Hi,
I'm sure that this question has been asked, but in trying to search for something related I didn't see anything (lots of posts but none of the titles seemed appropriate)...maybe I should have looked harder so any pointers would be appreciated.
First some background...many years ago I bought a small "box" that has three shelves and drawers of varying sizes (small to larger going top to bottom). They are all relatively small and good for things like screws, nails, etc. I was hoping to build something similar only bigger but I'm having a hard time determining if it's a good idea, and here's the potential "problem": The small box is made of plywood (probably baltic birch or similar since it looks like high quality plywood). The outer box and all of the drawers are simply plywood boxes joined using box joints and the drawers are also just boxes made with box joints and hardboard drawer bottoms. The three levels are just 1/4" (actually probably 6mm) shelves that are held in place with dados. What I would like to do is to get some 1/2" and 1/4" baltic birch and make the outer case (again with box joints and dado'ed shelves) of the 1/2" (I am assuming the "pins" would be the same size as the thickness of the material) and make a bunch of drawers (again, box joints with hardboard bottoms held in grooves).
I have seen lots of videos with people building shop storage with plywood, but they all use power tools, even the least sophisticated use circular saws but most are table/mitre saws, etc. I don't have power tools, and don't want to buy any just to build something for shop storage. Am I to assume that using plywood (baltic birch) is just not done by those who use hand tools? It's not that I have anything against using "real" wood, but I like the look of the multiple layers showing in the joints, etc. And I would think it would be fairly stable if made of a good, high quality, plywood.
About the only thing I've seen is a short article by Adam Cherubini who apparently did some work with plywood and suggested a good sharp cross-cut saw. And I would imagine I'll need to be extra careful when sawing because fixing it with a hand plane may prove difficult. But has anybody done any work with plywood using hand tools only? Or would I just be wasting my time, effort and money?
Thanks,
Rob