Side Hung Drawers

[Brian Eaton]

I'm making a small chest of drawers (desktop sized - 12" wide x 7" tall x 7" deep, roughly) and am planning on using side hung rails to eliminate having a divider between each drawer.

On such a small chest is there any benefit in running dados for the drawer runners or would gluing/nailing suffice?1

[lowell holmes]

Shallow dados would be cleaner.

[Jim Koepke]

On the one drawer of mine with side hangers the hangers were just held on by screws. The drawer is shallow and is intended to only hold a few lighter items.

In deeper drawers without a shelf or divider between the drawers it would likely be better to have a dado to help prevent any sagging over time.

jtk

[Brian Eaton]

Thanks for the replies. There will be three drawers and each one will be approximately (don’t have my plans in front of me) 11.25” wide, 2.25” tall, and 7” deep. I can’t imagine any of them holding so much weight that they would sag. I don’t mind running dados if I need to but I also wonder if that would end up being a bit over built. It might actually be something visually interesting to run dowels from the outsides of the case sides through the runners - might provide some visual interest on otherwise bare sides. Thanks!

[William Fretwell]

I doubt that dowels are visually interesting in the case side. You need a rail deep enough that glue will hold it with no need for screws or dowels. In such a small piece that is not hard. A 3:1 ratio should do it.

[Jim Koepke]

I doubt that dowels are visually interesting in the case side. You need a rail deep enough that glue will hold it with no need for screws or dowels. In such a small piece that is not hard. A 3:1 ratio should do it.

Take a look at some Greene & Greene furniture. The joinery stands proud. There are usually square or diamond shaped pieces of wood used to cover screws.

A slightly proud dowel with a faceted cut from a chisel can look very good.

jtk

[William Fretwell]

Take a look at some Greene & Greene furniture. The joinery stands proud. There are usually square or diamond shaped pieces of wood used to cover screws.


jtk
My point exactly, not a fan!

[Jim Koepke]

My point exactly, not a fan!

That is why there are so many different styles from which one can choose.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

On a workbench I built, I nailed 1/2" blocks of wood to the 3/4"plywood workbench sides to support the drawers.

I lost the bench in the Hurricane Harvey flood. I made a new top of 2x6 boards on plywood supports. I will be adding drawers.
I may use kitchen drawer supports on it.