I Can Do That--Furniture Projects by Chad Stanton

Author:Chad Stanton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media

NOTE – The top is made of solid wood, so elongate the holes to allow for the seasonal movement of expanding and contracting to take place.

Drilling the pocket screws leaves behind unsightly holes, but the top will conceal these holes once it’s attached. This is not the case with the lower stretchers. Those pocket holes would be visible, so we’ll attach the stretchers to the legs by drilling through the legs and into the stretchers behind them. We’ll hide the screw heads later with wooden plugs.

The front and back stretchers are lower than the side stretchers. This offset will avoid the mishap of the screws intersecting with each other.

It’s very important to label the legs individually to avoid any confusion when drilling for the stretchers. Before drilling, double-check the plans for the proper placement of each stretcher.

Begin by measuring and countersinking a 3⁄8" hole into the legs. Then change drill bits and make a clearance hole all the way through the legs – the clearance holes’ diameter should be slightly larger than the diameter of the screw. When drilling, use a sacrificial board underneath to avoid drilling into the top of your bench. Do this for the placement of all the stretchers on all the legs.

Place the stretcher in position and again use a scrap piece of 1-by under it to give it the same offset as the aprons. Drill a pilot hole before gluing and screwing the stretcher in place. (Your pilot holes’ diameter should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw). A pilot hole is needed because unlike the pocket screws that have self-tapping threads, the 21⁄2" screws for the stretchers don’t have that feature. So you have to drill a pilot hole first to avoid cracking and splitting the stretcher.

If the drill bit for the pilot hole is not long enough to go through the legs and into the stretcher at the same time, place the stretcher in position and stick an awl through the clearance hole to make a mark on the stretchers (Photo 4). Before removing the stretcher for drilling, mark its position so you don’t reinstall it in the wrong place. Drill the clearance holes then apply glue and screw into place (Photo 5). Repeat the process for the other side. Attach the front and back aprons and stretchers with the same procedure (Photo 6).

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