Thick veneered drawer fronts

M

macchips4

Well-known member
I'm building a frame and panel chest of drawers, Cherry with poplar secondary woods. I picked out some nicely figured, curly boards for the drawer fronts (3). Flatened and milled them to 3/4" thick. and proceded to build the carcuss. When time came to start the drawers.... the boards have bowed about 1/8+ inch along their length (34"). Now what! rather than looking for another choice of boards would it be "acceptable" to rip them  to about 1/4" and veneer then to  another board? Should I use a quartersawn board like white oak to be stable to avoid more movment? Is this a "Period Practice".
Any thoughts?
Joe
 
Joe,

I think you have several options.  If the boards can stay relatively flat by hand pressure, the structure of the dovetails might hold them in line.  You might also be able to flush them up to the case once the drawer has been fitted.  It seems I always have to do this anyway as a step in the process.

Seems to me 1/4" is a little heavy but 1/8" or a 1/16" seems reasonable to me if you need to resaw them and apply to another stable board.  You really could choose whatever species you wanted.  I am no expert but some of the "nicer" pieces laminated figured wood to wood of the same species, i.e. cherry on cherry.

Of course there are lots out there who have dissected old stuff WAY more than me....Cal
 
The drawers are to be inset, somewhat of a shaker style chest.
    If I plane them flat  the drawer front will be too thin in my opinion. The boards are bowed lenght wise and were color/figure matched to themselves(same board) and the rest of the case. so to dig and find replacements will be a real pain. I'm not happy......anyway I was thinking to laminate them to another board. yes a cherry board would be visually better but I was thinking maybe  quartersawn oak for a stable base but that would stand out. I don't have any quartersawn cherry maybe I'll try to locate some (widest 9")
Thanks for the replies
Joe
 
I would saw the boards to 1/4" veneer and laminate them to quarter sawn poplar. I would carefully prepare the poplar to be flat (let it adjust in your shop). If you want the final drawer thickness to be 3/4" I would thickness the poplar to 5/8". Then when you glue on the cherry laminate your total thickness will be 7/8" so if there is any bowing or cupping you have 1/8" to play with.

Howard Steier
 
I once had this same problem.  I glued the drawer together, clamped a straight edge to the drawer front and nailed/screwed the drawer bottom to the drawer front.  This held the bottom of the drawer front straight.  There was only a slight bow at the top so I planed it straight.  It's a gamble if it will work but it might be forth the effort.

Dennis Bork
Antiquity Period Designs, Ltd.
 
Joe- Just true them up and proceed. The draw fronts won't be too thin. All the front has to do is receive some dovetails and have a dado deep enough to catch the draw bottom. As as mentioned, just glue the draw bottom edge( grain going side to side) to the front and that will help if you're worried about strength. All a front does is sit there most of the time, it's not structural.-Al
 
  First thanks everyone for the replies,.... I need to sit stare at the boards and think this out. I have some quartersawn sycamore i'm using for the drawersides and backs. I might have enough to laminate behind the fronts, if thats the final choice.
    Al... would you suggest to flaten both faces or maybe just the "show" face as Dennis and Cal post? If I just plane the "show face it would help to keep the ends thick for the joinery. (looks like about 1/8 inch or less) Thankfully the boards all bow out so what ever the fix is, it will be consistant. Ahh.... the pleasure of working with solid wood! I wonder what a particle board highboy would look like?
Joe
 
Sure, you could flatten the front and maybe one pass on the back to get flats at the ends on the inside for the dovetails-Al
 
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