Building Dovetail Drawers

Use plywood ideally i m using 1 4 mdf i had laying around.

Building dovetail drawers.

Discover the secrets to making strong drawers by cutting locking rabbet joints on the tablesaw as taught by wood magazine design editor jeff mertz. The base on this drawer is 1 4 sheet material. 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. In this article we take you step by step through the process of building dovetail drawers.

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. In wood magazine torture tests this drawer joint proved stronger than even dovetails. While they do take some planning and careful setup they are achievable for the average home woodworker. How to build dovetail drawers with a floating base.

Learn all about mdf here. One way to identify a woodworker s skill level is to check and see how well they build the dovetail drawers in their projects. That way when the. This amount makes for a good appearance and a strong joint.

On the interior surface of the drawer front scribe a line about 1 32 less than the thickness of the drawer side. This drawer method is so simple it should be illegal. In this video wood magazine s bob. The sides and the front will have a 1 4 groove cut near the bottom inside edge of each piece.

With one table saw setup and a dado stack you can build drawers all day long. Building dovetail drawers is one of my favorite things to do in the shop. Once you understand. 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.

Use a miter gauge to guide the cut. For years i thought the joints were for only the best woodworkers and would be difficult if not impossible to master. A well built dovetail drawer is not only incredibly strong and long lasting but is aesthetically beautiful.