Solid Wood Drawer Bottom?

[LeftyTom]

I posted this pic in a thread last week. I wonder if the dado cut is intended for solid wood drawer bottoms?

 

[Dave Richards]

Possibly. And the edges of the bottom would be beveled. That's a traditional assembly method for drawers.

 

[TENdriver]

I posted this pic in a thread last week. I wonder if the dado cut is intended for solid wood drawer bottoms?

Tom, I replied to your original post. Look at the Garrett Hack drawer bottom and you’ll see how it looks like the edge of a raised panel. I’m not familiar with that specific groove, but strongly suspect that is what the groove could be for.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/2010/06/03/how-to-build-solid-drawer-bottoms

 

[LeftyTom]

Thanks for clarifying that for me.

 

[TENdriver]

Tom, I stepped back from this question and decided that my answer was a bit of a “half donkey” effort. Part of my answer stems from my using a raised panel router bit to create beveled drawer bottoms. I started doing it that way before I seriously got into hand planes and I guess I never broke the habit.

I’ve always (and I mean every single reference) seen beveled drawer bottoms housed in square grooves even though the edge of a beveled drawer usually is shaped to compliment the groove you have. I never personally liked using a square groove to house the wedge shape of a beveled drawer bottom. So, I liked using a raised panel bit which leaves a square edge inside of a square groove.

Hopefully that explanation is clear as mud.

However, I still was uncertain about what the textbook answer was based on historical precedent. I have a relatively extensive collection of books on late 17th, 18th, and early 19th century North American furniture.

I couldn’t find any specific references to a groove of that shape. Not suggesting it didn’t exist, I just was not successful at finding an example.

So then I looked for an example of a period molding plane that would cut that groove. There is a plane called a “snipe bill” but that’s probably not what we’re looking for. Bottom line, once again I had no luck.

Lastly, I thought there may be a modern shaper or horizontal router bit to cut that shape. I did a quick search and didn’t locate a specific cutter but I believe it’s out there in someone’s catalogue. After all, you’re holding stock with that groove cut in it. That means the bit is in existence but I wasn’t able to quickly locate a specific example.

A “Drawer Lock” router bit would possibly cut a similar groove but it’s typically intended to cut across the grain for assembling the drawer boxes. Perhaps there is or was a larger version that would cut that groove.

I hope this is of some use.

 

[LeftyTom]

TENdriver, I can envision the use of that technique. I agree a beveled edge into a square groove seems a bit lacking.
This is my first go at a drawer bottom that non-rabbetted (not to be confused with hare-less ).

 

[Gotcha6]

If I remember an 'Ol' Roy' episode from way back, some furniture makers would only smooth the inside of the drawer bottom and dimension the edges to fit the drawer sides. It saved a lot of elbow grease on something unseen. I believe that is where this originated.

 

[Jeff]

I am in the process of re-purposing a cabinet for use as a router table.

I have 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood that has gone unused for a while, so I am using this for the drawer bottoms. It does measure 1/4" thick with the combination square.

This is a good discussion and clears up the questions about your tapered dado drawer sides for tapered bottoms. Good information for future reference and "traditional" drawer bottoms, but you could still use a solid wood bottom in a square dado if you wished (allowing for wood movement).

Are you still going to recut the drawer side dados and use your 1/4" baltic birch ply? Just curious.

 

[Dave Richards]

An alternative to plowing the grooves with one angled wall is to shape the bottom so there's a lip at the edges. This would be common with raised panels, too. In fact panel-raising planes were commonly set up to create the raising and the lip in one operation. Maybe raised panel shaper and router bits will also create that area.

 

[LeftyTom]

This is a good discussion and clears up the questions about your tapered dado drawer sides for tapered bottoms. Good information for future reference and "traditional" drawer bottoms, but you could still use a solid wood bottom in a square dado if you wished (allowing for wood movement).

Are you still going to recut the drawer side dados and use your 1/4" baltic birch ply? Just curious.

Jeff, I stil intend to nibble to bottom of the slots to accommodate the 1/4" BB ply. I want to keep this simple, as it is my first go at such drawer work.