Originally Posted by
stevo wis
Mark,
I am just finishing up a dresser and am fitting the drawers. Several years ago, Phil Lowe wrote a FWW article about fitting inset drawers. I downloaded it and it helped a lot. Some of the things he mentioned were:
1. At first use a marking knife to get a snug fit to begin with for length.
2. Making the drawer backs 1/16 shorter than the fronts.
3. Handplaning the fronts as you mentioned.
4. You could also plane the side opposite the side that is proud. That is, if the left side is proud, plane off near the back of the right side to "pivot the drawer. Doing this along with planing the front, prevents too much taken from the front.
5. He even mentions, planing the insides of the cabinet, though that can be a ton of work.
Personally I would do it by hand or at least be very careful with the jointer.
At this point, my drawers are all rough fit and it's looking pretty good, but i need to get them glued and final fitted. If you would like more, message me and I can get more info for you.
Stevo