Miniature Nightstand Assembly Step 3...Now apply two short beads of glue on each side, and a bead along the front edge of the bottom, shying to the inside edges to prevent glue from getting on the outside. Assemble the bottom brace to the front of the nightstand sliding it down even with side's bottom edge, with the curved edge facing what would be the floor.
By using the guide marks on my cutting mat I push everything square and hold the brace in place until the glue has set. You have plenty of time to twist things a little to make it square, so don't rush. Then once satisfied just press down on the front brace towards the mat until the glue is set. Run a thin bead of glue partway up each side (or along the back of each drawer) and add the rest of the miniature drawers to the front. Butt each miniature nightstand drawer to the drawer below it and align the two edges to the sides. Try to keep the glue to the inside edges of the sides to keep it off the outside. Miniature Nightstand Assembly Step 4...The next step is to slide the shelf into position. As you do this step try to keep the from being pushed over the edge of the side. Keep a piece of T-tissue, twisted to a point, handy for wipe up. Used a clean twisted section of the tissue each time so you don't re-transfer the glue from the tissue back onto the sides of the miniature nightstand sub-assembly.
Carefully align the shelf to the top of the drawer and parallel to the top and bottom. If you slide the shelf into the nightstand at a slight angle, tilted down on the back side, towards the bottom, then when you align the leading edge to the back of the drawer you can tilt the shelf straight and parallel. By using this technique, any glue that might get on the other parts of the nightstand sub-assembly will be inside and covered from view by the drawers and back, which we'll put on in step 7. Now we can sand this whole sub-assembly. Begin by placing a sheet of sandpaper - 150 grit should be OK - on the work surface. Be sure the surface is clean, the same for the back of the sandpaper. If there is any debris between the paper and the work surface it will cause a bump in the paper and an uneven area will result in the sanded surface of the wood. Lay the nightstand on its side and with a light pressure sand back and forth with the grain of the side. I hold the piece between my thumb and pinky, and have my three fingers resting on top of the side. The odds are the drawers are a whisper wider then the top so I apply the downward pressure with my forefinger. I do this so that the sandpaper bites a little more into the drawer edges and I don't round the back edges of the sides. Repeat for the second side. Remember, light pressure, many strokes. Take your time and you'll get nice clean, square edges. Next, lay the nightstand on its front. Again, using light pressure stroke the front over the sandpaper in the direction of the wood's grain (side to side). You shouldn't need more then a few passes, as all your doing is cleaning the face a little bit and making it smooth. Do the same for the top - just a couple of passes to clean and smooth. Inspect your work and if there are any remaining fuzzies take a piece of finer grit, say 220, sandpaper and holding it in your hand brush it over the corners lightly to remove those fuzzies. Wipe everything down with a cloth and stain this sub-assembly. Review my basic staining section here. Set the nightstand aside to dry overnight. Check out the next step as you will probably want to stain all the trim pieces now at this same time. Continue on to Miniature Nightstand Assembly Step 5
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