The Quaker Lock

Just after the Christmas festivities, on the 28th Dec to be exact, a Blog post was published showing the carcase of the current project with a little 4mm hole drilled in the bottom.  Some clues were given as to it's use and by following the link provided, the answer ought to have been easy to find.

This is my adaptation of the so called 'Quaker Lock', a simple yet effective means of locking the drawer in place so that unless you're savvy enough to know how it'll open...it won't!

The first pic above shows the set of three drawers, all pretty much identical, except they're not.  All three are made from English Walnut, quarter sawn English Oak sides, Cedar of Lebanon bases and Indian Ebony handles. All three have Quaker Locks but one has two separate concealed compartments...

So how does the Quaker Lock work?  The information in Kari's post shows a straight lath fixed at an angle to the underside of the drawer, which then engages on the back of rail once it's been slid into place.  Pushing a finger up through a big hole in the dust board moves the lath upwards so releasing the drawer.  I reckoned that this was a little crude so I refined it by making a curved lamination of four pieces of ash veneer...

....such that a flat surface could now be stuck to the underside of the drawer.  It's sufficiently bendy so that just the merest push through that small hole with a piece of 4mm steel rod will flex the ash and enable the drawer to be removed.

In the next exciting episode (better than Dick Barton here) one of the secret compartments will be revealed.

 I'd lay money that you just can't contain your excitement....