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5/8 drawer material.. buy or make?

22K views 32 replies 10 participants last post by  Rebelwork 
#1 ·
I'm pretty new at this, so I still have goofy questions...

When it comes to making drawers, I see a lot of 5/8 hardwood is used.

I live in a sort of rural area.. I have a home depot near me, but they don't sell 5/8.

So here's the question.. do you BUY 5/8 material, or do you make 5/8 from 3/4 inch stock?

Or do you say to heck with that and use 1/2 inch ply wood instead?

Or ... ?
 
#2 ·
Plasma,
You do not say what your project is and the project will dictate the materials choice.
For kitchen and baths, a 1/2" drawer can be used. For a dresser or wide drawer 5/8" or more might be preferred.
A high quality no voids Birch plywood makes very good drawers. Route the top edge of the drawer sides with a round over bit for a better look.
Solid drawer sides are used when you don't want to see the plys on the edge. They are no stronger.
 
#4 ·
I choose/use the best material for the application. if it is a utilitarian drawer (in the shop, basement, otherwise don't care what it looks like) I use 1/2" ply.


everywhere else I use 1/2" or 5/8" beech, or other hardwood. I plane 3/4" down to thickness for that job. that's just me.
 
#5 ·
I don't think I've ever seen a drawer box made out of 5/8" material. The drawers I see run between 3/8" and 1/2", mostly 1/2". For cabinets I use 1/2" baltic birch plywood. Furniture I generally surface 3/4" wood to 1/2" thick. It's really the main reason I bought a planer in the first place is to surface drawer siding.
 
#10 ·
#9 ·
I tried using a dovetail jig on 1/2 ply... that was a no go for sure.

I made a bunch of drawers for my miter saw station today, tried a lock rabbit.. that turned out terrible.

Started over and just butt jointed the stuff together with 18 gauge nails and glue... that worked.. but of course it's not nice looking, but it's garage stuff.

However, when it does come to "in the house" furniture, I'm searching for clues of the way to make drawers nice.
 
#15 ·
I don't understand your first comment above "a no go for sure". I've made a lot of drawers using 1/2" plywood for the sides. I don't always dovetail the drawers, but when I do, it works fine with no problem. As I stated above in an earlier post, I prefer high grade, no voids, Birch.
A drawer made with rabbeted sides also makes a very good drawer. I always dado my drawer bottoms in.
 
#16 ·
When I built the buffet/server in our dining room and the new cabinets for our kitchen, I used hard maple and poplar. The larger boxes were made from stock I glued up, then planed down to 5/8 inch. And the dovetail jig worked just fine.
 

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#21 ·
I just made a few drawers for my miter saw station.. they are all crooked.. none of the fronts sit flat, even the front of the drawer is slightly crooked compared to the cabinet face.. admittedly, I paid little attention to the finer details.. I think even the sides aren't straight.. they are only off by a 1/16th, it irks me, but again.. #neverstoplearning

and it's very quick garage stuff just to get my miter saw off a stack of plywood. Trying to diagnose what and where the errors are.
 
#26 ·
I forgot to mention that when I built the drawers for our cabinets, I only dovetailed the fronts. No one ever sees the rears anyway, so why bother! Cut my build time considerably. :surprise2:

And lately, I have switched to 1/2 inch Baltic birch with butt joints. If the drawer hardware features a soft close mechanism, chances are the drawer will last a looong time.
 
#27 ·
I like the dovetails because you put a little glue in them and bang them together and you're done. No clamps or nails. I have a lock joint that I make on the tablesaw. It's quick to make, but you have to clamp the joint and wait for the glue to dry. So you lose time at the back end.



 
#29 ·
why not glue + 18 gauge that joint and go?

Ive tried several attempts at those lock rabbit joints, and for some unknown reason, the results are mixed.

I cut 5 drawers like that the other day, all from the same piece of ply, and all pieces at the same time. It was a disaster. A couple of the joints came out perfect, but others came out with the rabbit to thick, and it split the dado end right off... others came out with the fitting rabbit too long, leaving a gap in the joint.. others, the rabbit to short and not bottoming out...

left me scratching my head, opened beer instead.. :bangin:
 
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