drawers: i have a face, i have the shell. how to join?

[Leo Zick]

im in a quandry here.
ive been making drawers for my router table, and am not sure how to attach the face (it will be a flush face) to the innerds.
for a smaller drawer, i made a false front, rabbeted it, and screwed the face on from the inside.
i dont want to do this for the big drawer, i feel like its cheating.

some details.

its a flush finish face
it overhangs on the sides about 1/2"
it is flush on the bottom
it overhangs on the top about 1"
face is 3/4" oak
sides are 3/4" birch ply
bottom is 1/2" birch ply

nothing is assembled yet.

im thinking i can dado the front and mate it to the sides and bottom, but i wont get pulling strength this way unless i put wedges down the inside corners to hold it tighter.

what if i did a full dovetail cut for the sides, and dado the bottom? i think i like this idea but am not sure how to cut the sides correctly. i guess get ~1/4" off each end for the bevel?

ive seen router bits that create interlocking joints, i just dont want to spend any more right now. this is one expensive router table! lol

any other methods? im trying not to cheat with another false front, or with pocket screws for this one.. :/

[jerry nazard]

Sorry, Leo, but I would use screws for a false drawer front. I really don't think that it is cheating. Enjoy your new table.

Best!

-Jerry

[Cary Falk]

I use screws for face fronts also.

[Jim Becker]

Two screws are pretty much what joins drawer faces with drawer boxes in my work...

[Steve Clardy]

I use a couple of screws, then the hardware pulls have 2 through screws.

[Leo Zick]

so, rabbets on the first front piece, then screw the face in?

i just practiced full length dovetails. once the cuts line up right they hold quite well.

first way is certainly easier :)

next problem is getting a completely even gap across the face. near impossible since the cabinet isnt perfectly square. after that will be lining up the slides properly.

man, cabinets are hard.

ill be back in a few days with progress, and questions on how to get my mini drawers to slide.. wood slides with dados? wood rails on the bottoms? oy vey!

[J. Z. Guest]

Well, my feeling is that using false fronts is cheating.

For quick jobs, especially shop drawers, I'd use pocket hole joinery. Even on finer work, I like pocket hole joinery for the drawer back, then there's no messing around with dados, dovetails, and the pocket holes are made on the back of the drawer where they will only be seen when the drawer is completely removed.

For finer work, I'll use through dovetails or some sort of lock joint.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Well, my feeling is that using false fronts is cheating.
Don't be mean~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Tony Cox]

I have seen lots of drawers with false fronts. I have a kitchen full of them. My best friend just built his house and did get pretty decent cabinets and they all have false fronts. All of them have 2 screws from the inside to hold the front. Some of the drawers I have seen countersink the holes so the screws for both the hardware and the false front are below the surface. I like that look.

Tony

[J. Z. Guest]

I know it is common practice, but we obsess here about joinery strength all the time, so it just seems hypocritical to screw the front onto a drawer.

The nightstands I just finished have through dovetails on the drawer fronts. Every time I turn over in bed and open that drawer, I see those dovetails and it makes me smile.

[Leo Zick]

im thinking ill use both techniques. for the big drawer, full dovetails; for the smaller ones, ive made false fronts. the dovetail should work nice as long as the ply sides dont split too badly from routing.


my next challenge is sliding wood rails for the smaller drawers. i just got some 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4" square dowels. im hoping one of them will fit into a dado to make a nice slide. (either a dovetail or square cut)