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Doors and drawers are always a problem to fit neatly so I propose to start with them.

The first rule about drawers and doors is never, unless tortured imprisoned or offered disproportionately large sums of money, make them flush with the face of the carcass. If you look at well made old pieces of furniture, you will find that usually they are set back a millimetre or two. In the case of doors it is often half the thickness of the knuckle of the butt. The cock bead round doors always corresponds to the size of the butt used so the butt is hidden by it. If drawers are flush they will usually have a cock bead (3 mm. diameter half round projection) round them to mask any discrepancy. So set them in, bead them, set them out a few mm., rebate or overlay them but don't make them flush.

To set a conventional drawer into a carcass the right amount, after fitting the drawer, mark the thickness of the drawer front on the bottom rail with a gauge ( marking or pencil) and rub the drawer stops into position using PVA or Gelatine ( hot animal) glue. Then insert the drawer and gently push it in the right amount. Then pull the drawer front clear of the rail in case it has got glue on it and wait for the glue to dry.

When a door is set back into the carcass, most of the butt is set into the door and the outside leaf is set in a tapered housing which does not break the line of the carcass. To set the door back half the knuckle width you first fit the door to the opening allowing as little gap as your skill and the use of the piece of furniture allows. Now cut the butts into the door. Furniture butts are usually set a butt width from the top and bottom of the door. Place the butt flush with the end of the door and tick the length onto the wood with a marking knife or chisel. Move the other end of the butt up to the mark and tick the length off. Set your marking gauge from the back to the centre of the pin of the butt and strike a line with it between the marks on the edge of the door, then extend the tick marks to the line using a try square to guide the knife.

Reset your gauge to the thickness of the knuckle of the butt and mark it on the face of the door. You could extend the knife lines round the face of the door to this line but I never bother.

Now, with a fine saw, cut the shoulder each end down to the gauge lines remembering to keep the saw cut inside the lines. Now carefully chop out the waste. Start with the door held firmly in the vice and make a series of slanting cuts across the grain using a mallet. Then pare out the rest finishing with the chisel in the gauge line. The housing may be cut square but if you want to be very posh it can slope up so the butt leaf is just below the surface at the back edge. Now offer the door into the opening and with a suitable spacer under it ( where appropriate ) tick off the hinge positions on the inside of the carcass with a sharp knife.

Now set your gauge to the total width of the hinge including the knuckle and strike a line inside the carcass where the hinges are going. With a try square, knife in the end lines but don't come through to the front. Now deepen the marked lines with a chisel and then gently pare away the waste starting about 2 mm from the edge and finishing at the inside just the depth of the thickness of the butt.

Now hang the door and check for fit. You will see that apart from the line of the crack not being broken by the butts, any slight differences in the gap and the alignment or flatness of the door are now much less of a problem.