It's OK to change direction in mid-stream...

When I said it was time to wrap up a few things around the shop, I wasn't kidding! Remember those four drawer fronts I've been working on for-fucking-ever?  The ones with the inset pulls 

and the carved areas?

To tell you the truth - once I started carving them - ugh.... I wasn't all that about them.

In fact, I really didn't like what was happening at all. You have no idea how tough it is to be working on a piece that you're not "feeling."

One of the best things about owning  every tool under the sun is that at least one of them will do what I want it to do - in this case - I used a router with a straight bit to eliminate the carved area.  Took it right out!

See, I wasn't satisfied with the carved area - it just didn't pull the piece together for me. I had been planning on using a little MilkPaint in the carvings, for some contrast. But instead -  I came up with a scathingly brilliant idea. 

(Ode to Hayley Mills...)

Why not inlay the area with a contrasting wood? There were a couple of details to consider - the grain of the wood had to run in the same direction as the drawer fronts. So I glued together a piece, and then cut and thickness-sanded the pieces to the correct dimension. 

They already look great - much more like what I envisioned. 

I needed to put a small chamfer, but the wood was so thin - it was a dicey operation. A router table and a scrap piece of wood to act as a hold-down was all I needed. 

Here's the routed edge. 

Before and after pieces. 

It's funny how I really hated working on this piece before, when I was carving it. Now that I was doing something that I really felt, this was coming together beautifully. 

Normally when you glue two pieces together, they will slip and slide around a bit, usually ending up mis-aligned.  But this hold down clamp secured the two pieces nicely. 

One side was applied almost flush- just a hair over the edge, so I would get a good glue joint. 

Here's an edge waiting to be cleaned-up.

One or two passes with a plane evened things up.

I trimmed the other edge flush on the tablesaw. 

Don't these look a hell of a lot nicer?

Last thing to do was chamfer the two long-grain edges.

Ready for sanding - and knobs. Knobs will be the next design decision... but this time, I feel much more equipped to make the right decision!

One last thing - Happy Mother's Day, mom! I miss you and wish we were hanging out together. And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.