Cabinet and drawers-materials?

[Phil Winn]

I just purchased a Leigh D4 jig, and will be making
some workbench drawers and a cabinet-should be good practice...
For the drawers:
1. Should I use some plywood with a "fake" front?
2. Some other material for sides?
3. Material for bottom?
4. Which corner joints?
5. Which thickness materials or # of ply?
6. What design-is a fake front a good idea?
For the cabinet:
1. What material-plywood?
2. which thickness or #of ply?
3. Which corner joints?
Any other thoughts?
Thanks,
Phil

[Chris Messier]

Alot of questions and I will try to field as many as I can for you. I am sure that someone else will pop in and give you additional information.

For my shop built stuff I use plywood...I tend to use as much of the left over stuff as I can. You can use anything you want for the "False front". I would suggest using 1/2" material for the sides and 1/8" for the drawer bottoms for those drawers that are not going to be filled with very heavy stuff and they are going to be small in size. If you are going to put very heavy stuff in the drawer I would use 3/4" for the sides and 1/4" or 1/2" for the bottom dependent on weight.

Hope this helps you out some. Good Luck

[Ted Shrader]

Phil -

Some answers buried in your post. For the cabinet, there are a whole bunch of options. . . . Do you want to use the DT jig on the cabinet? If so, use through DT joints. Your choice of material. Recommend go with ¾" stock. Glue up if required to get wide enough. If you are not set on DTs for the cabinet, just use plywood. After all, it is for the shop.

When you get done, hit everthing with a couple of caots of shellac and you will be all set.

Then take some pictures! :)

Ted

I just purchased a Leigh D4 jig, and will be making
some workbench drawers and a cabinet-should be good practice...
For the drawers:
1. Should I use some plywood with a "fake" front? Sure
2. Some other material for sides? No. ½" Plywood.
3. Material for bottom? More plywood. How big will the drawers be? ¼" should work.
4. Which corner joints? Through on one drawer. Half blind on the next. Did you get a finger joint jig? Put those on the next one.
5. Which thickness materials or # of ply? Try ½" baltic birch
6. What design-is a fake front a good idea? Inset, overlay. Whatever you want to try. Overlays are a little easier to fit
For the cabinet:
1. What material-plywood?
2. which thickness or #of ply?
3. Which corner joints?
Any other thoughts?
Thanks,
Phil

[Ken Salisbury]

I just purchased a Leigh D4 jig, and will be making
some workbench drawers and a cabinet-should be good practice...
For the drawers:
1. Should I use some plywood with a "fake" front?
2. Some other material for sides?
3. Material for bottom?
4. Which corner joints?
5. Which thickness materials or # of ply?
6. What design-is a fake front a good idea?

Thanks,
Phil

This is my standard for Drawer Construction (http://www.oldrebelworkshop.com/drawer.gif) after which I attach a finished front.