Hi guys,
I'm working on my kitchen remodel, and a cabinet maker friend turned me
on to prefinished drawer sides. If you haven't seen the stuff, it's 5"
wide strips (they have other widths too) of veneer plywood with a 1/4
groove cut for the bottom. Prefinished with clear poly and edgebanded
on the top. Comes in 8 ft lengths you just cut to length and assemble.
The big attraction to me is the finish which is really tough. Tougher
than I could get in the shop which is a good for a kitchen.
Anyway, I was planning on doing half blind dovetails. But of course the
plys will show with plywood on each of the tails. Not my favorite look.
And chip out is greater with plywood. So now I'm thinking of using
biscuits to join the sides to the front (false front). But does that
give a "cheap" factory feel to the drawers? I mean all the furniture I
build has to have dovetails....right? I'm suppose to be a woodworker.
Or am I just being too anal about this. What do you guys think...

Mark

"Mark" wrote in message
biscuits to join the sides to the front (false front). But does that
give a "cheap" factory feel to the drawers? I mean all the furniture I
build has to have dovetails....right? I'm suppose to be a woodworker.
Or am I just being too anal about this. What do you guys think...

You could biscuits, but I think you'd get stronger construction and a neater
appearance with a drawer lock bit. Here's two different ones.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174

On 24 Jun 2006 20:24:47 -0700, "Mark" wrote:

Hi guys,
I'm working on my kitchen remodel, and a cabinet maker friend turned me
on to prefinished drawer sides. If you haven't seen the stuff, it's 5"
wide strips (they have other widths too) of veneer plywood with a 1/4
groove cut for the bottom. Prefinished with clear poly and edgebanded
on the top. Comes in 8 ft lengths you just cut to length and assemble.
The big attraction to me is the finish which is really tough. Tougher
than I could get in the shop which is a good for a kitchen.
Anyway, I was planning on doing half blind dovetails. But of course the
plys will show with plywood on each of the tails. Not my favorite look.
And chip out is greater with plywood. So now I'm thinking of using
biscuits to join the sides to the front (false front). But does that
give a "cheap" factory feel to the drawers? I mean all the furniture I
build has to have dovetails....right? I'm suppose to be a woodworker.
Or am I just being too anal about this. What do you guys think...

Dovetails are the best for a number of reasons, of course- but if you
like, I've seen contrasting solid stock attached to ply with a biscut
and glue and then dovetailed. Looks pretty good, but it probably
defeats the purpose of getting prefinished drawer sides.

FWIW, most of the pro stuff I've seen has pocket holes drilled through
the face and the back of the drawer, with screws holding the things
together. The drawer face covers up the screws in front, and the ones
in back aren't visible so long as the drawer is on the slides. Not
classy, just quick and easy- especially if you've got a lot of them to
make.

OTOH, you're contemplating dovetailling them- and I won't be the one
to tell you no, but how hard is it *really* to rip the drawer pieces
and run a 1/4" dado down the stock then crosscut what you need? Seems
like nothing when you start thinking about dovetailing a whole stack
of drawers, IMO. If the finish is really what you're after, there are
any number of people who can do that for you commerically once you've
got everything made.

"Mark" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi guys,
I'm working on my kitchen remodel, and a cabinet maker friend turned me
on to prefinished drawer sides. If you haven't seen the stuff, it's 5"
wide strips (they have other widths too) of veneer plywood with a 1/4
groove cut for the bottom. Prefinished with clear poly and edgebanded
on the top. Comes in 8 ft lengths you just cut to length and assemble.
The big attraction to me is the finish which is really tough. Tougher
than I could get in the shop which is a good for a kitchen.
Anyway, I was planning on doing half blind dovetails. But of course the
plys will show with plywood on each of the tails. Not my favorite look.
And chip out is greater with plywood. So now I'm thinking of using
biscuits to join the sides to the front (false front). But does that
give a "cheap" factory feel to the drawers?

No.

I mean all the furniture I
build has to have dovetails....right?

No.

I'm suppose to be a woodworker.
Or am I just being too anal about this.

Yes. Don't fall into the "that's not the way they did it 150 years ago"
crowd. Rest assured, if, 150 years ago, they had had glues that were
stronger than the wood and biscuits, they'd of used them.

"CW" wrote:

Rest assured, if, 150 years ago, they had had glues that were
stronger than the wood and biscuits, they'd of used them.



If they'd had the glues 40 or so years ago, I wouldn't be looking at 23
drawers to build!

Upscale wrote:
"Mark" wrote in message
biscuits to join the sides to the front (false front). But does that
give a "cheap" factory feel to the drawers? I mean all the furniture I
build has to have dovetails....right? I'm suppose to be a woodworker.
Or am I just being too anal about this. What do you guys think...

You could biscuits, but I think you'd get stronger construction and a neater
appearance with a drawer lock bit. Here's two different ones.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174

Hmm. I have not used drawer lock bits before. The idea sounds
attractive. Does it produce a strong drawer in 1/2" plywood?

"Mark" wrote in message

Hmm. I have not used drawer lock bits before. The idea sounds
attractive. Does it produce a strong drawer in 1/2" plywood?

Drawer lock bits are more geared for hardwood. Using them with plywood is
probably iffy considering it's tendency separate layers under the right
conditions. And with the cuts that these bits make, I think there would be
even more likelihood of pieces coming off.

Drawer lock bits are more geared for hardwood. Using them with plywood is
probably iffy considering it's tendency separate layers under the right
conditions. And with the cuts that these bits make, I think there would be
even more likelihood of pieces coming off.

Would leaving an inch extra take care of chip out? Then cut to length.

Extra length is not going to help as the joint is formed at the end. They
have to be cut to length before routing. Just use the biscuits and, since it
is such a weak joint, be prepared to fix it 200 years from now when it
breaks.

"Rick Samuel" wrote in message
...
Drawer lock bits are more geared for hardwood. Using them with plywood
is
probably iffy considering it's tendency separate layers under the right
conditions. And with the cuts that these bits make, I think there would
be
even more likelihood of pieces coming off.

Would leaving an inch extra take care of chip out? Then cut to length.

Subject

What am I missing?

If you want to use preformed and finished material for the sides, why
not also use it for the front and assemble to sides with 1/4"
interlocked dadoes, then attach decorative front with screws?

Lew

Mark wrote:
Hmm. I have not used drawer lock bits before. The idea sounds
attractive. Does it produce a strong drawer in 1/2" plywood?

Yes, I use them for 1/2 plywood drawers all the time. Our kitchen
originally had drawers made of particle board stapled together. The
kids broke most of them. I replaced them with 1/2 plywood drawers with
the drawer lock bit, and the kids haven't broken any of them.

The joint is not at all "iffy" on plywood joints. (I must disagree with
the other poster). It works great.

On 25 Jun 2006 06:54:02 -0700, "Mark" wrote:


Upscale wrote:
"Mark" wrote in message
biscuits to join the sides to the front (false front). But does that
give a "cheap" factory feel to the drawers? I mean all the furniture I
build has to have dovetails....right? I'm suppose to be a woodworker.
Or am I just being too anal about this. What do you guys think...

You could biscuits, but I think you'd get stronger construction and a neater
appearance with a drawer lock bit. Here's two different ones.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174

Hmm. I have not used drawer lock bits before. The idea sounds
attractive. Does it produce a strong drawer in 1/2" plywood?

I use them from time-to-time but never on ply. For sure though it will
be stronger than most other joints in ply.
And, much depends on the grade of ply you are using. A long story
which I won't go into here, but I had reason to need to dovetail some
ply. I used 3/4" A-1 Hard Maple and things came very nice. Result
might have been different in say cdx or u/l ply. If you have a ply
with a good spec it can work out fine. Use a good D/T bit (carbide)
and make some practice runs.

Good Luck,
J

Lock joint can be made with a TS or Router Table.

Lock mitre joint can be done with a router bit, and easy
set-up.http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...19&cat=1,46168

The lock joint is the same, except there is no deviation from right
angles/edges. Imagine a negative F, with shorter middle arm. Simple
intuitive geometry if you sketch it , using obvious fractions, nominal (or
better plywood) Thicknesses, and tooling. Easy peasy to do.

I made 3/4" fronts, w/ 1/2" sides using a 1/4" straight 1/4" shank router
bit I had. Birch (non-Baltic/Russian) and no probs. Joints I'd say are
real strong. Pushed through with scrap piece of wood. Ended up with great
view, though a low number of typ. on the other sides of the ply - poss
therer already. No aestetic or structural concerns. I painted just the
fronts/sides anyway, polyd the insides/in-chamfer, bottom .

Fit up after some sanding. Could have been left with tight/ hammertime if I
wanted. Gluing was a learning experience w/r/t glue gaps and clamp(s)ing
methods. I made some drawer clamping jigs from 3/4" ply; look like a big
wood speed square (~12" x 12" x 3" w/ two T using dados), w/ glue wipe
access @ inside corner. Use w/ C-clamps or spring clamps for rect box



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i was read lock joint is done on a TS. As could a bottom groove. Not sure
about the 1/2" front though. Very common joint. Prob. your Q ey?



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Not sure what you are using for the drawer faces but I have had good
luck removing about 1/4 to 1/2 of the thicklness of the face piece on
the back, just around the edge of the face. This enables a nailing or
screwing surface to exist on the back of the face. I used this with
some solid pine drawers I made for a dresser and 14 years later they are
still going strong with no tear outs.



Ron T