Building a drawer with plowed grooves

[Derek Cohen]

This is how it looks without the drawer bottom (dry fit) ...




Test dry fit ...







Measure and fit drawer bottom (note that the grain runs side-to-side) ...






Regards from Perth

Derek

[Graham Haydon]

Nicely done, Derek. I'm curious, do you ever use slips?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Graham

I probably build far more drawers using slips than not. As you know, slips are important with drawers with thin sides, and I prefer sides of 6-7mm.

In the last two editions of Quercus magazine, there are articles from me to honour David Charlesworth. I used techniques he taught in building drawers, and showed a simple method for making slips as well.

Here is the rear of a drawer with slips ...




A row of drawers with beaded slips ...




Making a beaded drawer slip (from the articles):

Plough the groove (I am using an adjustable sticking board) ...



Use a beading plane to round the top ....



Rip off the slip ...



Now shape the leading end into a tenon to fit the drawer back groove.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Graham Haydon]

Thank you for sharing that Derek. Hopefully the OP has been dissuaded from making a captive solid timber panel in the proposed drawer.

I do use drawers with captive panels but they are plywood panels and in robust drawers for commercial kitchens. Good quality furniture would use the methods you show with my preference being slips.

[steven c newman]

I usually use a Stanley No. 45 to plough the grooves for a drawer's bottom panel....just the front and the 2 sides. The bottom panel passes under the back of the drawer. Back when they would use solid wood drawer bottoms, they had to allow for the expansion of that panel. Then again, I usually set the back of the drawer in a dado.

[Warren Mickley]

Thank you for sharing that Derek. Hopefully the OP has been dissuaded from making a captive solid timber panel in the proposed drawer.

I do use drawers with captive panels but they are plywood panels and in robust drawers for commercial kitchens. Good quality furniture would use the methods you show with my preference being slips.

I watched the video you presented earlier. The actor shows a 19th century drawer and claims this method was used the the 18th century.

I have examined many 18th century drawers and seen many configurations for attaching the bottom. The video method was not one of them. I have seen this method on machine made drawers.

I think that this would be an unlikely method in the hand tool era. It is just too much work for what it is worth.

[Graham Haydon]

Hi Warren

The Actor is me and actor is generous, twit might be more accurate.

I'm confident that the drawer is mid(ish) 20th century. The wood for the sides is Meranti type wood. I've seen a lot of stuff over here and it fits the bill. Even the screw holding the ply in looks right for my estimate.

Yes 19th century slips were prevelant and I've also seen drawers of a cruder nature ploughed into thicker sides.

You are right to say I don't have a high level of experience with 18th century drawers and I am happy to have been corrected.

[Jason Buresh]

Thank you for sharing that Derek. Hopefully the OP has been dissuaded from making a captive solid timber panel in the proposed drawer.

I do use drawers with captive panels but they are plywood panels and in robust drawers for commercial kitchens. Good quality furniture would use the methods you show with my preference being slips.

Yes, I am definitely not going to use a captured panel anymore.

I do like Derek's first method where the back is cut flush with the top of the groove and then the drawer bottom is slid in and screwed to the back board. That seems like a no nonsense way of doing things.

I am curious though, is there an advantage to using slips? Is this merely an aesthetic thing or is it just a way to make drawers if you only have thin stock?

It seems like extra work and chance for error for not a lot of benefit

[Graham Haydon]

Jason, I like slips. You can make them in various ways, if you don't fancy it, don't do it. I think the most important thing is you're not going to make a captive base.

Warren, I took a moment to read up https://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/2...entury-drawer/ . I'll do a video that corrects my statement so I don't mislead people. Thanks again.

[Jason Buresh]

Maybe I came across as snide, but that was a honest question in my previous post.

Is there a structural benefit to slips or is it an aesthetic thing?

I guess what I meant was I find it hard to imagine that craftsman back in the day would take the extra time to do something if there wasn't a benefit to it. Wether that benefit be a sign of craftsmanship so they can charge more for a piece or wether it's a structural thing.

[Graham Haydon]

Jason, far from it, I detected no snide. I like slips because they are a good way to work with thin drawer sides and allow for quite a straight forward way to make a drawer. I like the way they create a broad bearing surface in contrast to a thin side.

If the sides are thin you don't have much meat to sink a groove into. The link I shared shows a historically accurate approach for the 1750's which is also a good option as it also creates a broad bearing surface.

A groove into the side is okay but not my favourite approach.

[steven c newman]

Slips use to be made from a hard wear resistant wood, because that was also what the drawer would slide on....

[steven c newman]

Used a thin, secondary wood (Poplar, Pine) and they added a harder, wear resistant slip to both hold the drawer's bottom...and a place for the drawer to slide on, that prevents wear from the softer drawer sides.

[Tony Wilkins]

Also, you can use much thinner stock for the drawer sides if you wish.