Maple and Cherry Desk- Drawers

The drawer sides for this project are to be of solid maple. I use the offcuts from the top. First they are ripped to rough width.



Then they're resawn. A featherboard and a consistent feed rate give best results.



The sides are milled flat and square, the sides are cut to final length but the front and back are left long. The groove for the bottom is made on the tablesaw.



Leaving the blade at that height, the rabbet for the front is made. I make several passes, moving the fence until the rabbet is as wide as the front is thick.



A dado is then sawn to capture the back.



Now that the joinery has been cut the length for the front and back can be found. The bottoms are 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood. They are cut to size. A plane makes quick work of machine marks.



The first corner is glued and pinned together.



Because the bottoms are plywood movement isn't an issue so they can be glued in, increasing the overall strength of the drawer. It's proven square when the diagonals measure equal.



The top is mounted with a screw through the divider to help support the drawers, and z-clips to allow the top to expand and contract with humidity swings.



The drawers are mounted. Although the client has chosen pulls for her piece, I still rout a cove into the bottom of the front rail, and a mate in the drawer fronts.



It's now ready for finish.