Making Multiples of Small Parts

For the mini chest of drawers that I recently completed, I struggled to decide what type of drawer handles to use.  Eventually I chose small wood handles that angled on each side and had a tenon to fit into a mortise in the drawer face.  After making a couple of one-off prototypes to figure out sizing, I decided on a shape I liked.

The prototypes - one sticks out 3/8", the other 1/2"

I needed four of these handles.  Sometimes when making small parts like this, it makes more sense to make them all from one stick of wood, then cut them apart.  You can get greater consistency between parts, and it's far safer and easier to work with a longer stick of wood.

A 5/16" thick, 1" wide stick laid out for 6 handles.
Always good to make extras just in case.

Routed out dadoes which will be tenons later

Then removed the tenon sides

I used this "stop" to chisel a bevel on the wide sides (top and bottom of handle)

You can see the beveled shape with the piece on edge

Then I used the stop again to bevel the edges (sides) of each handle

The tenon areas were made longer than needed so that I could cut the tenons off at the length I wanted (1/4") and still have some cleanup to do on a shooting board to get the next handle ready.

Cutting off a handle with 1/4 long tenon

That leaves the next handle with extra material ...

... that I remove safely on the shooting board

The tenons were just over 3/16" thick and they fit nicely into mortises chopped into the drawer fronts.

One handle fitted

The moral of the story is this.  When making multiples of small parts, it makes sense to lay them out on a stick much larger than needed for a single piece.  It's easier to lay out this way, safer to do the cutting, and the repeatability is probably better, too.