# Stumbling through the night stand



## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

I'll try to keep it short. Repurposing some bedroom furniture and basically only the drawers are usable. Building a 3 drawer night stand and using the original center slide wood/metal drawer slide... the metal female to the slide is attached to the drawer and the wooden male to the slide is attached to the night stand. I'm sure it is a fairly simple build for many but for me, no!
The wood/metal drawer slides have given me fits and many re-do's as I stumble through what should have been a fairly quick and basic project. I now know what drawer glides are and what their purpose is for.

The pics show the face frame and skeleton with shop built to fit drawer glides and the repurposed drawers. I am looking forward to the glue up of the 1x6's as I will try using splines for the first time. BTW those are the old drawer pulls that will be replaced.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Great work so far , wish I had that talent . Actually liking the old school look of the drawer pulls


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Very nice.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

nice


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

It's to be proud of, Marco. You're developing skills that can never go away.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Very nice if you ask me. I am a big fan of splines. They're incredibly strong, and far easier to get aligned than most other jointing methods. Repurposing drawers seems like a very good way to same some work and some material. Did you reattach the drawer fronts? You can cover up a raft of minor errors by how you reattach the fronts.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Looking good Marco. The drawer faces look like you made them new. You seem to have some glue stains that'll need work if you plan to stain.


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## schmitt32linedrill (Apr 23, 2013)

Marco said:


> I'll try to keep it short. Repurposing some bedroom furniture and basically only the drawers are usable. Building a 3 drawer night stand and using the original center slide wood/metal drawer slide... the metal female to the slide is attached to the drawer and the wooden male to the slide is attached to the night stand. I'm sure it is a fairly simple build for many but for me, no!
> The wood/metal drawer slides have given me fits and many re-do's as I stumble through what should have been a fairly quick and basic project. I now know what drawer glides are and what their purpose is for.
> 
> The pics show the face frame and skeleton with shop built to fit drawer glides and the repurposed drawers. I am looking forward to the glue up of the 1x6's as I will try using splines for the first time. BTW those are the old drawer pulls that will be replaced.
> ...


Beautiful job so far and I too like the drawer pulls.


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

DesertRatTom said:


> Very nice if you ask me. I am a big fan of splines. They're incredibly strong, and far easier to get aligned than most other jointing methods. Repurposing drawers seems like a very good way to same some work and some material. Did you reattach the drawer fronts? You can cover up a raft of minor errors by how you reattach the fronts.


Thanks Tom. Yes I am wanting to do the splines for exactly that reason, alignment. I've had limited success using pocket holes but there was still too much sanding after the glue dried. Even when gluing jointed side to jointed side there was a little slip here and a oops there when clamping that went unnoticed which required ROS to get a little hot after the glue dried. I think I will have more of a flat surface when using splines at least in theory. I hope to see if I can make it work the first time. You know it would be nice to have a 50" Drum Sander (BTW it's now $3,250 less than original price just in case you're looking for that last minute Christmas gift for me) with a sander that size you would just have to be close.  
Yes I thought I was going to save time reusing the drawers but not fully comprehending the center drawer slides installation to the nightstand I lost time but learned a little bit more to add to the "How Do You Fix This File" I did save material and do like the look of the drawer fronts. Once the night stand is complete and its cousin the 5 drawer chest of drawers is complete I may go back and redo the drawers and reattach the fronts.


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

TenGees said:


> Looking good Marco. The drawer faces look like you made them new. You seem to have some glue stains that'll need work if you plan to stain.


Thanks TenGees. Wife wants a clear coat so plan on waiting to sand all at one time after everything is glued together. I had first showed her the drawer fronts after wetting them and they match the room. I wish I had made the drawer fronts, they look good to me. Wife wants a 5 drawer chest of drawers to go with the nightstand. I'll be repurposing some drawers for that as well and will likely have to replicate a front or so to get it done.


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## Rebelwork Woodworking (Sep 11, 2004)

Turning out nice. It's always nice to see something repurposed to get the most of your past investment.

Nice job....


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## schmitt32linedrill (Apr 23, 2013)

Marco said:


> Thanks Tom. Yes I am wanting to do the splines for exactly that reason, alignment. I've had limited success using pocket holes but there was still too much sanding after the glue dried. Even when gluing jointed side to jointed side there was a little slip here and a oops there when clamping that went unnoticed which required ROS to get a little hot after the glue dried. I think I will have more of a flat surface when using splines at least in theory. I hope to see if I can make it work the first time. You know it would be nice to have a 50" Drum Sander (BTW it's now $3,250 less than original price just in case you're looking for that last minute Christmas gift for me) with a sander that size you would just have to be close.
> Yes I thought I was going to save time reusing the drawers but not fully comprehending the center drawer slides installation to the nightstand I lost time but learned a little bit more to add to the "How Do You Fix This File" I did save material and do like the look of the drawer fronts. Once the night stand is complete and its cousin the 5 drawer chest of drawers is complete I may go back and redo the drawers and reattach the fronts.


 Have you considered dowels? See my post #6 in the series "There Must Be A Better Way",

Art


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

schmitt32linedrill said:


> Have you considered dowels? See my post #6 in the series "There Must Be A Better Way",
> 
> Art


I looked Art and may use that on another project... good idea. The Triton in the table has been begging me to let it do the splines.  He's very persistent.


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## schmitt32linedrill (Apr 23, 2013)

Marco said:


> I looked Art and may use that on another project... good idea. The Triton in the table has been begging me to let it do the splines.  He's very persistent.


Got it.


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