Plywood dust frames?

[Dave Westover]

Im building a chest of drawers for the shop and will use dust frames to carry the drawers. I have some 5/8 ply to get rid of, could I use that for the dust frames joining them with a tounge and groove? I milled up test pieces and the strength seems ok, but Im not sure ever seeing a t & g joint used on ply aside from flooring. I wondered why not.

On my test pieces, the dust frame is 2 1/2" wide with the tongue and groove at 3/4". Am I ok with this?

Many thanks.

[Bill White]

I'm sure it would be strong enough unless you're gonna store bricks.
Only downside to tongue and groove in ply is whether or not ya run into a lot of voids in critical areas.
Bill

[Dewey Torres]

You can do it but plywood is not "choice" for dust frames.

5/8 ply will tend to sag over time. If your drawers are inset I would not recommend it. If they are overlay you are a little better, but again I would prefer solids for the dust frames.

If you must use plywood consider 3/4

my .02

[Michael Donahue]

Im building a chest of drawers for the shop and will use dust frames to carry the drawers. I have some 5/8 ply to get rid of, could I use that for the dust frames joining them with a tounge and groove? I milled up test pieces and the strength seems ok, but Im not sure ever seeing a t & g joint used on ply aside from flooring. I wondered why not.

On my test pieces, the dust frame is 2 1/2" wide with the tongue and groove at 3/4". Am I ok with this?

Many thanks.

I've seen Norm do tongue and groove plywood dust frames, but he always used 3/4" from what I can remember.

[Chris Padilla]

I've seen Norm do tongue and groove plywood dust frames, but he always used 3/4" from what I can remember.

That is what I recall. 5/8" plywood is a little bit on the rare side.

Before we can guess if it'll work or not, what kind of span will they have?

Frankly, if they seem strong enough to you, I say go for it. If you hit a void cutting t or g, you might consider a #20 biscuit.

[Dave Westover]

The span was only 16". I hit too many voids forming the tongues so I'll have to rethink the situation. Thanks folks.

[Bob Genovesi]

Dave,

It's a narrow span so you'll be fine.

You might consider slotting both pieces and add a hardwood tongue, it's simple and much stronger.