Quick Question On Drawer Bottom Construction

[Johnnyy Johnson]

Hi...Doing my first inset drawers for a dresser. I am cutting half blind dovetails. When I cut the slot for the drawer bottom, how will I keep the slot from showing on the outside corner at the dovetail? I am thinking I will have to do a stop cut at the corner and notch the plywood corner.

Thanks
Johnny

[Erik Christensen]

I just locate the pin to cover the slot in the front - as long as the height of the pin > bottom slot depth nothing shows on the side

[Jeff Ramsey]

Hi...Doing my first inset drawers for a dresser. I am cutting half blind dovetails. When I cut the slot for the drawer bottom, how will I keep the slot from showing on the outside corner at the dovetail? I am thinking I will have to do a stop cut at the corner and notch the plywood corner.

Thanks
Johnny

Method 1: Cut the bottom slots before you cut dovetails. Then lay out the dovetails so a tail from the side mates up with the slot in the front and back (which will be vacated when cut for the tails). Then cut your tails and pins, and when you chisel out for the pins (vacate material for the mating tail) you'll chisel out the visible portion of the slot.

Method 2: Cut the dovetails first, then use a plunge router (or router table with stops set appropriately) with 1/4" bit (assuming your drawer bottom is 1/4" thick stock or ply), and cut the slots but stop short of the ends.

[Robert Engel]

I always cut the groove first and lay out my tails so the groove doesn't show.

The tail above the groove has one side perpendicular, ie. the top of the groove = the bottom side of the tail.

Making any sense?

[Jim Dwight]

I would not cut the groove first. Routing the dovetail will likely result in chipout of the groove displaying the edge of the bottom. This is actually very easy to do right.

On the last full pin at the bottom of the drawer sides - shaped like /_\, put your dado near the center. The end of the pin will be buried in the mating part so the dado will not show. The mating part is already cut out in this area for the pin. So nothing shows. No need for any stopped dado. Bottom is slightly elevated but that keeps it from dragging when the drawer if full. I usually use 7/16 spacing which is about how far the bottom will be elevated.

[Jeff Ramsey]

I would not cut the groove first. Routing the dovetail will likely result in chipout of the groove displaying the edge of the bottom. This is actually very easy to do right.

On the last full pin at the bottom of the drawer sides - shaped like /_\, put your dado near the center. The end of the pin will be buried in the mating part so the dado will not show. The mating part is already cut out in this area for the pin. So nothing shows. No need for any stopped dado. Bottom is slightly elevated but that keeps it from dragging when the drawer if full. I usually use 7/16 spacing which is about how far the bottom will be elevated.

Don't you mean the bottom full tail in the drawer side? This will work too, if the drawer design can tolerate the bottom being up above the bottom half pin and halfway up the bottom-most full tail, looking at the side. But if I cut the joints by hand, I might want (in a shallow drawer) two wide tails, two half pins and a full pin in the middle (or even slightly more radically, one wide tail and two half pins). Couldn't your method put the drawer bottom up too high?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I generally cut my dovetails by hand. If I cut the channel first, I expect that things will break while I am cutting and paring.

I use a table saw to cut the channel (dado) so obviously the easiest thing to do is to but all the way through. I always measure and cut my dovetails knowing how far from the bottom I want my drawer bottom and how thick that drawer bottom will be.

If I use half blind, well, then I am done and I need no more special considerations.

If I do not use half blind, there are a couple of considerations:

Do I care about the back? If not, then that can be a through cut.

If I care about something showing, you can use some method to not cut the dado to the end, or, cut to the end anyway and then create a piece of wood that is the correct width and height to glue into the dado to fill it in.

If I do not cut to the end, then I mark where to start and stop the piece on the saw. This leaves a somewhat uneven end that tapers since the saw blade is curved, so, I use a chisel to clear this out.

[Mike Henderson]

Do your dovetails. Then assemble the sides of the drawer and use packing tape to hold it together if the dovetails are not tight. Then set up a slot cutting bit in your router table to the height and depth that you want to rabbet. Put the drawer sides over the bit and run it around so that the slot is cut in all four sides. If you slot cutter is too thin, raise the bit and cut again until the slot is the width of the bottom you're going to put in.

Take the four sides apart and use a chisel to square the corners of the slot (the slot cutter cannot cut a "square" corner.

Insert the bottom and glue up. This way you don't have to worry about placement of your dovetails.

Mike

[Johnnyy Johnson]

I'm going to cut my setup pcs this morning. Also will get plywood and then setup slot cutter. will post results.

[Bill Huber]

I do like Mike does the only difference is I do not chisel the corners, I round the corners of the bottoms.
I also use blue painters tape to hold everything together.

I use the LV bit to cut the slots in the drawer.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=47818&cat=1,46168,69435,46176

[Mike Henderson]

These slot cutters (http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/katana_bits7.htm#katana_3_wing_slot_anchor) may be a bit more expensive but you have more choices in the width of the cut. You need a variety of bearings because the bearing gives the depth of the cut. These are the ones I have.

I'm quite sure that the LV ones that Bill pointed to are excellent - I just wanted to give an alternate source.

Mike

[Bill Huber]

These slot cutters (http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/katana_bits7.htm#katana_3_wing_slot_anchor) may be a bit more expensive but you have more choices in the width of the cut. You need a variety of bearings because the bearing gives the depth of the cut. These are the ones I have.

I'm quite sure that the LV ones that Bill pointed to are excellent - I just wanted to give an alternate source.

Mike

You do want a really small bearing, if you get it to large the radius will be to large and you will not have any thing in the corners. The bit from LV is a 7mm or a 10mm bearing so it is really small.

[Mike Henderson]

You do want a really small bearing, if you get it too large the radius will be too large and you will not have any thing in the corners. The bit from LV is a 7mm or a 10mm bearing so it is really small.
Bill's right. But since I chisel out the corners, I can use a bigger radius slot cutter. If you want to round the corners of the bottom, and not chisel out the sides, you should go with the LV slot cutters.

The ones I pointed to are a bit more flexible for general shop use, allowing you to cut rabbets of different depths by changing the size of the bearing.

Mike