Simple construction opens up endless design possibilities
Screwing from the back of the drawer or door into a pre-drilled hole in the handle is the easiest way to make and attach a handle or pull. And if the handles are too small or delicate to accommodate a threaded insert, it is the only way to do it.
Designing and making wooden handles can be one of the more fun parts of what we do. You can design a fairly simple single-shape handle or a more complex layered pull that lias multiple relief cuts and requires a great deal of handwork.
The scale of the piece of furniture and its purpose will completely drive the scale and design of the handle. Is this a pull that will open the heavy drawers of a sideboard filled to the brim, or will it just be used for two small doors on a cabinet in the front liall?
You can attach your handles and pulls with a simple screw from the back without using hardware, or you can use hardware such as threaded inserts.
Remember to have fun and don’t feel trapped in traditional shapes. We will sometimes fill five pages in a sketchbook with ideas before we even start to figure out the details of a good pull. There are a few things that are important to keep in mind while designing pulls and handles: What Ls the construction process? Can I make multiple pulls from a single blank? Can I shape three pulls at once? Can I cut and shape 90% of this pull on a tablesaw before I cut out the handle? Particularly if you have a batch of like pulls to make, the process of cuts and steps involved has to be a key thought. When it comes to nuking multiple pulls, the more you can do on a machine the letter. But always add a little something you can only do by hand!
Tile main point Ls to encourage drawing. It doesn’t have to be great drawing. It doesn’t have to be three-dimensional. It can be a whole bunch of silhouettes and simple sketches. Cultivate the creativity tliat’s generated by drawing and do not lx? trapped in the first thing you draw. The key is to sit back and let it go. Let it sit. Come back to it. Think albout it. Revise it. You’ll know when it’s right.
If drawing your own shapes feels daunting, find something you like and copy it. Do the process a few times. That will be liberating. Then you can get more complex, branch out, and start moving into sliapes and ideas that are more experimental. When we design things, the idea Ls that it should look good, but it shouldn’t scream “look at me, think about me!”
Nobody ever said handles and pulls must be symmetrical, and this example makes that clear. Reduction cuts, templates, and a bandsaw can get you close to finished.
