Drawer design dilemma

[Ron Hitchcock]

I've purchased drawer guides which require the drawer sides to be 5/8" thick. So, I have some 6/4 poplar. I first cut it to rough length. If it was cupped or twisted, I hand planed one side so it would travel thru the thickness planer without rocking. Worked great, I'm now down to 1 3/8" . I then resawed the board to just over 5/8" thick (about 1/16"). The next step would be the drum sander. I stacked the resawn boards and left over night. The next day all the boards were cupped about 1/16". The plan was to make the drawers with thru dovetails. It's a good thing I have a wood burning fire place. Now for the question. If I used 4/4 poplar and milled it down to 5/8" would I get the same result? I've not had cupping problems with poplar at a thickness of 3/4". I have 13 drawers to build for the desk, so I need to get it write. I'm building an heirloom double pedestal desk for my son.

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

Ron

[Jerry Miner]

No guarantees you won't get cupping. Re-sawing boards that are not at equilibrium moisture content--- that is, thoroughly acclimated to the shop environment--- will almost always lead to cupping due to the exposure of the interior of the board and the imbalance of moisture content in the two sides of the new, thinner, boards.

It will be safer planning down 4/4 stock, provided you take equal amounts off each face (but still no guarantees!)

You can probably salvage your original boards, though. If you clamp the boards flat while you lay out and cut your dovetails, the joinery will likely keep the parts pretty flat.

Also-- if you are using under-mount hardware (such as the Blum 563) the sides don't need to be exactly 5/8"--- the interior dimension is the one that matters, so anything under 5/8" will work---you will just get a slightly larger space between drawer and carcase.

[Ron Hitchcock]

No guarantees you won't get cupping. Re-sawing boards that are not at equilibrium moisture content--- that is, thoroughly acclimated to the shop environment--- will almost always lead to cupping due to the exposure of the interior of the board and the imbalance of moisture content in the two sides of the new, thinner, boards.

It will be safer planning down 4/4 stock, provided you take equal amounts off each face (but still no guarantees!)

You can probably salvage your original boards, though. If you clamp the boards flat while you lay out and cut your dovetails, the joinery will likely keep the parts pretty flat.

Also-- if you are using under-mount hardware (such as the Blum 563) the sides don't need to be exactly 5/8"--- the interior dimension is the one that matters, so anything under 5/8" will work---you will just get a slightly larger space between drawer and carcase.

Thank you very much. My project is a Roman style partner pedestal desk using the Resolute desk as the model. Pictures and more questions to follow.