I need help with dado & rabbet joints for some drawers

[Trevor Roeder]

I have never built one before and I am going to use 3/4" plywood for front, back & sides. The bottom I will use 1/2" ply because I want to make sure they will be strong enough since there will a descent amount of weight in them.

I know I will cut the dado on the sides and the rabbet on the front and back .

How far in will I make the dado cut on the sides and as well as cutting for the rabbit on the front and back?

How do I measure and cut for the bottom and will that be a rabbet cut?

I have a router mounted to a table, but I need to get a table saw which I plan to get maybe this weekend depending on how bad this snow storm we are getting tomorrow.

I don't plan on getting a dado blade just plan on using a diablo 40T or 60T or is that a bad idea.

[Jerry Miner]

If I understand your project correctly, you are planning to make a drawer joint like this, right?:

254968

Typically, the "tongue" on the front is embedded halfway into the side (3/8" in your case)---it's probably more common to use 1/2" material, and make the tongue 1/4" long, but it's up to you.

How do I measure and cut for the bottom and will that be a rabbet cut?

Plow a dado into the sides and front, 1/2" up from the bottom, and as wide as the thickness of your drawer bottom (1/2" in this case), again about halfway into the material. I usually "capture" the bottom in the drawer front, but cut the drawer back narrow so that the bottom extends all the way past the back. Measure the nside of the drawer box at dry fit, add the depth of the dados and the thickness of the back and cut the bottom to those dimensions, cutting just slightly narrow so it doesn't bind up at assembly.

You can make the cuts with a router or tablesaw. A regular blade will work, but it's a little harder to get a perfectly sized dado (a 1/4" dado cutter will cut the same size dado every time. You will have to make several passes with a regular blade, adjusting the fence every time---so more chance for error).

Good luck. Try all your cuts on scrap to make sure the set-up is right.

[Trevor Roeder]

If I understand your project correctly, you are planning to make a drawer joint like this, right?:

254968

Typically, the "tongue" on the front is embedded halfway into the side (3/8" in your case)---it's probably more common to use 1/2" material, and make the tongue 1/4" long, but it's up to you.

How do I measure and cut for the bottom and will that be a rabbet cut?

Plow a dado into the sides and front, 1/2" up from the bottom, and as wide as the thickness of your drawer bottom (1/2" in this case), again about halfway into the material. I usually "capture" the bottom in the drawer front, but cut the drawer back narrow so that the bottom extends all the way past the back. Measure the nside of the drawer box at dry fit, add the depth of the dados and the thickness of the back and cut the bottom to those dimensions, cutting just slightly narrow so it doesn't bind up at assembly.

You can make the cuts with a router or tablesaw. A regular blade will work, but it's a little harder to get a perfectly sized dado (a 1/4" dado cutter will cut the same size dado every time. You will have to make several passes with a regular blade, adjusting the fence every time---so more chance for error).

Good luck. Try all your cuts on scrap to make sure the set-up is right.

Thanks for the help, and yes that is the type of joint I plan on making.

[Myk Rian]

That's now I made the drawers for my tool chest.

254999255000

[Trevor Roeder]

That's now I made the drawers for my tool chest.

254999255000

Beautiful chest and thanks for posting.

[Trevor Roeder]

Typically, the "tongue" on the front is embedded halfway into the side (3/8" in your case)---it's probably more common to use 1/2" material, and make the tongue 1/4" long, but it's up to you.

The reason I'm using 3/4 ply is the drawers are 30" W, 9 11/16" H, 17" D So I need them to be strong since 2 drawers are for bedding and one drawer is used for various things.

[Charlie MacGregor]

OT, but that is the coolest grain pattern on the middle three drawers Myk.

[Sam Murdoch]

I usually "capture" the bottom in the drawer front, but cut the drawer back narrow so that the bottom extends all the way past the back. Measure the nside of the drawer box at dry fit, add the depth of the dados and the thickness of the back and cut the bottom to those dimensions, cutting just slightly narrow so it doesn't bind up at assembly.



Doing the back like this allows for finishing the inside of the drawer box without the bottom in place. This has the huge advantage of letting you finish without the aggravation of puddles in the crease between the bottom and the sides and allows for easy sanding between coats. If you are spraying this eliminate all the blow back too. I usually screw the bottom into the back without using glue. Plenty rugged under the most extreme circumstances. One more advantage, if you use Blum undermounts you don't need to notch the bottom of the backs.

[glenn bradley]

Ah, drawer-lock joints . . . . my favorite for drawers . . . I vary the tongue length based on material. For ply I go in half the thickness of the sides.

[Trevor Roeder]

Tonight or tomorrow I am going to start to makes these but I have a couple of questions.

The dimensions of my drawer opening is 24.5 cm X 30 1/8" X 17 1/8" (H,W,D), I did the height in mm because it was a little more accurate for me.
The drawer slides are 1/2" wide and 16" long.
These are flush mount drawers.

1)Should I just make my drawer 16 or 161/2 instead of 17?

2)Should the width be 29 1/16" wide because of drawer slides?

3)What is the proper width for the bottom, and do I do the rabbet cut for that?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, if your drawer opening is 30 1/8", and you need 1" for drawer slides you need a drawer that's 29 1/8 + 0, - 1/64.

I would make the depth 16" to match the slides.

Since you're using a flush drawer front with slides, I presume you're applying it to the front of the drawer box?

Bottoms go in grooves in the sides/front, with the back cut narrower so it only extends from the top of the drawer bottom to the top of the sides.

The drawer bottom can be screwed to the bottom of the back with a few small screws...........Rod.

[Trevor Roeder]

Hi, if your drawer opening is 30 1/8", and you need 1" for drawer slides you need a drawer that's 29 1/8 + 0, - 1/64.

I would make the depth 16" to match the slides.

Since you're using a flush drawer front with slides, I presume you're applying it to the front of the drawer box?

Bottoms go in grooves in the sides/front, with the back cut narrower so it only extends from the top of the drawer bottom to the top of the sides.

The drawer bottom can be screwed to the bottom of the back with a few small screws...........Rod.

Thanks Rod for chiming in.
Ok, I will go with 16 on the drawer depth.
What do you mean in your first question?
What do you mean by the bottom being cut narrower in the back, shouldn't it be the same width all the way front to back?

[Jerry Miner]

What do you mean in your first question?

He means you should allow an exact 1/2" on each side for the slides (1" total)--the drawer can be a hair narrow, but NOT wider. If you're in doubt about getting it made to a precise dimension, err on the side of too narrow. You can always shim the slides if you need to, but shaving the drawer box down can be a pain.

What do you mean by the bottom being cut narrower in the back..?

Read it again. He says to make the drawer back narrower (meaning not as deep) so the bottom slides past it. Same approach I mentioned in post #2.

[Trevor Roeder]

What do you mean in your first question?

He means you should allow an exact 1/2" on each side for the slides (1" total)--the drawer can be a hair narrow, but NOT wider. If you're in doubt about getting it made to a precise dimension, err on the side of too narrow. You can always shim the slides if you need to, but shaving the drawer box down can be a pain.

What do you mean by the bottom being cut narrower in the back..?

Read it again. He says to make the drawer back narrower (meaning not as deep) so the bottom slides past it. Same approach I mentioned in post #2.

I didn't even reread your first post, which I should have. thanks for reminding me to do that.

[Trevor Roeder]

Finally got one drawer made!

256735

[Jerry Miner]

That's progress! All I've done is TALK about drawer making!!

[Trevor Roeder]

That's progress! All I've done is TALK about drawer making!!

Thank you! It is progress, but slow progress.

I ruined some boards at my first attempt because I didn't do test runs and assumed my router & fence was set up right. That was a lesson learned on always do a trial run and measure to see if things are accurate.

I have to do the slides for this and then make 2 more drawers.