Drawer Lock Bit vs finger joints

[Bob Johnson2]

Hi all,
I tried out a drawer lock bit today and am a bit skeptical about it for holding up to the pounding a drawer gets. Does anyone have experience with one of these? My choices are to use this or make finger joints.

Thanks
Bob

[David Duke]

I've never used on but there is an article on drawer lock bits and lock-miter bits in the January edition of Woodcraft magazine (I was actually reading the article when I loged out SMC this evening and seen this post).....the guy swears by them, says they're a little tricky to set up but once you get the feel for it it makes a quick strong joint.

[Bob Johnson2]

I'd agree it is quick, after spending a good hour getting it right. They are also tight, my question is more along the lines of do they last? I did not use the miter bit.

[Steve Clardy]

I use a drawer lock bit on all my drawers for kitchen cabinet jobs.
Good solid joint. Less time consuming than finger joints.
I have a dedicated router set up just for this. So no setup time unless the bit gets dull. But I keep a couple of scrap drawer sides with the profile run on them so I can quickly set it back up again.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I have used a drawer lock bit to make drawers on numerous occasions. I have never had a drawer lock joint failure. Setup needs to be precise. Make a shallow cut on the table saw to eliminate tearout in plywood on the drawer sides. Once you get the setup perfect, make a sample in scrap to use as a guide for subsequent setup. Here are some helpful setup sites:

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/cmtdrw1.htm
http://www.woodline.com/Downloads/Drawer%20Lock.pdf
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/graphics2/24drawerlck.pdf

[tod evans]

if the drawers are in a piece of furniture and not kitchen cabinets for sale dovetail them. .02 tod

[Mark Singer]

if the drawers are in a piece of furniture and not kitchen cabinets for sale dovetail them. .02 tod

the only thing I want to add is : "By hand"

[tod evans]

the only thing I want to add is : "By hand" AGREED! :)

[Mark Singer]

Actually I only have 2 drawer construction techniques now....hand dovetail for furniture or Kreg Drawers...I use the Drawer fronts to hide the screws and I use prefinished material...for these I use slides and they are easy and fast to build and strong.

[John Cavanaugh]

Has anyone used the locking miter bits for constructing things like carcasses?? Or am I just going a little to far?

--
John Cavanaugh

[Jay Knepper]

John,

Of course THE carcase joint is the dovetail.

If you want a mitered look a lock miter would be fine provided you have a back on the carcase that will add stiffness. The lock miter joint on end grain would not add much resistance to racking.

[Barry O'Mahony]

With solid wood, the finger joints should be stronger. With the lock bit joint, every gluing surface involved end grain on at least one surface.

[Bob Johnson2]

the only thing I want to add is : "By hand"

Okay Mark, you talked me into it, here's my 1st and 2nd ever dovetail. Took a couple hours this am to figure it out but I really enjoyed it. The first one that you see at the far ends I goofed and cut on the wrong side of the lines, put my X's on the wrong parts. I'll get the hang of it over the weekend.

[Mark Singer]

Bob,
Those look routed...Incra or omni jig....If they are by hand change the spacing...and start with a half pin....the fit is great for hand work...are you sawing by hand and chiseling the waste?

[Bob Johnson2]

Bob,
Those look routed...Incra or omni jig....If they are by hand change the spacing...and start with a half pin....the fit is great for hand work...are you sawing by hand and chiseling the waste?

I don't know if looking routed is good or bad? I did indeed do them by hand, they ended up a bit too tight which is why they look decent I guess. The images are a bit decieving, there are a couple small spaces and the pins are a bit short. I can't get them back apart after putting them together so that's how it's staying. I used a Dozuki crosscut saw and bench chisels as that's what I have. I do have one of the dovetail setups but since mounting my good router to the lift I don't have one for dovetails. That's why I was looking into the drawer bit or Box joints, the suggestion of dovetails by hand was good timing. I'll try changing the sizes this weekend. The book I went by mentioned that keeping them all equal gives the most strength, that's why I went equal spacing. And it is indeed strong, too much so, it's permanent. I wasn't sure if I could do these with plywood and so figured I better leave some meat on the ends. Thanks for the pointers.