Drawer Materials

[Bigdog72]

I have been using 1/2" ply from the BORGS for drawer boxes (with good success) as I build my shop furniture. Over the last couple of shop days I have been preparing drawer box parts for storage cabinets for LOML's craft room. Everything was fine until I started dovetailing the fronts. The law of averages ran out and it was a blow out fest (Mods, If "blow" is offensive please change). So....I have very definitive questions. What is the best way to avoid blow out in this operation? What materials do y'all use for drawers when the piece you are building is not fine furniture?

 

[dancam]

Geoff,

A couple of things to try;

1. try putting clear packing tape over the area before dt'g,
2. try some sort of backing material (eg 1/8" hardboard or a scrap of laminate) up against the plywood before dt'g.

As far as other materials, I often use poplar planed down to 1/2" for drawer sides or try using a better grade of ply such as Baltic birch.

Good luck.

Dan C

 

[JimmyC]

The drawers that I made for my daughters desks are made out of 3/4" borgply and I use the Kreg jig on them. The kreg jig hole are front and back, this way I used a false front to hide those holes and the rear holes are unseen. I don't use the dovetail jig for ply anymore because of all the blowouts. The Kreg system is very simple.

The 3/4 might seem like overkill, but my girls are 6 and 9 years old and I want these desks to last through some tough years.

 

[Mike Davis]

When I was taking machine shop I built a tool box out of 1/2 plywood, I hand cut all the dovetails and still had a couple big splinters. That stuff just ain't made to dovetail.

What about some poplar for your drawer sides? It is relatively cheap and does a good job for less seen parts.

 

[Mike Gilley]

Maybe try a quick score cut along the side before starting dovetail cuts? I've found that I don't get much blow out on the ply boards when I run the router along the front of the jig, just skimming the board, cutting the outside layer, before I start cutting the dovetails.
But that's easier to do with 3/4 then 1/2 so YMMV. :eusa_thin:eusa_thin:eusa_thin
That's MTCW :dontknow::dontknow:

 

[cpowell]

I have been using 1/2" ply from the BORGS for drawer boxes (with good success) as I build my shop furniture. Over the last couple of shop days I have been preparing drawer box parts for storage cabinets for LOML's craft room. Everything was fine until I started dovetailing the fronts. The law of averages ran out and it was a blow out fest (Mods, If "blow" is offensive please change). So....I have very definitive questions. What is the best way to avoid blow out in this operation? What materials do y'all use for drawers when the piece you are building is not fine furniture?

I try to find some heavy 4/4 poplar, joint and resaw, then plane to finish thickness. It goes pretty fast once you do a few. Can get around 7/16 inch sides if the stock is fairly flat but 3/8 + thick works well for drawer sides, especially DTed. Poplar can be cheaper than decent ply on a per drawer basis.

I've done the ply with router jig thing (backer boards, etc) and just decided it wasn't worth it for me. Ply seems to wear down the router bits faster than hardwood stock too. :dontknow:


Chuck

 

[skysharks]

Geoff, as you and I have already talked about this. I think that I have given up trying to dovetail the borgs ply.
tear out after blow out really ticked me off. I have seen it done before and I have done it before. However I must have been using a better grade plywood.
I would score the across the grain first then try routing the dovetails.
It was the voids that were causing the problems. Once I cut through or partially through a piece of wood would break free and blow out the fingers one shape or another.
So unless I have good ply (void free) then I might have to resign myself to using another type of joint for drawer boxes when using ply, from the borg.
I have used pocket holes like Jimmy mentioned, box joints, a rabbit joint, or something else.
Or just use solid wood.
I feel your pain Geoff. the money that you spend on ply at the borg should be a decent quaility, but........