Drawer bottoms, glue or floating?

[Dewayne Reding]

I am about to assemble some workshop drawers. I believe these would be considered very typical. 3/4" front, 1/2" sides and back. 1/4 bottom. All plywood construction. Drawer bottoms is in a dado all four sides. I assume they are glued. If not, does the bottom need expansion room built in?

[Greg Funk]

I just made a bunch of workshop drawers. Should be no problem gluing them up. Just make sure they're square before the glue dries.

Greg

[Jim Becker]

Since they are plywood, gluing is acceptable. If the sides were solid stock, however, the bottom panel should float.

[Jim McCarty]

I worked in a high end commercial shop for several years and we dado'ed the front, back and sides and after glueing and pin nailing the four sides together, we squared the drawer and then hot melt glued the bottom into the dadoes. The drawer is then super strong and will stay square while the yellow glue dries and will make a very strong assembly.

[Dewayne Reding]

Appreciate the advice guys. I can already see I am going to need three hands to assemble them without making a mess with the glue. I need to buy some more assembly squares. The hot glue sounds like a good tip.

[glenn bradley]

Appreciate the advice guys. I can already see I am going to need three hands to assemble them without making a mess with the glue. I need to buy some more assembly squares. The hot glue sounds like a good tip.

I glue when all plywood, float if solid wood is involved. On needing three hands; depending on your frame assembly (I use drawer lock joints) you can assemble three sides (that's only two glue joints) and square it up. After it sets a bit (or totally), slide the bottom in and glue the last piece. I lay down lots of waxed paper when doing fully glued drawers; I always seem to drip somewhere.

[Jim McCarty]

As Glenn said, assemble the front and back and one side, then slip in the bottom and glue and nail the the last side on. Turn it over with the bottom side of the drawer up, square it up, then hot glue it. The hot glue sets up in a few seconds and the wood glue can dry at its own rate but the drawer won't move because the hot glue is already set up. As far as making a mess, use just enough glue to cover the mating surfaces and wipe off any squeeze out with a damp sponge. Once you get used to the order of assembly it'll be just like an assembly line and might even fun. Enjoy!

[John Schreiber]

As Glenn said, assemble the front and back and one side, then slip in the bottom and glue and nail the the last side on. Turn it over with the bottom side of the drawer up, square it up, then hot glue it. The hot glue sets up in a few seconds and the wood glue can dry at its own rate but the drawer won't move because the hot glue is already set up.
Trying to understand here as I've got a similar project coming. Do you use hot glue on all four sides of the bottom? Or is it regular glue on three sides and hot glue to hold the last side on? And is this regular craft hot glue or something else? Do you also use clamps?

[Jim McCarty]

Use yellow glue to attach the front, back and sides to each other. Use a bead of hot melt glue on the bottom of the drawer bottom to secure it into the dadoes in the front, back and sides (all 4 sides). You shouldn't need any clamps. If you didn't use the hot glue, the drawer would still work, but the bottom would float and the drawer would want to distort out of square and wouldn't be nearly as strong. The hot glue is the secret to strong, long lasting, simple to build drawers. If you want to get into lock miters or dovetails, then that's going to the next level and most home woodworkers don't seem to want to work that hard for kitchen or garage drawers. Good luck.