Scroll saw box stage two

Hi All,
Continuing with the two drawer scroll saw box that I started a couple of posts ago, I thought I'd take you through the next stage, which was to cut the pieces out.

First, I drilled a small hole at the bottom of each draw just big enough to take a number 9 scroll saw blade. I usually use a small hand held drill for this task but on this occasion I was able to use a pillar drill and found it much easier. My son refurbished me a drill that he had in his workshop and gave it to me for my birthday. In sixty three years I'd have to say it is one of the best presents I've ever had, that is of course excluding those I have had from my wife. Anyway, if you do take up the scroll saw, I would recommend getting a pillar drill because it will be money well spent and it is surprising how many DIY tasks it comes in handy for.

When it comes to the actual sawing, I find it easier to do the internal cuts first and the outside cuts last. By doing it that way you will always have more wood to hold onto and it will keep your fingers a bit further from the blade. The other important thing to remember when doing a box of this type on a scroll saw is that accuracy is very important.When you are cutting out the drawers, you need to stick to the cutting line like a tic to a terrier because the wood on both sides of the line are going to be used.
 
 Here are some photos of the pieces now that they have been cut out.

So we have six outside pieces including the back, which of course doesn't need the drawers cutting out.
You will also notice that the drawers from piece 1 are left intact because they will be the drawer fronts.
Likewise, the drawers on piece 5 have also been left uncut because they will form the backs of the drawers.
Finally, pieces 2 and five are different from the others because they have feet.


The next thing I do is to remove the paper pattern from the wood and then start the gluing up process. Now you may think that the best way forward here is to glue up the pieces in one go, but that would be a folly. If you have ever tried putting a layer of glue between two pieces of wood and clamping them together you will know what happens. If you haven't, here is the answer, they move and slide about so clamping together more than two pieces of wood at the same time is not recommended.

I start with the middle two which I glue and clamp together very carefully. I double check that the outsides and the drawer aperture are lined up properly before I leave the glue to set and find that I very often have to slacken the clamps off and reposition one of the pieces again.


In my next post I will show you the next process and I might have done some pyrography, I have a small project burning away at the back of my mind so perhaps I need to transfer it and burn it onto some wood with my pyrography iron.