Drawers are a tricky, but fun part of projects like these. The joints can be risky to make, but when the drawer is finished it feels wonderful. In the last step you’ll remember that I completed just the drawer face and made sure it fit the opening snugly. With that, I moved on to preparing the drawer sides. Preparing the drawer sides is done the same way as all boards. I planed it flat, square, and free of twist.
Historically, furniture makers would use two or even three species of wood. The primary species would be used on the carcass and show surfaces. Secondary species would be used for parts that may be seen, but only occasionally. Secondary and tertiary species would be used for anything. With Maple, we generally use the sapwood which is the wood on the outside. This part of the tree produces a very light almost white wood which is the most in demand. The heartwood is a darker and generally much harder. When Maple boards have a mixture of heartwood and sapwood it’s known as Country Maple. Since I purposefully avoided the heartwood when selecting boards, I chose to use the remaining heartwood boards as my secondary wood.
To be sure the drawer fits properly, I planed it to fit much like drawer face. In this case, I slid the drawer side into the carcass as it would as part of the drawer. I made sure it slid all the way in and out. I got both sides fitting nicely and then I moved on to the joinery. Now standard dovetails are difficult enough to cut, but half blind dovetails increase the challenge. I’ve cut these before, but truth be told, they always make me nervous.
A trick I learned is to cut out a very shallow rabbet on the drawer side up front where the dovetails will be cut. This aids in laying out the final joint. Once the rabbets were cut, I ganged the drawer sides together so I could mark and cut the dovetails. I then slowly chiseled away the waste in between and cleaned them up. I then marked the sides so I knew their position and marked the tails on the drawer front side. Once marked, I cut and chiseled away the waste and would test fit often.
It took awhile, but I finally get all dovetails cut and fit to my satisfaction. Next was to plane grooves into the drawer front and sides to take the drawer bottom. I dry assembled the drawer and marked where the grooves would go. I disassembled and plowed 1/2” grooves.
Next, I measured and cut the drawer sides to their final length. I usually leave boards longer and cut them to final length only when I’m ready to move on. In this case, I did it specifically because I was cutting dovetails on the opposite ends. In the event I messed up the dovetails, I could theoretically cut them off and try again because I have enough length to do so.
Next, I had to prepare the back side of the drawer. This part doesn’t need grooves because it sits flush with the drawer bottom which allows the bottom to be inserted after assembly and allows replacement if it ever gets damaged. The drawer back length is determined by the distance between the drawer sides from the inside. The back will sit into 3/8” dados on either side so it will be an extra 3/4” in length.
With the drawer back finished, I used it to measure the dados and proceeded to cut them away, test fitting along the way. When all pieces are finished, I dry fit the entire drawer together and measured for square diagonally from corner to corner. I would then do a test clamping and measure for square again because sometimes clamps can force a piece askew. Sometimes I would even cut the plywood drawer bottom and fit it with the drawer assembly and as it aids in keeping things square. When I was satisfied that everything was square, I glued and clamped the drawer together.
After the drawer assembly had dried overnight, I removed the clamps and took a smoothing plane over the joints to clean them up. I also cleaned up the top and bottom edges of the drawer and made sure everything was flush and smooth. That was when drawer fitting began. Thankfully, it’s not difficult, but it does require patience and a little time. I would test fit the drawer and took note of the areas that were snagging. I took a few swipes with the smoothing plane in that area and test fit again. Rinse and repeat until the drawer is fitting nicely. It shouldn’t be snug, but it also shouldn’t shift about in place. Also, keep in mind that the wood may slightly shrink a little more once it’s taken inside.
One drawer down, 2 more to go. I can finally see the finish line, it’s almost here.
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