How do you build your drawers?

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

I've been a fan of Norm for years. It kills me to see how he builds his drawers, however. He uses dovetails for the front, which is great, but uses an ordinary lock-dado for the backs.....then he holds them together with brads... Sacrilege! My view is if you're going to all the trouble of making dovetails, why cut corners on the backs. Additionally, it involves another whole setup. I think it would be more efficient to cut dovetails on the back as well. Which brings me to my next point, why not instead forgo dovetails and use a lock miter bit.

I discovered this joint over 10 years ago in Jim Tolpin's book, "Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets" , and have been using this method to build drawers ever since. This book was my bible for building cabinets, if you are considering doing it yourself, but don't know where or how to begin, I recommend this book highly. But I digress.

Now when I say build drawers, I mean for kitchen cabinets, vanities and shop cabinetry. For building period pieces, handsdown, dovetails are the way to go.

The great thing about the lock miter is the setup for each corner. If you need a drawer 21 3/8" wide and 22" deep you cut the sides to those exact measurements. No further calculations are necessary as with a lock rabbet or 1/2 blind dovetails, for example. And when I'm making repetitive tasks like kitchen cabinet construction, minimizing mundane calculations reduces mistakes. Once you get the router table setup correctly, it's just a matter of pushing the sides through the bit, whether it's 1 drawer or 20...it's all one setup. I use 1/2" stock, set in dados for the bottoms, unless the drawer is really small. This makes the drawer even stronger, especially in a down shear situation. I hold each drawer together with 2 webbed band clamps. BTW, I rip the drawer sides slightly wider then I need. After the glue sets up, I cut them to height on the table saw.

Anyhoo, that's how I make the majority of my drawers, how do you do it?

[Jim Becker]

Half-blind dovetails in 1/2" poplar is my normal drawer method and material.

[David DeCristoforo]

For many years now I have used a simple rabbet and groove joint on kitchen drawers and/or any drawers that will be mounted on "mechanical" glides. With the strength of modern glues and the minimal strain on drawers running on Accuride or Blum glides, the drawers are plenty strong. However, for "fine" work I'm with Jim on the dovetails.

As to the joints on the backs of the drawers, that depends on how I'm making the DTs. If I'm using a router jig, I DT the backs too because the jig is already set up and it's easy. But if I'm cutting the DTs by hand, it's a lot more work and the backs really don't benefit that much from DTs so I will often use a simple dado to let the backs into the sides and (a la Norm) simply glue and pin these. This is, in fact, a very acceptable method of drawer construction and you will find it on many of the best examples of fine traditional furniture making. Of course, in "the old days" they did not have pin nailers so the nails were hammered in. On the very best work, I will hand cut DTs for the backs but they are generally much less "refined" than those on the front.

YM

[Matt Meiser]

For cabinetry drawers, I've been using Mark Singer's pocket screw method and have been pleased with the results. It provides for pretty easy measurements when using 1/2" material--sides are exactly the overall dimension and front/back are exactly 1" smaller. You do need an applied front though.

[frank shic]

metaboxes from blum all the way! fast and strong, just require a little bit of researching of 32mm cabinetry.

[Sam Yerardi]

If it's fine furniture like period pieces I'll do dovetails front and back, usually pine or poplar. I've been wanting to try ash for the sides & back.

[Fred Voorhees]

Half blind doves in the fronts most usually, unless it will be installed in a utilitarian piece, then something a little less time consuming and easier, though with the Leigh D4, dovetails aren't that difficult. I almost always go with a simple dado for the back of the drawer. If given the choice, I will always go with poplar for the drawer carcasses.

[Kevin Groenke]

Obviously the decision is highly dependent upon the design, quantity and quality of the piece.

If it's an heirloom or a serious commission, it's usually hand-cut DTs front and back. Y. Poplar, S. Maple or R. Alder often for secondary woods. 1/4" Birch "ProPly" (7 ply underlayment) drawer bottoms.

If it's a more utilitarian piece but should look good, it's DTs front and a dado in the back.

I usually use sliding/french DTs (dado in back) in cabinetry, though construction is sometimes influenced by whether the drawer fronts are flush or overlay and what if any slides are employed. I've made a vacuum template for the sliding DTs that makes them easier than spit. I find the invisibility of the joint and the absence of duplicate drawer fronts nearly as elegant as DTs.

[Joe Chritz]

1/2 blind dovetails in baltic birch 1/2" or 1/2-5/8" solid (usually poplar) material.

I made a bunch of drawers for my shop with a lock miter but I found the Leigh is almost as fast and easier to assemble.

1/4 dado buried in a tail (or is it a pin) so it isn't seen from the front and the back is cut short (to the top of the dado). Assemble the sides, slide in the bottom and staple the back of the bottom.

Joe

[richard poitras]

Matt, can you specify more on Mark Singer's pocket screw method for making drawers?

[Matt Meiser]

I thought Mark had a detailed post on them, but there are some pictures in this post by him. Basically you put pocket holes on the front and back of the drawer with screws into the sides. The front ones get hidden by a false drawer front and the back ones can't be seen unless you remove the drawer. The result is plenty strong and very quick. In fact, I just used it today to build 5 pullout trays, which are completely finished except for the false fronts which are have the first coat of paint drying right now.

[Craig D Peltier]

I just pulled apart my washer dryer room drawers today. Granted this is in a tract home neighborhood built in 92. The draws were butt jointed and stapled together with no glue. There was a dadoe to accept bottom but no dadoed face. Just a piece of ply wedged in between the two sides and once bottom was in it was stapled through the bottom. Thats down an dirty.
Anyways my draws I use rabbetts with false fronts. Nailed and glued.On cabinet type projects or where mechanical slides are needed. Its been plenty strong for me.

[J. Z. Guest]

For many years now I have used a simple rabbet and groove joint on kitchen drawers and/or any drawers that will be mounted on "mechanical" glides. With the strength of modern glues and the minimal strain on drawers running on Accuride or Blum glides, the drawers are plenty strong.

Yoshikuni - with mechanical roller glides, the joints actually need to be stronger. The drawers tend to slam open and closed, and with more speed. The contents of the drawer hit the drawer front & back with each high speed slam.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with a dado in the back, as long as it is set forward in the drawer, so it actually provides some mechanical strength.

Lock miters are neat, but I favor methods that don't also need a false front. Lock miters would be ideal for inset drawers, as that would take advantage of the hidden joint.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

I've made drawers using all of these methods except the pocket screws. I know if you all saw me demonstrate the lock miter, you'd be changing your tune very quickly. (As I said in my first post, drawers for cabinets not period pieces or fine furniture.) Give it a try.

[George Bregar]

All of the above. If I want strong, quick and easy, I pull out the Kreg jig.