Hello everyone,
Long-time lurker and first time poster here, love this forum and the breadth of knowledge you can find here. I figured I'd reach out and ask for some insight on a project I'm working on. A good buddy of mine commissioned me to build four (4) dressers for two of their bedrooms. The dressers will be recessed into the wall by about 8" leaving around 16" protruding. These are beaded face frames with shaker drawer fronts (painted white). Tops will be 4/4 and 5/4 walnut (finished rubio monocoat). I've built the beaded faceframes and carcasses already and am getting ready to start the drawers which leads to my questions.
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The four dressers vary in overall widths (35"; 38"; 51"; and 56") specific to each room. All in all I have 24 drawers to build. Based on the design he wants we made a few compromises at his request and I wanted to run a few things by someone for their input:
- Drawer Sides: These will vary in height 3 1/4", 5 1/4", 7 1/4" and 11 1/4". Due to the expense, we opted to use 1/2" ply for the smaller upper double drawers and 3/4" ply for the larger single bottom drawers (for strength and stability). I would prefer to make them out of poplar or hardwood but I don't have resaw capability, and drawer side stock is pricey. Anyway, I'm a bit concerned with the overall unsupported drawer width for the larger bottom drawers (being 43 3/4" and 48 3/4" in width) but figured the 3/4" ply is strong and I could reinforce with a cross brace on the bottom of the drawer for additional support in the middle if needed. I was going to use box joints but he's not in love with seeing the plywood grain on the side (not to mention the probability of tear out) so I may need to rabbit the boxes. I thought about using a lock miter but I imagine tear out on plywood would be also be an issue. I planned on edge banding the top of the drawers with 1/4" walnut but I don't think I have many options trying to edge band the sides where the box joints are. Thoughts? Alternatives?
- Drawer Bottoms: Plan is to use 1/2" and 3/4" Duraply MDO signboard (I had a few extra sheets) for the bottoms, as well as the drawer front panels. The MDO is a flat, clean surface that should serve as a bottom well.
- Drawer Finish (interior): Since these are dressers, he doesn't want any issues with fumes or smelly clothes. I also didn't want to leave them unfinished so I was thinking of a few coats of shellac after assembly. Any concerns? I'm curious how the MDO will take shellac (never applied it to MDO before).
I'd appreciate your input if you have any before I start going down this road and trying to avoid undesirable results. Thanks....