Unless you are doing hand cut dovetails, drawers are simple to make. The drawers for Mick and Natalie’s kitchen used butt joints with little splines made of 1/16” aviation grade plywood.
Exploded view of a drawer box
After the parts are cut out on the sliding table panel saw, the dados for the bottom are cut in the sides, front and back. We have a saw set up with a power feed and a dado head, so all we have to do is turn it on and feed the material through.
Plowing the dado for a drawer bottom
Next, we set up the shaper to rabbet the thick bottom so that it will fit into the dados we just cut. Unlike the saw, the cutter on a shaper spins flat like a turntable and can be of any shape. It is used to make moldings, door profiles, or in this case, to make a simple rabbet.
Shaper set up to cut a rabbet
We use a power feed to control the stock as it passes over the cutter.
Using a power feed to mill a rabbet cut
Next we cut the small grooves for the splines by hand on the table saw. This photo shows Lynn cutting the grooves in the ENDS of the fronts and backs.
Cutting a groove for a spline in a drawer front or back
And this photos shows Lynn cutting the grooves in the INSIDE FACES of the sides.
Cutting a groove for a spline in a drawer side
The drawer is then assembled by gluing the splines into the grooves, and fitting the parts together. In this case we used prefinished material, so all that is left is to finish the top edges.
A completed drawer box
