Thread: Drawer design and drawer bottoms

Wendy

Glue alone would be fine for the slips, as long as they are a nice fit, but if you wish to give the ironmonger some of your hardearned a few pins would be OK.

Regards

, weeellll, I have been known to donate to the ironmongers a tad too much sometimes

Good to know that glue should be more than adequate, especially with the rebate for the front and screw at the back.

back to watching and learning ....

Looking good Derek. Love that Kauri pine.

Cheers
Pops

Originally Posted by Pops

Looking good Derek. Love that Kauri pine.

Cheers
Pops

Indeed, lovely looking stuff!

Very interesting thread to follow, thanks Derek.


Cheers

Hi Derek,
Must say I'm with WW & don't like slips, the first time I saw them that's exactly what I thought - some dill had cut the bottom too short! -
My other objection is having the obstructions inside the drawer, though I suppose it's a minor point. The sides of your drawer were adequate dimensions for grooves, IMO. I often add slips of harder material to the sides underneath the bottom to create a larger wear surface. They require careful glueing so they don't stick the bottom & defeat the purpose of a loose groove, of course, but are otherwise easy & serve the purpose.

Borttom thickness is dependant on the material chosen, I would have thought. WW refers to some pretty thin dimensions, but I presume he is talking about Oak? Not sure what would give an equivalent strength/weight ratio here, but Tassie Oak might come close. I like to use Camphor for drawer bottoms in this sort of application, which would mean about 1/2" thick for the size of this drawer. To fit the grooves, I just run a shallow bevel round 3 sides - usually rough-cut on the TS, then fitted by planing to size. I tend to burn a few more electrons than you!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Borttom thickness is dependant on the material chosen, I would have thought. WW refers to some pretty thin dimensions, but I presume he is talking about Oak?

Sorry, I should have been more specific. The very fine stuff refered to was always Oak (720 kg/m3), although some 3/8" drawer stuff was often of Pine. Now don't imagine this was anything like Radiata Pine (480 kg/m3) or Kauri, the stuff used in the UK and Europe was Redwood (also known as Red Deal, Scots Pine or Baltic - if sourced from that region). Growing in cold regions and/or higher altitudes, Redwood was dense (510 kg/m3) and was a very respectable timber. I've seen a few sticks of similar quality, close ringed 'Baltic Pine' here in Australia, but the majority of it is somewhat softer and lighter in weight having been recently farmed.

The thicker, country drawer stuff was sometimes made of Redwood, but Whitewood (Spruce, White Deal, Fir etc. - 390 kg/m3) and (Sweet) Chestnut (540 kg/m3) were also used in thicker dimensions.

Tassie Oak is around 640 kg/m3.