I am in the process of making drawers for kitchen cabinets. I am using 5/8″ 9 ply birch and dovetailing all 4 corners. I will dado in 1/4″ birch plywood bottoms.
My question: Do I dado all 4 sides and glue it in all around, or do I have to leave one or more sides unglued for expansion? It will be all birch plywood so it should all expand at the same rate … I think.
Thanks,
John
Replies
Often times the sides and front of the drawer box are dadoed to receive and capture three sides of the drawer's bottom.
The heght of the back of the drawer box stops at the TOP of the dado that is milled into the sides of the box.
The length of the bottom piece is designed to set into the dado of the front piece and go under/cover the full thickness of the back piece of the drawer.
Assemble the four sides of the box, then stand it on its face. Slide the bottom into the side dadoes and into the front dado. Then tack a couple of nails through the bottom of the drawer bottom and into the bottom edge of the back piece to secure the bottom in place.
This method allows you too easily R&R the bottom should it ever be required without havving to demo your dovetailed box.
Too many words for a simple process!<g>
Thanks Mongo. I followed you. I just feel better puting too much glue and too many nails in everything. If a little is good a lot is better. I will control my urge.
I have another question. I have been out in the shop shredding my nice plywood. I have dadoed regular dimension lumber before without a problem. The plywood on the other hand is shredding on the narrow side of the male dado. The female side is looking good. Any one have any tricks to doing dadoes on plywood. I am using a new carbide bit.
John
How about putting some blue masking tape on the plywood before cutting it? Or, if you're using a saw, are you using a crosscut or plywood blade rather than a combo blade?
John
No it is not a saw causing the damage. It is my router. I told the story wrong.
I am having trouble with the dovetails not the dado. I have been out in the shop shredding my nice plywood. I have dovetailed regular dimension lumber before without a problem. The plywood on the other hand is shredding on the narrow side of the male dovetail. The female side is looking good. Any one have any tricks to doing dovetails on plywood?
I am using a new carbide bit.
I have a good picture of it, but can't figure how to attach a picture. Can anyone help me with that?
This is a picture of what is happening to my dovetails. I did not do a good job of describing it.
The problem with dovetails is that you can't gradually cut them. They have to be run at full depth and done in one pass. This is blowing the hell out of the plywood. Tape isn't going to hold the plywood together. The only thing I can think of is to clamp the plywood between two other pieces of wood or "sandwich"it. This may be a problem if it won't fit in your jig. You may have to switch to solid stock. Turtleneck
I enjoyed the foot-rest business but was soon overrun with stool samples
Common problem, especially in cheaper plywood, John, where the layers aren't too well bonded. Just run the router from right to left to start the cuts in between each finger of the jig. It's akin to climb cutting. Then go from left to right to complete each finger or tail/pin. Slainte.Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.
This is not cheap plywood. It is 5/8" 9 ply furniture grade birch ... nice and tight ... without a void in it. It cost enough anyway.
I was using my 35 year old Craftsman router. There was a tiny bit of slack between the template guide and the template. I went out this morning and bought a set of template guides for my Porter Cable router. The guide fits the template much smoother.
I will let you know if it helps any. Another thing I am not sure about is the brand of the dovetail bit. It is an Oldham Viper. I have not used this brand before. Most of my bits are Freud or Amana. I will purchase and try an Amana bit if the router change does not help.
You should be dado with the face grain of the plywood. Should not be any tearout unless you have a cheap dado set with 1/2 of the teeth missing and the other 1/2 bent.
With a plywood bottom, I dado all four sides, and glue the bottom into the dado. Glued in, the bottom becomes a structural element. It strengthens the whole drawer, holds the drawer square, and helps restrain the sides if they want to bow in or out over time.