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David L. Whitehurst
60 posts
and
8 followers
in over 10 years
in over 10 years
Drawers Etc.
I’m making a toolbox for my woodworking tools. It’s 32" wide, 12" deep and 24" tall. I have made 4 framed floating panels (12″×32″) – 2 for the back, one for the bottom front and one for the top front (swings out or up, not sure yet). The top portion is 8" deep and 32" long. The sides are about 3/4" material solid but the back is nothing but the 2 -12" frames on top of each other and glued to the carcase. I want to add drawers and I’m trying not to use any screws. Would you mortise-tenon a front rail beneath each drawer set and then use runners to the back? My real question is how to joint the runners. On the sides, I’m fine with glue. In the middle, I have no clue.
Thoughts?
David L. Whitehurst
7 Replies
Here’s a little drawing and the flip-top. The sides, flip-top, top, and bottom will be all dovetailed.
David L. Whitehurst
I made this one a while ago. The drawers are sliding on the horizontal dividers.
I also made some with wood runner. I need to find the pictures.
Abbas, Castro Valley, CA
Did this create a suction on the drawers? I think I am going to mortise and tenon stock across the back of my toolbox and use mortise/tenon with a piece running front to back in the center of the box. I’ll just glue the side runners. I’d be interested in seeing any other pictures you might have.
David L. Whitehurst
No suction. There is an 1" 1/2 between the drawer and the back of the carcass so enough room to accommodate the air displacement.
I kept this chest but it’s not holding any tools as intended. My older son wanted it pretty bad. I was more than happy to give it to him. I can take more pictures if you want.
I am going through the archives (run out of disk space) to find the on with the wooden runner.
Worst case I still have a small storage area under my drum sander where the drawers use wooden runners. I can take some picture tomorrow.
Abbas, Castro Valley, CA
Very nice. No need to send any more pictures. I’m pretty settled on using internal runners with mortise/tenons where I can (back rail and center runner). Really nice work!
David L. Whitehurst
In my current build, I am going to just use drawer “guides” and let the drawers (still to be built) slide directly on the plywood shelf. I have a 100-year old sideboard/bar that uses this concept and it is still going strong. Sure, after 100-years you can see some grooves starting to develop on the wooden frames, but nothing to be concerned over. Also used same concept on a Shaker 7-drawer Lingerie Chest.
HorizontalMike
Thanks for the compliment David but I must confess that I got a lot of help on this one. That was a class project. It was my 3rd class of woodworking.
I always make it a point to redo everything at home alone to gain more experience.
I have to make a second one since I have 2 sons and the second one wants a bigger one -:)
I will blog the build when that happens.
Abbas, Castro Valley, CA
