Building Dovetail Drawers

In wood magazine torture tests this drawer joint proved stronger than even dovetails.

Building dovetail drawers.

Stopped by a fiends shop to see what was going on. The base on this drawer is 1 4 sheet material. This drawer method is so simple it should be illegal. In this video wood magazine s bob.

Learn all about mdf here. The sides and the front will have a 1 4 groove cut near the bottom inside edge of each piece. On the interior surface of the drawer front scribe a line about 1 32 less than the thickness of the drawer side. Grabbed my ever present camera and took some shots.

While they do take some planning and careful setup they are achievable for the average home woodworker. This amount makes for a good appearance and a strong joint. Best of all this technique allows you to cut all parts of the joint with just a dado blade and a single setup on the tablesaw. After marking the tails on the drawer sides scribe the dovetail baseline onto the ends of the drawer front about 1 4 from the face.

One way to identify a woodworker s skill level is to check and see how well they build the dovetail drawers in their projects. A well built dovetail drawer is not only incredibly strong and long lasting but is aesthetically beautiful. In this article we take you step by step through the process of building dovetail drawers. Use plywood ideally i m using 1 4 mdf i had laying around.

If you were making an overlay drawer the front would need to be rabbeted for the necessary offset and the fence reset to run the drawer fronts. With one table saw setup and a dado stack you can build drawers all day long. Discover the secrets to making strong drawers by cutting locking rabbet joints on the tablesaw as taught by wood magazine design editor jeff mertz. For years i thought the joints were for only the best woodworkers and would be difficult if not impossible to master.

How to build dovetail drawers with a floating base. Through dovetail joints are as beautiful as they are strong and work great for all kinds of casework including drawers. Use a miter gauge to guide the cut.