Stretching Boards

 

I drew up the plans for my drawers on a scrap piece of plywood. I usually do that after making the carcasses in case things change as far as size goes. By doing it this way, I can measure between the installed drawer slides and get an exact measurement for width as well as depth and height. I laid out my joinery and necessary dimensions for cutting all the various parts out. 

Before I started cutting, I reviewed all those dimensions and found one that I distinctly remember being off by a half inch. I corrected it and was thankful for having caught the mistake ahead of time before I wasted all that plywood, in this case a full sheet and part of another.

I cut out all the pieces and did the joinery on those that required it and did a dry assemble to verify fit before I proceeded to the glue stage of assembly. My drawer bottom panels were short, by half an inch. I went over to my scrap piece of plywood and sure enough, the dimension I corrected was the one that was a half an inch too short. It had evidently been right the first time. I needed to stretch my boards by a half an inch, something every woodworker dreams about doing easily but can't. 

I briefly thought about going to buy another two sheets of plywood but quickly nicked that idea. I still had scraps of plywood leftover after cutting out all the parts. Unfortunately, the grain direction isn't correct to match to the drawer bottoms but I reminded myself that this is show furniture and a drawer bottom, where nobody but myself will likely ever see. So I cut some more pieces of plywood and doweled them to my too short pieces to lengthen them. I actually added two inches to the length because it is much easier to work with when adding dowels and glue. I will later cut them down to their correct size this time around. 

The biggest issue with all this is the day of time it cost me. I had to use long clamps and didn't have enough to do 18 panel glue ups at once so it took me the better part of a day to get them all glued up. Next I have to sand off the excess glue and pencil parks before I can cut them to final size and do one last dry assembly which will cost me another partial day. 

Fortunately my labor is free for home projects so it won't add up on the final bill.