Drawer thickness

[Woodmatt]

Hi all ,I am about to make three English oak drawers with false fronts for a large sideboard,each drawer will be 760mm wide x 360mm deep x 140mm high with 6mm oak veneered MDF bottoms.I will be doing hand cut dovetails for the joints.

My question is what would members consider the minimum thickness the drawer sides could be.

Thanks

Matthew

 

[Marineboy]

I've just made some kitchen cabinet drawers and used 12mm ply all round with 6mm base. They are very sturdy when glued up.

 

[custard]

Drawer sides (and back) in Oak, start at 9mm, finish at 8.5mm thick...this only works with drawer slips! You can go a whisker thinner on smaller drawers, but any thicker and they look clunky. If you're rebating in the bottom you don't have any choice but to go 12mm or thicker which to my eye looks a bit agricultural. Ensure the sides are quarter sawn, get the material out a few weeks before the job starts and plane it to finished thickness in small steps to maximise stability. A nice trick is to lay them out so that when you plane the sides for final fitting (from front to back to prevent spelching on the drawer front) the grain on the drawer sides will accommodate the direction of the planing, although with a false front that's less important.

I'd be more concerned with the drawer bottom. 6mm veneered MDF is a bit thin for 760mm wide. So you should think about a muntin, either just one centrally positioned, or even nicer would be two, each about 150mm in from the sides. If you really want this to look the business then drawer slips and an 8mm thick bottom made from Cedar of Lebanon would be the way to go.

There are few things in woodwork as satisfying as producing piston fit, dovetailed drawers, in solid wood.

Good luck!

 

[Mike Jordan]

Hi Matt
My personal preference is for 12mm thick sides in quartered oak with the 6mm plywood bottom grooved into sides and front. I use screws through the ply into the back of the drawer and glue blocks spaced on the front and continuous on the sides.
I normally use 20mm thick quartered for the fronts with lap dovetails. I very rarely use dovetails at the back of the drawer but use a tongue on the back and a groove in the sides, this and reading the grain to give the best planing direction as suggested above make for easy fitting.
I have made large numbers of drawers down the years using these methods all cut by hand and bandsaw without any failures. I am uncertain about the use of veneered MDF and would suggest 6mm ply with veneer on the top face may be better.
Mike.

 

[Woodmatt]

Thanks guys, Custard unfortunately getting quarter sawn in this part of the world is nigh on impossible so I have to live with what I can get.I was planning on putting in one muntin but I think I will take your advice and add a second.

Mike again getting materials is a problem and as it is massively expensive getting delivered just one or two sheets of anything so I will have to live with the MDF as I have it left over from a previous job but thanks for the advice.
I think I will go with 12mm due to my construction restrictions although I agree it may look a bit chunky.I also know the drawers will be abused and over loaded so maybe more is better in the circumstances.