Drawers

[radhak]

I need to make two drawers for a kid's study table; the measurement is 13"W x 20"D x 3"H. Pretty narrow, so expect it to hold only light stuff - stationery mostly.

I am now planning an integrated front (ie, not a false front) which will fit the opening exactly and be flush with the face-frame. The FF is red-oak under a mahogany top, so the drawer-front would be most likely be mahogany, or maybe red-oak.

Questions
- for the drawer sides/back, how'd 3/4 stock be instead of 1/2"? I have the regular dimensioned pine from the borg and didn't want to go looking for 1/2" secondary wood.
- would plywood look too ugly for these? I just want to use up my old stock of ply, but not sure this is the right place to do that
- instead of using metal slides, or elaborate dovetailed-wood ones, I thought the idea below might be easier ? (image from a FWW article) :



Am thinking of using tongue-and-rabbit for the drawer joints, because while a pinned butt join could have sufficed, with no false-front it'd be difficult to hide.

[poolhound]

Questions
- for the drawer sides/back, how'd 3/4 stock be instead of 1/2"? I have the regular dimensioned pine from the borg and didn't want to go looking for 1/2" secondary wood.
- would plywood look too ugly for these? I just want to use up my old stock of ply, but not sure this is the right place to do that
- instead of using metal slides, or elaborate dovetailed-wood ones, I thought the idea below might be easier ? (image from a FWW article) :



Am thinking of using tongue-and-rabbit for the drawer joints, because while a pinned butt join could have sufficed, with no false-front it'd be difficult to hide.

No real reason to not use 3/4" although it will make the drawers a little heavier and possibly seem bulkier, I guess it depends on how it looks with the rest of the design. You would also lose a little internal space (~16" sq) but probably not an issue as the drawers are pretty large.

You mentioned both Pine and Ply, are these 2 options or do you have some form of Pine Ply? Using ply will be more dimensionaly stable, with solid wood there could be some size changes during the year that could cause a draw to stick or rattle (especially as you are planning on not using metal slides).

Whichever material you use were you planning on staining them to match the rest of the unit. If so I have seen many drawers made from ply that look just fine when the edges are stained - usually looks better with higher quality (greater plies) ply.

Depending on the construction of the enclosure for the drawers some simple runners with UHWM tape might work. You would need a top support to stop them tipping. Do remember that without metal runners you will be able to pull the drawer out all the way.

Lock rabbets would work fine for construction. If you have a DT jig HB DTs would be nice.

[Black wallnut]

It all sounds good to me although 3/4 sides (I think that you may have 5/8" actual thickness, so the difference in inside drawer width will just be 1/4") might look a bit chunky. I think ply would be a great choice of material for the guides.

[jackellis]

I'm having trouble making out the runner/guide detail but the only drawback I can see is beig able to pull the drawer all the way out.

Most dressers use runners and guides. I just built some show drawers where I used two different runner designs and they work just fine with 1/2" plywood drawer sides and backs. The drawers are assembled with drawer lock joints. One is 7" deep and loaded up with hand planes. The runners could use a good waxing but other than taking a bit more effort than a drawer on slides, I'm happy with the result and at least $50 ahead on drawer hardware (need to post pics, too).

[radhak]

I just changed the image size for clarity.

The chunkiness of thicker stock does put me off, but 1/2" lumber is not easy to get, nor cheap, so I think I'll go with ply sides and guides as I do have 1/2" ply. I did buy some UHMW tape on impulse that might be useful now.

I might stain the edges, or hide with veneer. I do have DT jig(s) but have not had the nerve to try out any DT ... maybe I should now. Can I DT-join ply-and-hardwood?

[Tom Miller]

Since you have 20" depth to work with:

Make the sides 20" long, but make the drawer itself only ~16" deep. In other words, make it so the back of the drawer intersects the sides at 4" in from the back. Now, when the drawer is pulled out to expose the entire contents, there's still 4" of sides engaged with the guides. It's a bit of a safety feature.

I also think 3/4" stock is too thick (aesthetically) -- as long as the 1/2" ply looks OK....

Regards,
Tom

[Black wallnut]

Yes you can dovetail plywood. Sounds like this project may be as good as any to learn to use your jig. Plywood may or may not give you good results, however if you were to use Baltic Birch you'd likely have good results.

[BerniePA]

I made a desk Christmas before last out of oak and oak ply and I used that jig from Rockler for cutting thin strips to make thin veneer strips of oak edging and used it to edge all the exposed plywood edges. I also made the drawers from 3/4 oak ply with 1/4 birch bottoms and I used the same edging on the drawers. Looks like the drawers are made from solid oak. My center drawer is close to what you are describing. A large drawer but very shallow, only used for pens, pencils, notepads, rulers, etc.

BTW, that is an excellent tool for cutting thin strips and making each exactly the same thickness as the one before. Cuts them as fast as you can feed the saw, as thick or thin as you want. Much easier than any homemade method I have ever tried.

[cabinetman]

You could use 3/4" in either ply or pine. So, they will look a little meaty...no big deal. I wouldn't worry too much about about pine sides and movement as they aren't that tall, and there is some tolerance in the guide you are planning.

A much easdier guide would be to just mount side runners that will fit into a groove on the drawer side. For drawer fabrication, the backside of the drawer front can be dadoed for the sides, and the back of the sides can be rabbeted to accept the back. Run a groove on the front and sides for the bottom, and cut the back short to slide the bottom through. The bottom should be cut close to square the drawer. Before fastening the bottom to the underside of the back square the drawer with a framing square and fasten the bottom to the back.

To keep the drawer from falling out, fasten to the inside back of the drawer a turnbuckle that will catch on a stop which can be the cross rail under the desk top.
.

[gary]

If you want a heirloom piece, I'd use maple for the drawer sides. Check out the table I built for more details. It has the proportions similar to what you're talking about.





Here is a link to the thread on it with more pictures. http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=22709

[drumpriest]

I've used 3/4" stock for drawer boxes often, I suppose they look chunkier, but it works just fine. My main reason for doing 3/4" is just that it's a pain in the neck to plane all of that stuff down to 5/8" or 1/2", and it just doesn't seem necessary. I've made all of my shop drawers from 3/4" birch ply, and they work great.