Drawer Repair , unusual construction

[Vijay Kumar]

My daughter has given me the task of fixing her broken drawer (39 wide x 7 high x 17 deep). When I remove the handle , the drawer box does not separate. The tails seem to be part of the drawer front , So either the front of the drawer is glued on or machined from a singe piece of wood.
The chest of drawers is probably from the mid 60s. Very flimsy construction. The sides are 3/8, the bottom is 1/8. Has a center guide system on the bottom.
The only good piece is the drawer front.
Is there any way to seperate the drawer front from the drawer box (drawer box front would be 39 x 7) so that I can attach a new drawer box. Any other thoughts?
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[Jamie Buxton]

That was a common way to build drawers in the sixties. There was no separable drawer box. The piece at the front of your drawer is all milled out of one plank.

If you want to use that existing drawer front with a separate drawer box, you could just use it as is. It will have some funkiness with the visible tails, but it will work.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you wanted to get rid of the funky tails, you could bandsaw off the rear 3/8" of the front piece, or run it through a planer until the tails disappear. But then you have a 3/8"-thick front, which is too thin to screw in to. You probably need to laminate a new 3/8"-thick layer on the back of your 3/8" front, so the new front is 3/4" thick. Then you'd have enough meat for the screws coming through the drawer box front.

[Vijay Kumar]

Thank you Jamie for confirming that I am not imagining the construction of the drawer front. I will stay with the existing front I think, funkiness to be assumed.

[johnny means]

This is the traditional manner in which drawers were made. Back before furniture makers could just stop at the store and buy an extra sheet of plywood, every drawer part had to be milled by hand. A drawer box with an applied front would have been at least 25% more material and labor. Personally, I would repair that. It's not flimsy, it's light weight, a necessity when ball bearing and fancy undermount drawer slides weren't a thing. I'd clean it up, glue it back together, and run a couple of strategically place dowels in each joint. No reason that drawer, with a little care, couldn't be in service into the next century.

[Vijay Kumar]

Johnny thanks for the education on drawers. Trust me I would prefer to fix this. But this is really flimsy and the thin plywood has cracked in some places. Really 3/8 thick for sides and 1/8 bottom for a drawer 39 inch wide? The attempt at strengthening the bottom have not worked, inspite of my earlier attempts to bolster them. I have not posted all the pictures where the material is broken.

[Bill Dufour]

You must be very young. A separate drawer box and front came into kitchen cabinets then got accepted for cheap furniture in the 1970's? I think lthat was because they switched to particle board and the formica covered front went out of style. I am surprised you did not comment on the lack of particle board. I assume no Phillips head screws.
Bill D

[Vijay Kumar]

Bill I am quite old just not familiar with this aspect of drawer construction. Particle board in drawers is a no no. I have seen plenty of Ikea drawers fail. Although you may extoll the greatness of techniques of previous years, I can assure you that this drawer is very non robust even its heyday.

[fred woltersdorf]

I would save the front and remove the remainder of the dovetails with a dado blade, build a new box, and then pocket hole screw the front on.

[Mike Kees]

That is one drawer out of how many ? Probably will continue to be a problem one drawer at a time. I would build a new dresser made to last. I think that your daughter would enjoy having a piece of furniture you made for her.

[John TenEyck]

Replace the other 4 pieces of the drawer and keep the front. The half blind dovetails in the front look like a stock bit was used, maybe a 1/2" - 14 deg. Machine cut dovetails are pretty easy to replicate. If that's a non-starter, then trim the dovetails back flush and use a butt joint. Drill three or four small dowel holes through the sides and into the rabbett on the back of the front and glue in dowels. Very easy to do and very strong.

For a drawer that wide I would add a center stiffener under a 1/4" bottom, front to back, let into dados in those parts. If you glue in the plywood bottom the drawer will be very strong.

John

[Vijay Kumar]

Replace the other 4 pieces of the drawer and keep the front. The half blind dovetails in the front look like a stock bit was used, maybe a 1/2" - 14 deg. Machine cut dovetails are pretty easy to replicate. If that's a non-starter, then trim the dovetails back flush and use a butt joint. Drill three or four small dowel holes through the sides and into the rabbet on the back of the front and glue in dowels. Very easy to do and very strong.

For a drawer that wide I would add a center stiffener under a 1/4" bottom, front to back, let into dados in those parts. If you glue in the plywood bottom the drawer will be very strong.

John

Thank you John. I have to replace the 1/8 bottom with a 1/4 bottom. There is already a center stiffener , aka the wooden glide. Attaching the sides to the front using dowels will be challenging as the material is only about 3/8 wide, so the dowels will be need to be like 1/8" dia. Not ruling this out, just thinking out aloud. Something to explore.

[John TenEyck]

Thank you John. I have to replace the 1/8 bottom with a 1/4 bottom. There is already a center stiffener , aka the wooden glide. Attaching the sides to the front using dowels will be challenging as the material is only about 3/8 wide, so the dowels will be need to be like 1/8" dia. Not ruling this out, just thinking out aloud. Something to explore.

These drawers have 1/4" dowels in the 1/2" rabbetts on the back of the drawer fronts.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLWWo44Qex8lgiABr3gPuZXg34ckaPID8v8NYOLSjCF8ZkVzM obXRGSqC-T_iul6NO9-KwpasnASF_pLLNsR4-4L4LgxIl6bHYrvHNmT-d3IijBC_Qz4P8pk-1gmCPm9Q4esDXvPbWPtlP-GwXDhsFxXTw=w503-h893-no?authuser=1

You could use 3/16" dowels if the rabbetts are 3/8".

John

[Vijay Kumar]

These drawers have 1/4" dowels in the 1/2" rabbetts on the back of the drawer fronts.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLWWo44Qex8lgiABr3gPuZXg34ckaPID8v8NYOLSjCF8ZkVzM obXRGSqC-T_iul6NO9-KwpasnASF_pLLNsR4-4L4LgxIl6bHYrvHNmT-d3IijBC_Qz4P8pk-1gmCPm9Q4esDXvPbWPtlP-GwXDhsFxXTw=w503-h893-no?authuser=1

You could use 3/16" dowels if the rabbetts are 3/8".

John

Beautiful work John.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks Vijay, but those are nearly the simplest way to make a drawer after butt joints with nails. What I really like about them is besides being easy to make they look good, at least to me, and they are plenty strong.

John

[andrew whicker]

Might be nice to shave off the back, build a new box and attach the old front to the new box.