Making Simple Plywood Drawers

Build super simple drawers discover the secrets to making strong drawers by cutting locking rabbet joints on the tablesaw as taught by wood magazine design editor jeff mertz.

Making simple plywood drawers. Material to the end of the jig. Best of all this technique allows you to cut all parts of the joint with just a dado blade and a single setup on the tablesaw. It doesn t matter how deep wide or tall your drawer is. By using a drawer lock bit in a router table it s a simple process to quickly create dozens of hardwood drawers plywood isn t advised and end up with strong attractive joints.

Measure in from each side and mark a line at 2 1 8 in 3 1 8 in. Drill the drawer face holes. Using a miter saw and the cut list above cut the 1 6 1 3 and square dowels to size. Build one simple jig to align the dowels on the handles and to position the handles on the drawer fronts.

How to make drawers in 6 easy steps determine drawer height and rough cut parts match drawer sides to your drawer slides measure drawer opening and cut fronts and backs drill pocket holes and assemble drawer box measure cut and install drawer bottoms add false drawer fronts to drawer box. Place the 1 3 front and back pieces on the work surface. Place the 1 6. I assemble my drawers using plywood in dadoes on the drawer box sides.

Drill the pocket holes. Using a kreg jig drill two pocket. Piece of plywood the same width as the drawer fronts and rip it down to 4 3 8 in. With the bit set all you do is run the inside edge of each side no adjustment necessary.

If you don t want to cut dadoes you can also just glue and staple plywood into the bottom of the drawer box however you need to keep in mind that that will add to the drawer box height so you may need to adjust accordingly.