to join the frames tothe two ends and to the rear apron. To ac-commodate the corbels, I cut #10 biscuit

Frames arebiscuited to rearapron before theyare joined to ends.

Tabletop, 1 in. thick by 28 in. deep by 54 in. wide

Strip, 1⁄2 in. thick by1 in. wide, set into1⁄4-in.-deep rabbeton rear apron.

#20 biscuitsjoin frames toassembledends.Dividers, 3⁄4 in.

thick by 35⁄8 in.wide by 3 in. tall,are doweled toupper and lowerframes.

Frames, 241⁄4 in.deep by 457⁄16 in.long, are biscuitedand assembled using3⁄4-in.-thick by 3-in.-wide stock. Shelf, 1 in. thick

by 8 in. wide by 463⁄4 in. long,shoulder to shoulder

Corbel is attachedto leg and framewith #10 biscuits.

Shelf tenon, 1⁄2 in.thick by 7 in. wideby 13⁄8 in. deep,protrudes frommortise 3⁄8 in.

Shelf and drawer assembly join the two ends

54 in.

30 in.

50 in. 261⁄4 in.

41⁄2 in.

28 in.

M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 1 75

slots underneath the frame and along theinside of the legs.

I dry-fit the assembly to be sure that theshelf and the frames fit onto the ends andclosed up squarely. Once I was confidentthere wouldn’t be any surprises, I glued therear apron to the frames, making sure thatthe ends of the apron aligned exactly withthe ends of the frames. Then I was finallyready for the entire assembly to go

Frames are the startingpoint. The author constructstwo frames that will goabove and below the draw-ers. The frames are simplybiscuited together.

The rear apron is biscuit-ed to the frame assembly.Note that the drawer di-viders are already in place.

Bring it all together. The through-tenoned shelf, the biscuited frames and the ends are allassembled in one operation. The glue-up proceeds easily when it is done with the table up-side down on a flat surface.

131⁄4 in.

29⁄16 in.

CORBEL

76 F I N E W O O D W O R K I N G

together. It was easiest to glue up the tableupside down on a flat surface. One nicething about using preassembled frames isthat, at glue-up, it took only a few clampsto pull everything closed.

Install the drawer glidesI know that secondary woods and ply-wood drawer bottoms might be acceptablewhen building furniture, but I can’t helpmyself—I love the sound and feel of aheavy oak drawer seating itself smoothlyinto place. And, as I mentioned before, Iordered the lumber in bulk, so using oak asthe secondary wood allowed me to use upsome of the less-desirable pieces.

The method I use for building and in-stalling drawers is one I’ve relied on manytimes. While I could have let the drawers

Install drawer blocking and glides last

Side filler board, 15⁄16 in. thick by231⁄8 in. long

Center glide, 3⁄4 in.thick by 11⁄8 in. wideby 231⁄8 in. long, ishalf-lapped ontoframe.

Groove, 3⁄8 in. by3⁄8 in., acceptsglide.

Drawer front, 31⁄2 in. wide by 141⁄2 in. long,conceals filler boards and glides.

Drawer isconstructed from3⁄4-in.-thick stockand finger-jointedat corners.

Side glide, 3⁄8 in.thick by 3⁄4 in. wide,is let into grooveon filler board.

Drawer bottom is 3⁄4 in.thick to allow for centerglide.

Drawer issupported byside glides.

Filler boardextends 3⁄8 in. intodrawer opening.

Drawer issuspended1⁄16 in. aboveframe.

Drawer bottomis grooved forcenter glide.

Center filler board, 3⁄4 in. thick by 231⁄8 in. long,straddles drawer divider.

M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 1 77

ride on the frames alone, I prefer drawersthat have a bottom glide and are side-hung. Using three wooden glides, it is sim-ple to make small adjustments to the fit andto the drawer reveal, even before anythingis installed.

My first step was to make the drawersthemselves. I used a box-joint sled on a tablesaw (see FWW #148, pp. 60-63) toconstruct simple finger-jointed boxes thatwill receive false fronts once installed. I leftthe drawers about 1 in. shy of full length(from front apron to rear apron) to accom-modate the drawer fronts and to allowsome room for adjustments.

Once the drawers were glued up—and itis essential that there be no twist in thedrawer—I used a dado setup on the table-saw to plow grooves in the two sides and

along the center of the 3⁄4-in.-thick drawerbottom. After that, it was time to install theglides. Essentially, I was simply blockingout the ends and the voids between the di-viders, then setting glides into grooves.The glides can be sized and adjusted to fitthe drawers before any glue has been ap-plied, but it’s important to get a perfect fit before securing them permanently. Afew small screws or brads are all it takes toattach the glides. Once everything is inplace, the grooved drawers should ridesmoothly along the glides. Then it was asimple matter of gluing the drawer frontsto the drawer boxes.

Because I use a spray setup for finishing,I sprayed the top and base separately, be-cause it’s easier to spray the base whenyou don’t have to work into corners or

worry about overspray. I coated the piecewith a mix of Minwax stains and let it sit for a week. I then sprayed on two coats offlat lacquer.

The tabletop itself was screwed directlyto the frames. It was fixed at the center withscrews, and then the front and back werescrewed into elongated holes—which al-low for seasonal movement—through theupper frame. The drawer fronts, likewise,were simply attached with screws.

A final touch was the hand-hammeredcopper pulls (see the back cover) fromGerald Rucks. With the solid drawers,smooth-running glides and the authenticpulls, the desk is a pleasure to use. �

Eric Keil builds custom furniture and cabinetry inWilkes-Barre, Pa.

Block out the ends. The ends of the table are blocked out with a board grooved to accept thedrawer glides.

Glides span the dividers. Center dividersare sandwiched between two filler boards thathouse the drawer glides.

Insert the drawer glides and install thecenter glide. Glue the drawer glides in placeand mount the center glide on the lower draw-er frame. The center glide ensures that thedrawer tracks correctly.