kitchen drawer wood choice?

[Billy Trinh]

Hi all,
I'm planning to replace the current kitchen drawers boxes and thought I'd take the opportunity to practice dovetail with them as well. I'll be reusing the current oak faceplate and just redoing the box and replacing guides. What kind of wood would you recommend? I was thinking poplar as it seems easy to dovetail from reading the board but would KD douglas fir be ok for drawers? I'm thinking of getting the 2x4 and practice material prep as well (with tailed demons however, not enlightened enough to split boards by hand :p). Is it crazy to try split 2x4 into 1x4 and get the right drawer dimentions? i guess .5x 3- 3.5 finished. What's your thought?

[Chen-Tin Tsai]

I'm still a newbie at this so take it with a grain of salt. The Douglas fir may be OK, but it would be a bit hard to cut dovetails in as the wood can be soft and crumbly, which causes sides/bottoms to collapse or tear out when you're chiseling waste. I would try the poplar as the wood tends to be a tad stronger and more consistent. Regarding the 2x4's, that works OK. I generally run them through my TS on edge with the blade cutting just a tad less than half of the width and make a pass on either side, leaving the 2x4 connected by a thin strip of wood that I'd then cut out with a handsaw. After hand planing the edges and faces (to bring them flat and parallel), I'd imagine it'd be down to around 5/8"x3 1/4". This is what I did when I was looking for cheap lumber to practice dimensioning boards...an 8' piece of the 2x4 costs a buck at the BORG and would supply me enough material to practice all day! :D

[Tim Sproul]

Poplar is fine. Seal it with some shellac since poplar can have a less than pleasant odor to it.

Douglas fir, imo is also a good choice, especially since you're in California. Local materials is good. Or is the CA for Canada?

Not sure I'd touch a construction grade 2x4. Go look for 4x8 or 4x10 or 4x12 stock. It is normally #1 or better and hence a lot more clear material - avoid any boards containing the pith. You can resaw these large timbers to get quartersawn boards for drawer stock. It only takes 3-6 months to go from soaking wet to 12% moisture. You can help the drying along by resawing into 4, 2x4's (or whatever rough dimensions work for your drawers) while it is still soaking wet. Don't resaw it when it is partially dry, you'll end up with really warped stock not much good for anything. Not even that good for firewood because of all the pitch. If you opt to resaw the wet fir, you might investigate the proper blade for your bandsaw. Wet lumber saws differently than dry.

[Dan Andrews]

I would, and do use poplar for drawer boxes. It is inexpensive, saws fairly easily and does not tend to split. It does tend to fuzz along the cut line and be a little stringy when chopping out dovetails. Overall it is still my favorite without getting into expensive woods. If I were practicing to dovetail poplar parts, I would practice on poplar. It doesn't take a very big piece to do several practices. Good luck and have fun.

I have not found construction lumber to be very reliable for finish woodworking. Believe me if there is a way to save money that works I will usually do it.

[David Weaver]

Since you're doing the drawers, I would use whatever you want to use and put a hardwood runner on the bottom of the boxes glued to the pine/poplar/whatever you decide. Only needs to be a thin strip that you can replace later - ideal if you do it with a glue that can be reversed, like hide or liquid hide.

[Tri Hoang]

soft maple...priced very competitive with pine & poplar - at least in my neck of the wood. Nice wood to work with + durable.

[Johnny Kleso]

If you have a band saw and know how to re-saw you can get some big box lumber it might be inexpensive..
Get big wider sized boards and they are much more clear than narrow sizes..

[Matt Meiser]

I'd use poplar if dovetailing--it works like a dream and is cheap. Its also a very common drawer choice. The soft maple that is cheap at my dealer has worm holes and dark stains--I understand that's not always the case, but their regular soft maple is more expensive. I like it but generally use it on painted projects. But whether or not you like that look is a personal preference.