The following is excerpted from Robert Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker” – one of the two of our books I most frequently recommend to those getting started in hand-tool woodworking. (The other is “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.“) “The Essential Woodworker” is filled with more than 500 hand-drawn illustrations by Wearing that explain every operation in a hand-tool shop. His illustrations are properly drafted, drawn in perspective and masterfully clear.
– Fitz
Wooden handles, apart from those manufactured commercially, fall into two categories, turned and bench made. There is no great distinction between those for drawers and those for doors.
In Fig 489, a shows the quickest, easiest and cheapest form, often found on modern mass-produced furniture. A length of material is machined to section then sawn off in length. It is seldom produced by hand using moulding planes, but can quickly be made with a power router. Such handles are fixed, generally horizontally, by two screws from the inside of the drawer. Screwed-on handles, possibly in more exotic woods, in forms similar to b are an improvement.
Quality handles, in woods such as rosewood and ebony, c, are tenoned into the door or drawer. If the tenon is brought through it can be wedged. These handles show end grain on the front; this polishes well to give a most attractive appearance, but if the tenon is slotted and wedges inserted, the handle will split, d (B). The wedges must therefore be inserted at the ends, d (A). A handle tapering towards the user will need a finger grip carved underneath, e.
A full-width handle, f, housed into a drawer front gives a good grip, particularly for larger drawers. It is very effective in oak and similar woods, and where a number of drawers is stacked vertically as in a chest of drawers. The dovetail housing can be stopped just short of the top edge of the drawer.
Turned handles (Fig 490) always present end grain to the viewer, so the finish on this face must be immaculate to exploit its appearance to the full. Although these handles may be screwed from the inside, they tend to work loose and rotate; very little extra effort is required to turn a small tenon and to bore the drawer front for it, and you will be happier with the result. Set a caliper to the drill and turn to this size. Unless you are working with small pieces of exotic woods, a number of handles are turned together between centres and then parted off. The face is finished off finely by gripping the tenon either in a wood chuck or in a drill chuck. A great variety of shapes is possible and those in Fig 490, are typical. By careful paring or disc sanding, polygonal features can be introduced, B. An inlaid central contrasting dot can be added, e.g. sycamore or holly in ebony, C. Turning and bench work can combine to give bar handles, D, in which the use of contrasting woods may be effective. This style does not appear to be used in the vertical form. In oak or similar chunky woods a rotating latch can be arranged, E.
My grandfather built a dry sink that had a rotating latch, like the one in the last set of drawings. It was remarkably stout and sturdy. It latched the doors underneath. I’m not sure who the thief was who tried to break into it, but they weren’t very smart. They only had to turn the knob, which turns VERY easily, but ended up bracing his foot against the front to break the latch. Talk about DUMB. Luckily, it was easily fixed. And it got the coat of oil/wax finish that it was crying for. It probably hadn’t had some TLC in 50 years. My grandmother was a packrat and once the top was covered it became practically invisible. Those memories make it one of my most-prized heirlooms.