I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing. It
has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a 1/2"
to short.

The solution I came up with is to continue to have all the drawer faces the
same size, but make the center drawer face overlap the drawer dividers by
1/2" and make the top and bottom drawer faces overlap by 1/4". I hope this
solves my problem. The only way anyone would notice my screw up is if they
removed all the drawers from the carcass.

Anyone ever do this before??

--
Stoutman
http://www.garagewoodworks.com
(Featuring a NEW look)

stoutman wrote:
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing. It
has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a 1/2"
to short.

The solution I came up with is to continue to have all the drawer faces the
same size, but make the center drawer face overlap the drawer dividers by
1/2" and make the top and bottom drawer faces overlap by 1/4". I hope this
solves my problem. The only way anyone would notice my screw up is if they
removed all the drawers from the carcass.

Anyone ever do this before??

G'day Stoutman,
Normal Operating Procedure.
The important thing with a piece of furniture is functionality and looks.
You will have both of these so no problem.
Even if someone removes all the drawers they would probably need a tape
measure to see the difference and then you'd have them guessing " Wonder
why that was built like that
If you don't tell they won't know.

regards
John

stoutman wrote:
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing. It
has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a 1/2"
to short.

The solution I came up with is to continue to have all the drawer faces the
same size, but make the center drawer face overlap the drawer dividers by
1/2" and make the top and bottom drawer faces overlap by 1/4". I hope this
solves my problem. The only way anyone would notice my screw up is if they
removed all the drawers from the carcass.

Anyone ever do this before??


Well, I never did THAT before. But I've made about every other mistake
a feller can find a way to make and still keep his fingers. It goes
with the territory I guess. Good Save.

DonkeyHody
"Give a hungry man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him to
fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day. "

"stoutman" wrote in message

Anyone ever do this before??

Only once ... the big question, since math mistakes are inevitable, is what
are you going to do to keep it from happening again?


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/13/05

You have just re-discovered the fact that overlapping/overlay drawer fronts
can hide a multitude of sin. Inset drawers are less forgiving. No one
looking at the dresser will notice, but now God and the thousands who follow
this news group know of your transgression. Christ was a carpenter he will
forgive you but the wood terrorists may attack!
Earl Creel

"stoutman" .@. wrote in message
...
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing.
(SNIP)

John B wrote:
stoutman wrote:
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my
future son (due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining
drawer spacing. It has three overlapping drawers which were supposed
to be equally spaced. Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the
center drawer space is a 1/2" to short.

The solution I came up with is to continue to have all the drawer
faces the same size, but make the center drawer face overlap the
drawer dividers by 1/2" and make the top and bottom drawer faces
overlap by 1/4". I hope this solves my problem. The only way anyone
would notice my screw up is if they removed all the drawers from the
carcass.

Anyone ever do this before??

G'day Stoutman,
Normal Operating Procedure.
The important thing with a piece of furniture is functionality and looks.
You will have both of these so no problem.
Even if someone removes all the drawers they would probably need a tape
measure to see the difference and then you'd have them guessing " Wonder
why that was built like that
If you don't tell they won't know.

regards
John
Might not hurt to make it obvious which slots the drawers go in. That
way they'll fit the first time when someone else takes them all out,
then tries to put them without finding the wrong slot.
Joe
experienced multi-drawer size installer

Stoutman,

Anyone can do woodworking. An experienced man can fix screw-ups.

I once watched a 72 year old carpenter working on a new house when he
discovered the architect screwed up and put the stairs 12 inches in the
wrong place.

He reread the plans and took just 20 minutes to build a box to puh the
stairs out where they had to be to work. That was to me the sign of a
craftsman.

It is not our ability to make a drawer, but to fix our inevitable
mistakes as we go along. Good going on your fix-it.

Bill in New Mexico

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 08:48:08 GMT, "stoutman" .@. wrote:

I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing. It
has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a 1/2"
to short.

The solution I came up with is to continue to have all the drawer faces the
same size, but make the center drawer face overlap the drawer dividers by
1/2" and make the top and bottom drawer faces overlap by 1/4". I hope this
solves my problem. The only way anyone would notice my screw up is if they
removed all the drawers from the carcass.

Anyone ever do this before??


Yes, but not to that extent.

You do realize that no one will ever notice the mistake unless you
bring it to their attention. The only thing you have to work on is
getting it out of your own mind. I've made many pieces of furniture
and all of them have flaws. I know that they are there but the
reaction of those looking at my work is Wow, great work.

Don't worry about it.

"stoutman" .@. wrote in message
...
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing. It
has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a
1/2" to short.

The solution I came up with is to continue to have all the drawer faces
the same size, but make the center drawer face overlap the drawer dividers
by 1/2" and make the top and bottom drawer faces overlap by 1/4". I hope
this solves my problem. The only way anyone would notice my screw up is
if they removed all the drawers from the carcass.

Anyone ever do this before??

Never did that... however, judging by the amount of overlap you anticipate
using it sounds like the dividing styles are pretty wide. If they are wide
enough, is it possible for you to make them narrower, i.e., take 1/4" off
the middle drawer side? The power tool approach would be a router and guide
and clean out the corners with a chisel. The hand tool approach would be to
use a marking knife to incise a deep line to which you could pare with a
chisel. Of course this all assumes you haven't put in all the internal
drawer guides, etc.!

John

"stoutman" .@. wrote in message
...
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future son
(due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing. It
has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a
1/2" to short.
Anyone ever do this before??


Thank you for your honesty. The authorities are en route to confiscate all
of your woodworking tools for making such an error!

But seriously, don't sweat it because, believe me, nobody will notice it
unless you draw it to their attention. I have come to the conclusion that a
large part of a woodworker's skill is his ability to fix / hide his
screwups. I have yet to build anything that hasn't required some unplanned
attention to some detail or another.

BTW, when you have a screw up that you can't quite fix or hide completely,
it becomes a "feature" of the finished product.

"Frank Ketchum" wrote in message
link.net...

"stoutman" .@. wrote in message
...
I am in the middle of making a dresser (my first dresser) for my future
son (due in Feb) and I screwed up my math when determining drawer spacing.
It has three overlapping drawers which were supposed to be equally spaced.
Unfortunately after glue up I noticed that the center drawer space is a
1/2" to short.
Anyone ever do this before??


Thank you for your honesty. The authorities are en route to confiscate
all of your woodworking tools for making such an error!

But seriously, don't sweat it because, believe me, nobody will notice it
unless you draw it to their attention. I have come to the conclusion that
a large part of a woodworker's skill is his ability to fix / hide his
screwups. I have yet to build anything that hasn't required some
unplanned attention to some detail or another.

BTW, when you have a screw up that you can't quite fix or hide completely,
it becomes a "feature" of the finished product.


It depends on your area of expertise/experience to even be able to notice
such things.

I do woodworking and design and build some gym equipment. I notice things
like this if I am looking for it. My wife makes clothes and is a quilter.
Anything to do with fabric or colors, she can spot ir from a block away. I
look right at it when she is telling me about it and I still can't see it.

It all depends what kind of "eye" you have.

I remember having a conversation with a portrait drawer/painter. The
attention to detail this guy had and noticing the little stuff was surreal.
Again, he would point it out and I still did not "see" it.

Yeah, and we can tell the kid an embarassing story about his
dad in a few years!

Earl Creel wrote:
You have just re-discovered the fact that overlapping/overlay drawer fronts
can hide a multitude of sin. Inset drawers are less forgiving. No one
looking at the dresser will notice, but now God and the thousands who follow
this news group know of your transgression.

The Frank Ketchum entity posted thusly:

BTW, when you have a screw up that you can't quite fix or hide completely,
it becomes a "feature" of the finished product.

Hey, if it works for Microsoft, it should work for woodworkers!

---
I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like
my grandfather, not screaming in terror,
like his passengers.

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement to all that responded!
Luckily my drawer dividers are wide enough to accommodate the mistake (1").
I just need to put it out of my mind after it is built.

--
Stoutman
http://www.garagewoodworks.com
(Featuring a NEW look)