Best Joint For Plywood Drawers

3 plenty strong plywood joints 1.

Best joint for plywood drawers.

Position a drawer back on edge with its inside face against the fence. Now s a good time to cut the 1 4 x 1 4 groove in each of your fronts sides and backs for holding the drawer bottom. Make these cuts on all of your drawer backs. The bottom is usually 1 4 thick plywood for small drawers or 1 2 thick material for bigger drawers or drawers that will hold heavy objects.

If the bottom is thicker than 1 4 you ll need to cut a bevel or rabbet on its edges. The dovetail joint or simply dovetail is a strong woodworking joint it is great for tensile strength resistance from pulling apart. You use the dovetail joint to connect the sides of a drawer to the front. The drawer lock joint another solution is the drawer lock joint.

A drawer lock joint consists of two specially shaped interlocking rabbets that allow the drawer front and back to be securely glued to the drawer sides. A series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. The bottom should slide into the drawer in 1 4 x 1 4 grooves milled in the sides and drawer front. I m assuming that dovetails are a bad idea for use in plywood.

What is the best easiest joint to use given my material choice. Full width dado or groove 2. In general more thinner plies make for stronger flatter panels. Assuming you re going with plywood for the drawer bottoms you ll get the best results with real hardwood plywood which is made entirely with thin plies of real hardwood.

Conventional plywood has inner plies of various softwoods even if the outer veneers are hardwood. The method is somewhat less durable than a dovetail joint but strong enough for average drawer use.