They fit... THEY FIT!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....
If I hadn't been sitting on the floor I would have danced a jig!
Since my last blog post I put another two coats of water based polyurethane on my cabinet. I had to sand after the first coat because of the raised grain. I didn't necessarily have to after the second coat but I did anyway.
This afternoon I started by cutting my drawer slides to 13 inches using my cross-cut sled.
Then I used my stationary stander to round over one end of each runner. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of that. I basically just free-handed a slight round-over on the end of each slide. I don't plan on taking the drawers in and out of the cabinet all that often but if one comes out I wanted it to be easy to get back in.
My next step was to figure out where I wanted my screws and then to pre-drill all the screw holes.
Now to install the runners!
I created the grooves in all the drawers a consistent distance from the top of the drawers. My plan was to use a spacer that set that same distance plus 1/8 inch. I used the spacer to set the top slides a consistent distance from the top of the cabinet.
With the holes in the runner already drilled I just held the runner in place with clamps and pre-drilled the holes in the cabinet. Then a couple of 3/4 inch screws to hold it in place. After installing both runners I slid the drawer in place and it worked!
Leaving that drawer in place I added the runners for the next drawer down and repeated for the the other five drawers.
It was right after I slid the bottom drawer in place that I wanted to dance a jig. Not only did the drawer fit, the spacing between all the drawers was super consistent including the bottom and top. So I am very happy with all the drawers and how they fit. I think I left too much slop between the runners and the sides. Oh, the drawers aren't going to fall out but there's about a 1/8 inch gap and I'm thinking a 1/16 inch or 1/32 inch might have been better.
Regardless I am satisfied.
Tomorrow I am going to plane down some more scrap quarter sawn white oak into 1/4 inch veneer and add it to the faces of the drawers. After that I'll add the handles and put a few coats of polyurethane to them.
If I am super productive I might add the back and start cutting out the pieces for the door that'll go on the right hand side.
