The desk has 3 drawers once again!

Finally, a project I had been planning for the past 5 years, in the works for at least 30, and for something missing for at least 45 years... finally came to fruition today.

 

An old yellow desk which had been given to a former family member had 3 drawers originally but something happened to the bottom drawer & instead of fixing it, the parts were just thrown away. I ended up inheriting it & I vowed some day to recreate that drawer but at the time I lacked the time, knowledge, & resources to make it come true.

 

During the COVID lockdown & during a fit of having to clean my room extra well, I finally pulled out the best example of a drawer for the desk & measured it in metric. I left the plans for the drawer in a notebook for the past 5 years. It was only within the past couple of months was I able to figure out what I needed.

 

I needed a sheet of wood 7 mm thick - nothing at Lowe's was that thick, so I had to make do with 5 mm thick wood. I would need wood glue, a way to cut the pieces, and importantly, a way to cut channels in the wood for the bottom to slide in. Which also made for a way to glue it firmly in place. That meant a router / cutter accessory for my rotary tool. I got that part done on Tuesday... and getting there wasn't easy because the accessory I got off Amazon wasn't made for my particular tool. The kit required modification. But I knew once I had completed what I needed cut, the drawer would come together quickly.

 

Another problem is I had to rely on someone else to cut the wood into the pieces I needed. The result wasn't perfect but it was good enough to work in spite of the indelicate variances. They weren't horribly bad to make it not work. 

Once I was able to test fit everything, gluing it together, figuring out how to attach the front, centering the drawer pull, clamping it during glue curing... it wasn't easy & maybe there's a better easier way to do it, but I didn't know what it was. But after 2 days of using my rotary tool as a router, I was finally able to see it take shape.

I tried using 1 inch nails to hold it together, but the out of squareness of the resulting box required removing them during gluing. And repeated gluing. I was able to precisely cut a narrow strip for the bottom because in spite of measuring twice & cutting, the bottom was under 1 centimeter short. I wanted it all to glue together tightly so as to prevent ingress of pests.

Finally on Friday, I figured out how the front will attach to hide the mess behind it. I had already figured out how to center the drawer pull, having to cut the bolt to attach it, and then needing a washer to take up a bit of space for a tight fit.

Then today I got out the Polyurethane stuff & gave it all a coat. I didn't see the need to do 2 coats. What I failed to understand is this stuff was not the varnish I used to remember from years ago. It's just a protectant which just absorbed right into the wood, so I'm probably going to be looking for another small container of something.

I got it inserted into the desk & it fits tightly but that was to be expected. I may use some crayon or diatomaceous earth for ease in movement... And the drawer I had in there was moved to the bottom & then I see how that bottom drawer slot has a problem for proper closure. So another problem to figure out?  

I was able to remove the makeshift box I bought & modified to set in place so I could store some of my manga books. In the end, I was able to store all but 6 books from the box. I just need to figure out how to throw the makeshift box away. I feel bad I spent money on it only for it to not quite fit my needs but also fit my needs somewhat. I don't think it cost me much... maybe $11?