Squaring a drawer

[David Watkins]

Well, I'm building my first peice of furniture, what I would call a shaker style wash basin. It has 1 drawer and 2 doors. I've done great on the cabinet but spent 5 hours messing with a dovetail jig until the patience wore out. My friend built the drawer for me using dado's instead and it is great except he didn't check it prior to gluing and it isn't square. It is twisted about 1/8" from front to back, 12" long. The drawer is made from the same random stock so it is a tad over 3/4" all the way around. The guides are just wooden slides and the drawer would fit perfectly if it were square. I could rebuild it, but the drawer face is a peice I really want to use, with a knot int he middle. Any suggestions on how I could square it up? I'm a beginner, mind you!

[frank shic]

fine woodworking ran an article about just this problem several years ago. it's entitled "fitting drawers" and it's written by phillip c lowe. don't feel bad - SQUARE is a goal we all strive to achieve but often times fall short. two of my first dovetail drawers are so racked (or is it the cabinet?) that i still can't open the bottom two drawers of my bathroom vanity without straining!

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

To the sides:
You can add material or remove material or both.
Jsut do it in such a way that you are referencing off the front.

[Hans Braul]

I had exactly this problem on a piece I built last summer. The drawer bottom was solid wood that slid into dados cut in the drawer sides. I just removed the bottom, then clamped the drawer square, then butted one edge of the bottom hard against one side. Then I fixed the back edge with a screw that prevented the back from moving out of square with the side.

Hope this paints the right picture.

Cheers
Hans

[Zahid Naqvi]

MadCap, if you'd be kind enough to email/PM you real name to JAckie or Aaron they will modify your Id to refelect the same. The TOC requires that all members of SMc use a real first and last name. Thanks.