Have you ever scraped your knuckles reaching into a cabinet drawer? I have. Ouch! The cabinets in this house have super sharp inside edges on the face-frames. I’ve scraped my knuckles too many times to fault anyone buy myself at this point — I could just grab a sanding sponge and take care of them!
Sharp edges are a simple thing to prevent when building cabinets. On cabinets with rails separating drawer segments, lightly sand the bottom edges of the rails that will be at the top of each drawer.
Don’t overdo it. Just a very light sanding should knock it down enough. At least to the point where a person won’t scrape their knuckles by reaching in!
I also do this to cabinets with shelves instead of drawers. I just gently sand the inside edges of the faceframe — front and back.
I never sand the outside edges of the cabinet faceframes if they but up to another cabinet because I want crisp, clean, flush, flat joints there. If the cabinet is freestanding, and on might be tempted to run their hands along the outside edge — say while admiring the beautiful workmanship. then I knock down those edges too.
‘Cause I don’t like wood paper cuts or scraping my knuckles!
Carol @ Elephant Buffet says
I have super-sensitive skin and I end up with bloody knuckles all the time because of this. Such a fantastic tip. For realz.
Sandra says
Me too and you’d think I’d knock those corners down already — but I haven’t. LOL
Anna says
Yep, that’s what I do, too. I just finished building a table top and an top mount drawer, and while doing some sanding with the orbital sander, I lightly ran it over the edges just to get the sharp edges off. Otherwise, it really hurts even just brushing against those things.
Looking forward to reading the rest of your clients’ diy diaries. I’m building my bookshelves next (for my craft room), and it’s fun to see how other people build theirs.
Sandra says
Nice. Happy building! 😀
Julie @ follow your heart woodworking says
That was one of the best tips I learned in my college woodworking course. It also helps stain hold better. The official term is “breaking the edges.”