Drawer material for vanity.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

444277

I’m gathering materials to build this vanity. It will be Cherry on all exposed surfaces.
My question is what material to use for the drawer boxes. I was thinking 1/2” maple but I’m having trouble finding a source for it. 3/4” or thicker is no problem.
Plywood and pine are the 2 materials I’m finding that are 1/2”.

[Mike Walsh]

I've used 1/2" poplar for a number of drawer boxes, it's worked fine and I can usually find it at my wood supplier.

[Jim Becker]

.5" or .625" maple, poplar or other hardwood is what's generally desirable for this type of purpose. I generally make my own stock by resawing 5/4 material. If you are limited to buying stock pre-thicknessed, you'll have a lot more challenge as you are finding out. If you don't have the ability to thickness in your shop and don't want to use BB plywood (which is also a valid choice), perhaps you can collaborate with another woodworker in your area or see if a local cabinet shop can source S4S half-inch material on your behalf from their suppliers when they are ordering for their own purposes.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

Thanks!!
I can get 5/4 and I do have a bandsaw that I can resaw it. I’ve done that before but I was only making a couple of drawers. I’ve used pine and plywood before for larger quantities.
I’ll go buy some 5/4 maple and a new bandsaw blade.

[roger wiegand]

It's also fairly reasonable to buy prefinished, edge banded 1/2" maple ply drawer stock. The stuff that they sell at my local supplier (Boulter Plywood) comes in widths from 4-12" and has a dado pre-cut for the drawer bottom to slide into. An 8' piece of 4" is $15, 12" wide 8 ft long is $37, as examples. Lots of places also sell knock-down dovetail drawer boxes in whatever size you need if you'd like to avoid having to make them at all.

[vince dale]

I like using 1/2" BB and this method http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2014/09/19/the-quarter-quarter-quarter-drawer-system/ Then finish with shellac. Fast, simple and never had a problem.

[Jim Dwight]

I had a friend over to my house today and gave him a little tour so I happened to look at the one vanity I made in this house. I made the drawers with oak fronts half blind dovetailed into softwood sides and softwood backs. Bottoms are 5mm underlayment plywood. I am making a cabinet for a utility room that has a sink and they are of 1/2 inch plywood, sandeply from home depot. It isn't great but I think it will be OK for this utility room. Joints are 5mm dominos through the sides into the fronts and backs. Most plywood has exterior glue so it is ok for wet situations but I still think solid wood is a bit safer.

I planed the softwood drawer pieces to 1/2 out of 3/4 scraps I had in my shop. I often use up scraps for things like this that can be made from various types of wood partically because I run out of space for scraps. If I do not use them up this way I end up hauling them to the dump.

I've also used 1/2 baltic birch plywood for drawers. It is the only type of plywood I will cut router dovetails in. I still back cut it to minimize splintering. Solid wood is considerably easier to dovetail, even softwood.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I’ve got to find a supplier of such things. That would be nice to get prefinished, dadoed and Edge banded strips.
I am dovetailing these.
Since I had picked maple wood to start I’ll stick to this for our vanity since it sounds like resawing 5/4 is reasonable.
My main source of wood is a terrific wood supply house (Jeffries Woodworks) with a large selection of species always in stock. But I’m sure it isn’t what a cabinet shop would typically source the internals from.
Thanks for the input and options. I’ll find some sources for these and use some of the feedback in the future.

[Dave Sabo]

I’d use these:

https://www.grassusa.com/products/vionaro/


technical stuff:

https://www.grassusa.com/downloads/grass_catalog_vionaro.pdf