Couple questions about making drawer boxes

[Scott Brandstetter]

When making a dresser or night stand, what should be the thickness of the drawer boxes.

Would it be considered acceptable to use oak or birch plywood for the boxes. I would use dovetails to assemble.

This would be furniture I am selling. The rest of the furniture is hardwood....headboards, dresser, night stands, etc

[John TenEyck]

Most drawers are made with 1/2" stock, sometimes 5/8" but that looks chunky to me. If you plan to use dovetails I would use hardwood. Maple and poplar are common woods used for drawer boxes, but any hardwood is OK.

John

[Bob Michaels]

Scott, this is only my opinion but I prefer 1/2" boxes for small drawers and 5/8" for larger (kitchen drawers, dresser drawers, etc). I have used baltic birch for shop drawers with dovetails but not for furniture. Machine dovetails tend to tear out in ply but can be avoided if you backup the ply. Non-baltic birch ply has voids. Maple or poplar might be a better choice. I am about to start 22 dovetail drawers for a walk in closet in my own house and I will use maple for the boxes. Just my .02 worth.

[scott vroom]

Mostly 1/2" maple here, occasionally 5/8. I stay away from plywood drawer boxes....they look cheap IMO. Just personal preference.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you use dovetails with plywood, the pins look weird. They show all the plies of the plywood. I'm okay with plywood for drawers, particularly when the project is drawer-intensive, like a kitchen. With plywood, I use a lock tongue-and-groove at the corners. It is fast to make, and is sturdy enough in plywood.

[Scott Brandstetter]

I appreciate the responses and would like to follow it up with another question.

I use 4/4 lumber and of course jointer and plane it down. It seems like a lot of waste to get the board to 1/2 inch not to mention cost or time. Is there a method I'm missing on using 1/2 inch stock for drawers? Would most sawmills cut maple down to 3/4 inch rough sawn? Thanks again for the assistance

[David Nelson1]

Buy 5 or 6/4 and resaw

[scott vroom]

I appreciate the responses and would like to follow it up with another question.

I use 4/4 lumber and of course jointer and plane it down. It seems like a lot of waste to get the board to 1/2 inch not to mention cost or time. Is there a method I'm missing on using 1/2 inch stock for drawers? Would most sawmills cut maple down to 3/4 inch rough sawn? Thanks again for the assistance

I would imagine that most cabinet makers are milling the majority of their 4/4 rough to 3/4 (I do anyway). So now you're talking about going from 3/4 to 1/2....that's only a quarter inch of additional loss.

Regardless, it will likely cost less to mill std 4/4 rough to 1/2" than to pay a commercial mill to custom mill 3/4" rough.

[Prashun Patel]

Beware resawing. You'll need to let your stock acclimate so it doesn't bow. If there's one place it'll happen it's on a resaw. If there's one place it shouldn't happen it's on a drawer.

Poplar is a nice choice for dovetailed drawers. It's relatively soft and light, works very well, and is cheap.

[John Lankers]

Beware resawing. You'll need to let your stock acclimate so it doesn't bow. If there's one place it'll happen it's on a resaw. If there's one place it shouldn't happen it's on a drawer.

Poplar is a nice choice for dovetailed drawers. It's relatively soft and light, works very well, and is cheap.

Been there, done that :rolleyes:.

[John Lankers]

Considering the amount of lumber needed for your project maple probably wouldn't be a budget killer but would elevate your drawers to the next level.
Regular plywood would make you want to pull your hair out with all the tearout you'd be getting.

[Pat Barry]

I think the question you need to answer is what is your intended market / customer / competition. There is no reason that using 1/2 inch Baltic Birch plywood can't be a very satisfactory drawer box or even use a secondary wood such as Poplar which is a popular choice. Tearout on BB can be managed and if BB fits your selling points / market then by all means use it. I wouldn't recommend using regular plywood though. I don't think you NEED to go larger than 1/2 inch material of any kind for a drawer box. I do think its a bit over the top to use Maple for the drawer box though. Bottom line - do what fits your own requirements

[Mike Henderson]

I use maple if the drawer is not going to have metal glides. If you're using glides, you can use a softer wood, such as poplar.

I like the look and color of maple.

Mike

[John TenEyck]

I really like the look of finger jointed Baltic birch drawers for a modern design piece of furniture. There's almost no waste and no prep. time either. But for a high end or traditional piece of furniture I would use hardwood. And the OP said he intended to use dovetails, which I would only do with solid wood. As mentioned, the pins look strange with DT construction. When I make 1/2" hardwood drawers, I resaw 8/4 stock into 3 pieces. If the stock is stress free and well conditioned to my shop I will get three pieces w/o issue.

John

[Kent A Bathurst]

.........going from 3/4 to 1/2....that's only one third of your material cost going up the chute .


Scott -

fixt it for you...........:eek: :eek:

It is proportions and perspective - for one or two drawers, who give a darn?

But, in the long game, that is a big premium to pay.

5/4 cut to size, then joint and plane and resaw , and you are good. If you do drawers every so often, get a chunk or two of the right stuff on the racks, and pull it down when you need it.

If a guy really insists on wasting money, I have a lot of better places to go than drawer components.

[Mike Heidrick]

I use pseudo 3/4 or 1/2 baltic birch (Menards version) for box sides and I do dovetail it. Have to watch out when dovetailing plywood as it will chip. Back it up before dovetailing. Drawer fronts cover plys in the front and most people like seeing any dovetail on the sides plywood or not. Make how you want if the customer has not specified a specific requirement.

I always make practice boxes. Cut extra cheaper stock.

[Robert Engel]

IMO pine is one of the best materials for drawers. Eastern white pine, specifically, or even spruce.
I
1/2" should be fine for a dresser.

+1 to the previous poster.

I get 5/4 boards and resaw them just like he described. I think its ludicrous to send 1/4" of wood into the chip collector.

When you resaw remember you're opening up the wood big time and exposing the "moist middle" so make sure you sticker them and and leave 'em be for a week or so, especially if the sides are over 4" high. And oh, put some weight on top. I keep a couple heavy boards around just for this purpose.

[jack duren]

1/2 solids over 5/8,3/4 is less weight. Unnecessary to make thick drawers where not needed. a 1/2 side with a 5/8 or 3/4 front is my direction of choice.

But..... Here in this application its wood on wood runners and the 3/4 makes more sense...


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[scott vroom]

Scott -

fixt it for you...........:eek: :eek:

It is proportions and perspective - for one or two drawers, who give a darn?

But, in the long game, that is a big premium to pay.

5/4 cut to size, then joint and plane and resaw , and you are good. If you do drawers every so often, get a chunk or two of the right stuff on the racks, and pull it down when you need it.

If a guy really insists on wasting money, I have a lot of better places to go than drawer components.


It really didn't need fixing Kent. I don't have a bandsaw in my tiny shop, and that's how I roll. I make primarily maple cabinets and usually have a fair amount of bowed 3/4 off-cuts that get milled to 1/2" drawer stock rather than hitting the scrap bin. I've also been known to glue up 2 small offcuts to make drawer stock.

[scott vroom]

I think its ludicrous to send 1/4" of wood into the chip collector.

See post #19, hombre. Maybe it's a little less ludicrous when one doesn't own a bandsaw and lives in an area devoid of lumber mills capable of delivering 5/8" boards.

[Victor Robinson]

See post #19, hombre. Maybe it's a little less ludicrous when one doesn't own a bandsaw and lives in an area devoid of lumber mills capable of delivering 5/8" boards.

But hey, at least there's no shortage of Tesla dealerships in the area.

[Jim Dwight]

I like to use 1/2 Baltic birch plywood and I dovetail it. It chips badly if you don't back cut but is fine if you do. The main advantage is the avoidance of glueing up drawer stock and/or planeing it to thickness. I did that for one kitchen but I doubt I'll do it again. I think the bb looks fine and it is a whole lot less work.

[Jamie Buxton]

See post #19, hombre. Maybe it's a little less ludicrous when one doesn't own a bandsaw and lives in an area devoid of lumber mills capable of delivering 5/8" boards.

Macbeath does sell what they call backing boards, which are 5/8" IIRC. Cherry, alder, walnut, I think. Maybe maple too, not sure.

[Mark Blatter]

I like to use 1/2 Baltic birch plywood and I dovetail it. It chips badly if you don't back cut but is fine if you do. The main advantage is the avoidance of glueing up drawer stock and/or planeing it to thickness. I did that for one kitchen but I doubt I'll do it again. I think the bb looks fine and it is a whole lot less work.

+1

I do all my drawers from 1/2" BB. I back them when routing the dovetails and virtually never have any tear out. I like that I do not have to worry movement of the wood, moisture content, etc. I also like how the finished ends look. Using 1/4" BB for the bottoms makes it easy to spray them also.

[Jim Matthews]

I make the fronts from solid 1/2 hardwood and apply a shop made face veneer.
That gets me to 3/4" on the front.

I now use 1/2" baltic birch for the sides and back.

I put the bottom, typically a pre-finished 1/4" ply in with slips glued to the BB sides.

The drawers are easily squared and BB can be worked with my basic handtools
to make nice fitting dovetails that are amazingly strong.

(Kid testes) The exposed top "rail" of the sides can be covered with hardwood.
I prefer cut the sides over height and skim off the outermost ply to glue on as
a show face. That way all the exposed faces will take the same shellac finish.

The only caution in using plywood this way is that some prefinished plywood
is slippery and the contents will slide around in the drawers.

[Kent A Bathurst]

It really didn't need fixing Kent. I don't have a bandsaw in my tiny shop, and that's how I roll.


See post #19, hombre. Maybe it's a little less ludicrous when one doesn't own a bandsaw and lives in an area devoid of lumber mills capable of delivering 5/8" boards.

Scott --

don't go all attitude on us, simply because you do not have enough tools. How can that possibly be our problem? Suck it up, dude, and admit your inadequacies.

:p :p :p

[johnny means]

I'm going against the grain here but, I preferred 3/4 for drawers. I could often make use of the waste from the rest of the project. Joinery was stronger. Drawers felt and sounded more solid. Modern slides work better with more weight. I never agreed with the idea that a drawer box should feel light and look trim. I believe typical drawer material choice is more a product of production concerns than aesthetics. These production concerns most likely won't apply to someone in your situation.