I'm making a bunch (10) of drawers for the pair of his and her vanities I am making. Easy to make because each of us (me/wife) get five in a stack which means they are all the same width and length, only variation is in the depth (6 - 3 1/2", 4 - 7"). (I have five more to make later but the size is different as is the manner of construction.) Normally I like to make joints, including drawer grooves, an easy fit; by that I mean I don't want to have to use a hammer to get things together but I don't want any wobble or rattle...I want to be able to press them together with my hands. For bottoms, I normally make the grooves VERY slightly over the material thickness, ease the bottom's edges slightly and all goes together well. Not this time. The 1/4" ply - which is actually 3/16" - was slightly warped and I knew it would be a bear to get everything together so I made the grooves 1/32" over. All goes together well but naturally there is a gap between the bottom and the groove. I fixed that by ripping off a strip of stock with the saw blade at 4-5 degrees; that gets me a strip of wedges. Cut off a bunch so they are about 3/4" square, dab of glue, slide them into the crack on the bottom side forcing the bottom up and no more crack, no more rattle. Is that cheating? And while I'm on the subject, does anyone else use a wedge to fill in a gap in other imperfectly fitting joints?

Absolutely ..... NOT! ;) Don't do wedges, but I do use a method that makes the whole enchilada a bit stronger, particularly on wide drawers where a heavy load may warp the 1/4" bottom slightly due to width, however, your method will suffice nicely. I span that bottom with a brace, glued to the bottom, and brad nailed to the side (where the nail hole will be hidden by the drawer slides), which you can see in the drawer sitting on its side in the photo: Either method will the keep the drawer bottom firmly against the interior side of the groove for the bottom, neither one is "cheating".

Drawer bottoms: Is this cheating?

Nov 02, 2015 21 Replies

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gray_wolf 10 years ago

An adjustment tool?

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Electric Comet 10 years ago

dirt + ketchup + lettuce + tomato + bun + burger + french fry + soda + pickle + bacon + mustard + mayo impervious probably

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