Drawers and half blind dovetails...

[Mike Berti]

Recently, I purchased a Porter Cable 12” dovetail jig. Among other things, I planned cutting half blind dovetails for a few drawers in a chest. (This topic may have been discussed in the past, but I couldn’t find an answer).
Initially, I wanted to attach slides on both sides of the drawers. However, the slides are 1/2” thick, which requires rabbets be cut on both sides of the front panels.
Q: How can I cut the half blind dovetails with the jig if there are 1/2” rabbets on both sides?
Alternately, I considered using under mount drawer slides, but with floating drawer bottoms made of 1/4” plywood, it doesn’t seem a solid solution.

[John TenEyck]

Just cut the rabbets deeper than the tails on the sides.

Undermount slides are supported by the front and back of the drawer. The bottom plays no role, so you can use 1/4" bottoms with no worries.

John

[Jamie Buxton]

The kind of front you want to build is generally called a rabbeted front. I'll bet the user manual for your PC dovetail jig has explicit instructions for making it.

[Mike Berti]

Thank you,
John. You probably mean PINS deeper than tails on the sides, isn't it?

Jamie, I checked the PC user manual and there are indeed instructions which I missed before.
Anyway, is the router bit for cutting rabbeted half blind pins, same as for through dovetails?

[John TenEyck]

No.

John

[Jamie Buxton]

... Jamie, I checked the PC user manual and there are indeed instructions which I missed before.
Anyway, is the router bit for cutting rabbeted half blind pins, same as for through dovetails?..

I'm reading the manual for that jig online. It says you use the same dovetail bit for both joints.

[John T Barker]

Don't use the drawer slides. Drawers work very well without them.

[Lee Schierer]

Make your drawer boxes separate from your drawer fronts. You can still dovetail the boxes and use the slides you want. The drawer front will fill the opening and hide the slides when the drawer is closed.

[Wade Lippman]

Don't use the drawer slides. Drawers work very well without them.

That is a generalization. I rarely use slides, but some do require them; or at least shop built slides that might be beyond the OP.

[Charles Lent]

Lee suggested the best, and easiest, way to make these drawers in post #8.

Charley

[John TenEyck]

I'm reading the manual for that jig online. It says you use the same dovetail bit for both joints.

And that would be correct. Cut the rabbet so that the bit doesn't interfere with what will be the overlay portion of the drawer front and proceed as normal.

John

[Marshall Mosby]

Read about Rabbeted front. Secondly, going without the drawer slides (as some are suggesting) would not be the solution for large length drawers and if the contents of the drawers are going to be heavy.

[Bob Grier]

My first rabbeted dovetails threw me a curve ball. I didn't fully read/understand the manual/directions and made a mistake. If the front of your drawer extends above the sides but not below the sides (or a different distance below the sides), you will have to use shims when aligning parts in the jig so that dovetail joint lines up. At least on my jig (Leigh) that is what I should have done.

It may be easier to make boxes and then add separate drawer front as suggested above. I am not sure what I will do next time I am confronted with this.

[Charles Lent]

Separate drawer fronts that are attached with screws from the inside will be stronger than drawers made with single front layers of wood. It's all in how well you attach them. Don't depend on double sided tape and the drawer handle screws to hold them if the drawer will hold anything heavy. As a habit, I always add wood screws after I have positioned and adhered the fronts using double sided tape to hold them in the correct position while I drill for and then attach the handles and then drive the screws from the inside of the drawer. I would do this for any drawer with a 6" X 6" or larger face, but maybe only use a couple of screws on these small drawers and more for the much larger drawers. Driving screws is quick and easy now with power impact drivers.

Charley

[John TenEyck]

This is the type of drawer we are talking about:



It's not that hard to make. The drawer front is 3/4" thick, the rabbets are 3/8" deep, and the pins/tails are about 1/4" deep with the 1/2" dovetail bit I used. For a period type piece, it's a better choice than a separate, applied drawer front.

John