Drawer time

[dadiOH]

I'm curious...how long do you figure it would take you to make a drawer? Obviously, it takes less time per unit when you are making numerous but I'm talking about one drawer from rough lumber to ready to finish including the following steps...

surface lumber to thickness needed rip as needed crosscut as needed mill work for joining (sides to back, front, bottom, etc) assembly sanding

I have just one to make and figure it is going to take me at least a full day but I don't move as fast as I used to. You?

[dpb]

All 'pends on what kind of drawer and what size...I could knock a bench or inexpensive kitchen cabinet drawer together in about an hour or less; a serpentine breakfront might be just a tad longer... :)

(OBTW, I also work faster when I'm not monitoring the wreck...)

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[StephenM]

Expanding on that: Joinery makes a big difference.

Dovetailed? Hand or machine? If machine, do you have experience with the jig?

A lock rabet would take much less time.

-Steve

[GROVER]

whether to make or buy items. If your time is limited and the resulting cabinet is needed yesterday, you might do well to purchase a complete drawer such as sold by numerous vendors, ie Rockler has them in custom sizes and 5 different species. If on the other hand you are retired and you need to fill time with cabinet work, by all means build it yourself from scratch. A compromise might be to purchase drawer side stock, which comes in several standard heights at lumber yards which cater to professional cabinet makers.

Time is money!

Joe G

[J. Clarke]

Too many unknowns, and do you mean how long in labor hours or in clock hours (noting that clock hours will be longer because it includes time spent waiting for glue and finish to set)? Also how big a drawer and what tools do you have? Running a board throw a planer takes a few seconds, planing one flat with hand tools takes a lot longer.

[Lew Hodgett]

How long do you spend doing the set-ups?

Doing set-ups will require at least 80% of the time.

Making drawers is like eating potato chips, you just can't do one.

Lew

[Puckdropper]

"dadiOH" wrote in news:KveEn.363689$ [e-mail]:

Stock Selection: 30 seconds to an hour (I use my scrap wood first) Rough Plan: 5-10 minutes Sawing: 30 minutes for rips, 5 for cross cuts (I usually have to cut bad edges off first) Basic jointery (screws): 5 minutes to predrill all the holes, 10 to clamp, align, and screw Cutting replacement pieces: 10-15 minutes each. (Assuming I don't have to saw down thicker wood) Planing: 30 minutes Sanding: Depends on how rough the pieces are.

So it looks like it'll take somewhere around 4 hours to build a single drawer. Might as well build multiple when I'm at it, it'll probably add only another 20 minutes or so for each one.

Puckdropper

[WW]

[dadiOH]

Aye, matey, there's the rub. That and waiting for glue to dry. ____________

How true. Of drawers and many other things.

A number of years ago I made all the passage dors for our house. About a dozen, IIRC. I'd rougheed out a sketh of how they were to be made and look...solid butternut, arched top, "V" quirks in the panels. I asked my wife if that was satisfactory, she asked me to make one - ONE! - so she could see how it would look. I explained tha making one would take a lot of time because I'd be in divorce court :)

[SonomaProducts.com]

I do these types of estimates all the time when designing and pricing my furniture kits (which someday I'll start selling) and then I test my assumptions so I am getting pretty good.

I would add in one step of "Rough breakdown of stock" for sorting selecting and rough cross cutting

20 minutes

surface lumber to thickness needed: 20 minutes with handling and setup

rip as needed: 15 minutes plus 15 minutes to cut bottom from larger stock

crosscut as needed: assuming sled setup with high accuracy: 30 minutes

mill work for joining (sides to back, front, bottom, etc) - Setup dovetail jig 45 minutes - run dovetails 15 min - setup dado\slot cutter for bottom 20 min - run slots 15 min - 20 minutes to setup and run roundover router for tops of drawre sides assembly: 20 minutes

sanding: Mostly done before assembly 15 mins 5 minutes after assembly

Add 10\15 minutes for every additional drawer you want to do.

[dadiOH]

An hour? Come work for me, I'll buy you beer :)

[dadiOH]

Yeah, sides to front. Sliding dovetail, the fronts overlay the face frame. Backs just a rabbet into grooves on the sides, bottom in grooves all around.

[dadiOH]

At one time, my time was worth a good bit of money but I've been retired for

20 years (quit at 57) so now it is worth zilch. If it wasn't I would not have contracted my house myself and done all the interior save drywall. Some of that too.

[dadiOH]

Clock. Drawer size - within reason - doesn't much matter. Usual tools, mostly...cabinet saw, RAS, bandsaw, router table, lathe, drill press, combo belt/disc sander, 16" drum sander.

[dadiOH]

Screws? In drawers? Uhh, OK... __________

What's a replacement piece?

[dadiOH]

255 minutes. If I added correctly. Maybe I'm not so slow after all when you add in coffee breaks :)

[J. Clarke]

In that case figure at least a day, possibly as long as a week, depending on how many stages of glue-up you need and what kind of glue and finish you're using.

How fast is that drum sander? Don't see a planer so I presume that that's what you're going to use for thicknessing.

[Puckdropper]

"dadiOH" wrote in news:YPkEn.397833$0t.368645 @newsfe17.ams2:

It's what I used on my last series of drawers. Nothing fancy, just a pair of screws in the corners. I'm not going for fine furniture, just a tool chest that's wide (36" wide) and narrow (11" deep).

A piece for something I screwed up. Sketchup has the ability to stretch boards, I do not.

Puckdropper

[dadiOH]

Right. As to speed, depends on grit, how hard and wide the wood. When surfacing rough hardwood up to 5"-6" wide I often take off 1/16 at a time with 40 grit but normally 1/32; with 80/120 and finer, 1/48; anything finer

1/64 max. Goes pretty quick and no tear out ;)

[dadiOH]

Oh, THOSE :)