Drawers: Glued and One Screw?

[Jack Pinkham]

This video on building Euro-Style cabinets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9u_J-RLDOU ,
shows a drawer built with lock joints. The instructor mentions that glued butt joints are weak. The sides and front and back of our new drawers built by our contractor have butt joints with glue, one screw and two pin nails. Looking at the AWS Standards for Woodwork, only Economy Grade (which is for utility rooms, etc.) casework can have nailed drawers.

Can we expect these drawers to be durable?

Thanks!255102

[Joe Kieve]

I agree with the instructor...probably not going to hold up very long. Maybe add some corner blocks to the inside to increase length of time they hold up.

joe

[Jamie Buxton]

You've got modern drawer slides under these drawers? Then that corner joinery is probably going to be okay. It may not be the prettiest approach, and it isn't a joint that a "fine woodworker" would use, but it is probably durable enough.

We "fine woodworkers" today overbuild our drawers. We use dovetails and the like, which were required before modern drawer slides were available. Back then, the stress on drawers was really high. The sliding friction under the drawer and around the sides tried to rip the front joints apart every time somebody opened the drawer. However, with modern ball bearing slides, the stresses on the drawer joinery are much much lower.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, although not optimum, the drawer at least is built properly so that the opening/closing stresses are at right angles to the axis of the screw.

With modern adhesives, and assuming that the drawer bottom is glued into the grooves/dado, that drawer will outlive the lifespan of the kitchen. It's more probable that you will renovate before you repair.........Regards, Rod.

P.S. I don't build drawers that way, however I don't expect that you'll have any problems..

[Myk Rian]

I'm assuming the pic shows the back of the drawers. What do the fronts look like.
In this thread, locking rabbet joints are discussed. In lieu of dovetail joints, I prefer them.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?199380-I-need-help-with-dado-amp-rabbet-joints-for-some-drawers

[Jack Pinkham]

Thanks for the feedback.

The drawer guides are Blum 562H. In the video the instructor doesn't glue the bottom to the dadoes in the sides
and the back and front. He does use hot melt glue on the bottom to hold the drawer square until the other glue sets. The reason he gives for not gluing the bottoms is that the glue will squeeze out inside the drawer and "you'll never get it out". I can't tell whether our drawer bottoms are glued. I hope so. Blum shows the bottom of the drawer back level with the the drawer sides, with a notch in the backs for the guides. Our drawer backs only extend to the top of the drawer bottom. He saved having to cut notches, but he also only used butt joints.

[Jack Pinkham]

I'm assuming the pic shows the back of the drawers. What do the fronts look like.
In this thread, locking rabbet joints are discussed. In lieu of dovetail joints, I prefer them.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?199380-I-need-help-with-dado-amp-rabbet-joints-for-some-drawers

The fronts are butt jointed to the sides with a screw, two pin nails, and a screw.

[Chris Friesen]

Glued butt joints in solid wood isn't great. Plywood is half long grain, so glued butt joints should be plenty strong when combined with metal slides. The metal fasteners are perpendicular to the open/close force, so they're not going to be stressed in withdrawal, only in shear. They look fine to me.

Heck, the kitchen drawers in my house have stapled MDF sides and they lasted decades...I'm replacing them with glued butt-joined baltic birch drawers which I expect to last even longer. Realistically we'll rip out the kitchen before the drawers fail.

[Jerry Miner]

+1 on Chris above. A glued butt joint in solid wood is weak. Plywood is different. Half the joint is long-grain-to-long grain.

If it means anything, I've built hundreds of drawers with glued and pinned plywood butt joints. Never had a failure.

And the Blum 562 hardware puts all the open/close load on the drawer front--no load transfer to the sides. Your drawers will be fine.