dovetailed drawers w/lip

Re: dovetailed drawers w/lip

Warren in PA

>I have always made the rabbets with a rabbet plane and then dovetailed. I can't imagine wanting to do the extra sawing and chopping needed to make deep pins ahead of time. After you have dovetailed it would be clumsy to get rid of those long pins- you can no longer use a plane.

Some people make the joint so that the pins protrude 1/64" or so and pare them flush after the drawer is together for a neat job. Its a lot easier to flush off the pins than to plane off the drawer side with the lip in the way.

Rabbets first...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>That's how I do them anyway. It seems like way too much work cutting out all the wood that's just going to be trimmed away. The only reason I see doing them by cutting the DT's first would be if the board you�re using is thin or the rabbet is very thin or fragile. This would cut down on marring the board of rabbet.

Re: dovetailed drawers w/lip

R.J.Whelan

>Jim ... I'm with the rebate and then dovetail group.

Another approach is to make up the drawer box with through dovetails and then laminate the front to the completed box - sounds like cheating but there are ample examples of this technique .... rj

Re: dovetailed drawers w/lip

Jim in Fenton, MI

>This is exactly the way I was leaning. Thanks to you and the others for your comments and justification. Now, I just have to do it:>)

Re: dovetailed drawers w/lip

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Yes...and if the drawer fronts were resawn first is it really cheating? After all it is the same piece of wood right?JR

Re: dovetailed drawers w/lip

R.J.Whelan

>Joe ... I don't do lipped drawers very often, but every time time I "cheat" I feel compelled to tell the potential buyer about my nefarious deed - even though you can't see the joint ... rj