How to Build a Drawer With Dovetails TUTORIAL

Newsletter Article: Brand a Traditional Drawer

Subsequently mastering dovetails, making a well-plumbing fixtures dovetail drawer is a must skill for the traditional paw-tool woodworker.  A traditional drawer has dovetail joinery, a floating bottom, and perfectly fits the drawer opening with no side to side movement and just a slight amount of top to bottom movement to permit for wood expansion.  This traditional drawer design has been perfected through the ages and is bullet proof when considering strength and environmental weather condition. If made correctly, information technology will last for centuries.

I apply this traditional drawer design in all my furniture, even in my shop cabinets. It can accommodate whatever number of drawer front styles and can be used with hardware sliders, wooden inset sliders, or other guides although I typically shy abroad from drawer slides in favor of a traditional "piston" fit drawer.

A adept drawer has two critical components: the cabinet or opening the drawer fits into and the drawer itself.  Cabinetmaking is a critical woodworking skill by itself, only beyond the scope of this article.  In this article I volition focus on the bones design concepts and tips for a traditional dovetail drawer.

A drawer is a five-sided box. The front and back of the drawer are joined to the sides using dovetailed joinery; typically, half-blind dovetails for the drawer front and through dovetails on the drawer dorsum.  The tails are on the sides and the pins are on the forepart and back then that the mechanical advantage of the dovetails resist the pulling and pushing action of opening and closing the drawer.  The drawer bottom slides into groves on the inside of the drawer sides and bottoms out in a groove on the inside of the drawer front. With these basic concepts in mind, permit's look at the drawer in more item.

Selecting Material

Drawer fronts prove off the piece, so I like to select cute hardwood that either matches the wood of the carcass, or for a more than stunning look, contrasts with the carcass with beautiful figured grain.  For drawer sides I prefer a lightweight and a calorie-free-colored wood that volition evidence off my dovetails and go on the weight of the drawer down.  Typically, I utilize Aspen or Popular, but other woods work besides.  For the bottom I desire a lightweight wood; my preference is cedar.

Many woodworkers manufactory their drawer stock likewise thick which makes for a clunky looking drawer.  I similar a thick drawer front end but prefer to use as thin of a textile for the drawer sides and rear equally I tin can get away with.  For the bottom I want a sparse but stiff plenty material to hold the predictable contents of the drawer.

The Sides

The drawer sides are my tail boards and I usually mill them between a ¼" to a ½" thick (as sparse every bit I tin can get away with).  I mill up these boards slightly oversized in length and width, making sure the long edges are perfectly parallel to each other.  Paying attention to grain orientation (I adopt the grain in each side to be oriented in a common direction) I select and mark my left and right drawer side.   I perfect the lesser edges of these pieces on the shooting board then mark them as a reference surface.   The summit of the drawer sides is the critical dimension.  I fit the drawer sides to their opening leaving approximately a 1/16" gap between the superlative of the drawer side and the top of the carcass to allow for seasonal up and downward movement.  I then cutting the length of my drawer sides, ½" to ¾" shorter than the carcass' depth.  On the shooting board I brand sure all the stop cuts are perfectly square and that each side is identical in length and height.  I now I cutting a ¼" deep groove, ¼"' up from the reference edge, on the within of the drawer sides.

The Back

I make the thickness of my back somewhere betwixt the thickness of my drawer forepart and sides.  ½" to v/8" thick is typical.  Using the shooting board, I perfect the bottom edge of the back and marking this as my reference surface.  I continue to refine the fit of the back with the shooting lath until information technology fits perfectly into the drawer opening in the carcass.  This is a disquisitional fit; the back must fit into the opening with no slop. Once I get a perfect fit, I will use the back equally a template to cut the drawer front.

The Front

I typically manufactory my drawer front 3/4″ to seven/eight″ thick.  After milling to thickness I place the back slice onto the front and marker it with a sharp knife.  Using the shooting board, I pane downward to the lines and test the fit until it fits into the drawer opening perfectly. I mark the bottom equally the reference edge.  I cut a 1/4″ groove on the inside confront ¼" upwardly from the reference edge.

The Joinery.

I layout half-blind dovetails in the front and through dovetails in the back.  On the dorsum piece, layout the bottom half-pins and so they are at the top of the grooves in the side pieces.  Once the layout is consummate then saw off the bottom of the back below the half-pins.  This exposes the grooves and allowing y'all to slide the bottom in from the back of the drawer.

The Bottom

I typically mill the drawer bottom between iii/8" to i/2" thick.  Grain orientation is critical equally I want any expansion to be toward the front and back of the drawer, not to the sides.  Using a plane, I taper the underside of the bottom and then the edges volition fit into the groves on the inside of the drawer sides and front.  When cutting correctly, the taper will seat all the way in the groves, bear upon the top of the grove and the bottom inside corner, but still slide rather freely.  The bottom is glued into the slot in the drawer front only and floats in all the other grooves.  This both allows for woods expansion while stiffening up the drawer.  The bottom floats in the grooves to allow for seasonal movement.  The bottom is held in place with two or 3 screws passing through over-sized holes in the bottom (to allow for motility) and screwing upward into the bottom border of the back.  In addition to allowing for seasonal movement the drawer lesser tin be replaced if ever needed.

Fitting the Drawer.

At this point the back and front pieces are identical in size to each other and the two side pieces are identical to each other.  Since we milled the sides pieces about an 1/16" shorter than the carcass opening the width of the side pieces is smaller than the width of the front and dorsum pieces.  Considering of this, when laying out the dovetailed joinery it is important to always employ the reference edges.  When the drawer is assembled, the meridian of the front and back will be planned down to permit for seasonal movement.

The secret to getting a piston fit drawer is in laying out the depth of the pins on the forepart and back of the drawer.  You want the depth of the pins to exist slightly less (1/32" approximately) than the thickness of the drawer sides.  When assembled this layout will cause the drawer sides to sit proud of the forepart and back of the drawer.  Nosotros are purposely making the drawer just a tiny flake besides wide for the drawer opening.  This is so we tin can carefully fit the drawer to the carcass opening by planing downwardly the sides until the drawer merely fits into its opening.  Using the height of the front and dorsum pins as a guess, nosotros carefully aeroplane down to the pins.  In one case to the superlative of the pins we cheque the fit and using a very calorie-free cutting on the airplane (1000th inch) we go along removing textile and checking the fit until the drawer slides smoothly in and out with no side to side motility.  Its like shooting fish in a barrel to airplane off also much so as the fit gets close to perfect take a thinner and thinner shaving until you get that perfect, piston fit.  Waxing the drawer sides will help assist with the drawer motility.

The final plumbing fixtures job is to airplane down the top of the front and back until you have just enough space to allow for seasonal move.

If yous really desire to acquire how to make a chiffonier opening and piston fit drawer, and then I highly recommend Rob Cosman's video on Drawer Making.

 Luther Shealy

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How to Build a Drawer With Dovetails TUTORIAL

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