bent wrote:
Making Drawers
Q 1: what material (MDF, or pine laminated pieces)
Between the two, the pine.
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2: what thicknesses of material (Its gotta be ½", 5/8", 11/16",
or ¾", nom. or not)
Fronts 3/4. Sides, any.
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3: what joints for front and rear (dovetail, rabbet and dado,
lock or bit)
For fronts I like sliding dovetails...strong, easy to make. In days of
yore I used to use rabbeted sides into front dados pinning same with a
brad angled from the side (glued too).
Rear is rabbet into dado.
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4: what material and thickness for the bottom (white(hard)board,
plywood or other)
I prefer 1/4" ply (grain goes side to side) but hardboard works too,
just not as strong. HD here has crummy 1/4" so I've started using door
skins sometimes. Only 1/8" but works fine for normally loaded drawers.
Cheap too.
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5: max. Drawer width
There is no limit
AFAIK but practically around 36".
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My first choice for materials for making drawers is Home Depot. I
don't know what to use.
Poplar is much nicer than pine IMO. If HD doesn't have it there are
many online wood suppliers.
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All the light bulbs, all the widgets and hardware, all the screws and
nails, etc. It may get heavy in some of these drawers. All will be
full. Could be rags. Large width drawers are for convenience not
weight. Absolute exterior dimensions of the drawers will be approx.:
(3x) 4.5h" x 13.7"w x 18.5"d
(2x) 4.5h" x 21.2"w x 18.5"d
(9x) 9.0"h x 13.7"w x 18.5"d
(2x) 9.0"h x 21.2"w x 18.5"d (you could fit 8w x 7d empties inside
except the cases & 1/3" off top)
I wouldn't call those big drawers. Regardless, do yourself a favor and
partition them. Partitions turn drawers from a depository for junk into
something useful.
There are two really easy ways to subdivide drawers...
1. Close to full height partitions either side to side or front to back.
Cut 1/4 inch "V"s into either at intervals of 1 1/4" or so taking care
that they are opposite each other. Make the partitions of 1/4" ply with
the edges beveled to fit the "V"s. Partitions are now easy to
rearrange.
2. Trays. They can either lift out or slide. An easy way to make
supports for sliding trays is to use 3/4" material for the sides and cut
a 1/4" rabbet on the inside tops so that the bottom of the rabbet
supports the tray. Even - maybe especially - your 4.5" drawers would
benefit from a tray maybe 1 - 11 /2 deep for little stuff. Needless to
say, the trays (and the bottom drawer portion) can also be partioned as
in #1.
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Joints: I am willing to choose through dovetails by hand for the
front
I understand a lock joint can be weak. I may have 4 gallons of paint
in these drawers on rollers. Is there any other type of router bit
that can create a quick strong joint?
As I said, sliding dovetails.
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Haven't seen anyone mention rabbet and dado for the front.
I did but sliding dovetails are lots better and no harder to make.
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Material: I can use that 11/16" solid pine sideways-laminated that
comes either loose or in plastic. Both have suitable surface, and no
more expensive than plywood laminated in the other direction. Great.
But will the laminate come unglued? They did on my top doorjamb (the
laminates split 3/32" at end x 3" long, but that was screw-stress
related). Are they biscuited? Are they lasting?
What about mdf? Can you cut a dovetail out of mdf? How does a lock
joint work in mdf? How does a rabbet and dado work in mdf? How is mdf
for drawers?
Ever had cheap kitchen cabinets/drawers made of MDF? Place i rented one
time did, they were awful.
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Bottoms: I know there are lots of thin plywood ( like approx. ¼" or
mm): which is good? What kind of core What about that thin stuff that
backs some furniture. The cheap stuff. (Hard)board? Comes in white,
White tile board is OK for some things. I often use it in my drawer
trays.
--
dadiOH
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