Loading…
17
Found a way to stop my drawer boxes from racking, 14 units in and zero callbacks
So I build mostly kitchen stuff in a small shop and drawer boxes have always been my weak spot. Last month I had a batch of 14 maple boxes where the sides kept racking just a hair when I dry fit them, enough that the fronts wouldn't sit flush. I was clamping and fighting each one for like 20 minutes and it was killing me. Then I started cutting a shallow 1/8 inch groove on the inside of the box sides and sliding a thin plywood strip in the back before glue up, basically a spline I stole from how I do my face frames. Takes me maybe 90 seconds extra per box now and every single one came out square on the first try. Did all 14 with no rework and delivered them Tuesday. Curious if anyone else does something like this or if I just got lucky with the plywood I had on hand.
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
harperg761d ago
That 1/8 inch groove is cutting into the side wall thickness and maple glues up just fine when the parts fit right off the saw, so the racking was probably your table saw setup or a dull blade, not the box design. Plywood splines also move with humidity at a different rate than maple, and a year from now those backs could telegraph through the finish or split the groove once things dry out in a heated kitchen. Fourteen boxes is a small sample and maybe you got lucky with that batch of ply, but I would check your crosscut sled before I changed my whole build.
8