Drawer Box Bottom Grain Direction
Newsletter Article: Brand a Traditional Drawer
After mastering dovetails, making a well-fitting dovetail drawer is a must skill for the traditional hand-tool woodworker. A traditional drawer has dovetail joinery, a floating bottom, and perfectly fits the drawer opening with no side to side movement and merely a slight amount of acme to lesser movement to allow for woods expansion. This traditional drawer design has been perfected through the ages and is bullet proof when considering forcefulness and ecology conditions. If made correctly, it will concluding for centuries.
I use this traditional drawer design in all my furniture, even in my shop cabinets. It can accommodate whatsoever number of drawer front styles and tin exist used with hardware sliders, wooden inset sliders, or other guides although I typically shy away from drawer slides in favor of a traditional "piston" fit drawer.
A skilful drawer has two disquisitional components: the cabinet or opening the drawer fits into and the drawer itself. Cabinetmaking is a disquisitional woodworking skill past itself, but beyond the scope of this article. In this commodity I will focus on the basic blueprint 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-bullheaded dovetails for the drawer forepart and through dovetails on the drawer back. The tails are on the sides and the pins are on the front and back so that the mechanical reward of the dovetails resist the pulling and pushing action of opening and endmost the drawer. The drawer bottom slides into groves on the inside of the drawer sides and bottoms out in a groove on the within of the drawer front. With these bones concepts in listen, let'due south look at the drawer in more item.
Selecting Material
Drawer fronts show off the piece, so I similar to select cute hardwood that either matches the woods of the carcass, or for a more stunning expect, contrasts with the carcass with beautiful figured grain. For drawer sides I prefer a lightweight and a light-colored wood that will show off my dovetails and keep the weight of the drawer downward. Typically, I use Aspen or Popular, only other woods work as well. For the bottom I want a lightweight woods; my preference is cedar.
Many woodworkers mill their drawer stock too thick which makes for a clunky looking drawer. I like a thick drawer forepart merely prefer to utilise every bit thin of a material for the drawer sides and rear as I tin can become abroad with. For the bottom I want a thin but strong enough material to hold the anticipated 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 thin equally 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 prefer 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 lath and then marking them every bit a reference surface. The height of the drawer sides is the critical dimension. I fit the drawer sides to their opening leaving approximately a 1/16" gap between the acme of the drawer side and the top of the carcass to allow for seasonal up and down motion. I so cut the length of my drawer sides, ½" to ¾" shorter than the carcass' depth. On the shooting lath I make sure all the end cuts are perfectly square and that each side is identical in length and height. I now I cut a ¼" deep groove, ¼"' upwards from the reference edge, on the inside of the drawer sides.
The Back
I make the thickness of my back somewhere between the thickness of my drawer front end and sides. ½" to v/8" thick is typical. Using the shooting board, I perfect the bottom edge of the back and mark this every bit 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 critical fit; the back must fit into the opening with no slop. Once I get a perfect fit, I will employ the back as a template to cut the drawer front.
The Front end
I typically mill my drawer forepart 3/four″ to vii/8″ thick. After milling to thickness I place the back piece onto the forepart and mark it with a precipitous pocketknife. 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 cutting a 1/4″ groove on the inside face ¼" up from the reference edge.
The Joinery.
I layout half-blind dovetails in the front and through dovetails in the back. On the dorsum slice, layout the bottom half-pins and then they are at the top of the grooves in the side pieces. One time the layout is complete then saw off the bottom of the back below the half-pins. This exposes the grooves and assuasive you lot to slide the bottom in from the back of the drawer.
The Bottom
I typically manufactory the drawer bottom betwixt 3/8" to 1/2" thick. Grain orientation is disquisitional every bit I desire any expansion to be toward the front and dorsum of the drawer, not to the sides. Using a plane, I taper the underside of the bottom so the edges volition fit into the groves on the inside of the drawer sides and front end. When cut correctly, the taper will seat all the way in the groves, touch the top of the grove and the bottom inside corner, simply 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 wood expansion while stiffening up the drawer. The bottom floats in the grooves to permit for seasonal movement. The bottom is held in place with two or three screws passing through over-sized holes in the lesser (to allow for move) and screwing up into the lesser edge of the back. In add-on to assuasive for seasonal motion the drawer bottom tin be replaced if always needed.
Fitting the Drawer.
At this bespeak 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/xvi" shorter than the carcass opening the width of the side pieces is smaller than the width of the front and dorsum pieces. Because of this, when laying out the dovetailed joinery it is important to always use the reference edges. When the drawer is assembled, the top of the front and back will be planned downward to let for seasonal move.
The secret to getting a piston fit drawer is in laying out the depth of the pins on the forepart and dorsum of the drawer. You desire the depth of the pins to be slightly less (1/32" approximately) than the thickness of the drawer sides. When assembled this layout volition cause the drawer sides to sit down proud of the front and back of the drawer. We are purposely making the drawer but a tiny bit too wide for the drawer opening. This is so we can carefully fit the drawer to the carcass opening by planing down the sides until the drawer just fits into its opening. Using the top of the front and back pins every bit a gauge, we carefully plane down to the pins. In one case to the top of the pins we check the fit and using a very light cut on the plane (1000th inch) we continue removing cloth and checking the fit until the drawer slides smoothly in and out with no side to side movement. Its piece of cake to plane off too much and then as the fit gets close to perfect take a thinner and thinner shaving until you lot get that perfect, piston fit. Waxing the drawer sides will help help with the drawer motion.
The last fitting job is to aeroplane down the top of the front and back until you accept just enough infinite to allow for seasonal movement.
If you actually desire to learn how to brand a cabinet opening and piston fit drawer, then I highly recommend Rob Cosman's video on Drawer Making.
Luther Shealy
Source: https://robcosman.com/pages/newsletter-article-make-a-traditional-drawer