Drawer Bottom and Stops

2013.07.22

The drawer bottom began as an ordinary western redcedar (Thuja plicata) fence board.  I dug through the stack to find one that was reasonably clear with straight grain.  I crosscut a couple pieces, planed them down to about 3/8″, and glued them together.

Drawer bottom board from western redcedar (<em>Thuja plicata</em>) fence board
Gluing two pieces of western redcedar (<em>Thuja plicata</em>) for drawer bottom

2013.08.26

With the drawer dovetails complete, I could saw and plane the bottom down to final dimensions, and bevel the sides using my rabbet plane with the auxiliary wooden fence I made to bevel the nightstand tops.  Because I only jack-planed the bottom of the drawer, the inner edge of the bevel looks uneven, but no one will ever see that unless they take the drawer out and turn it over.

Beveling drawer bottom with skew rabbet plane
Bevel on underside of drawer bottom

I believe it is more traditional to bevel along the front edge of the drawer bottom as well, but I decided to do a straight rabbet instead.  I could have just rabbeted (technically, fillistered) the sides as well.  I left the bottom too long, and will trim it down later.  Also I will secure it to the back with a screw in an oversized hole, to allow it to expand and contract across the grain but not rattle.

Rabbet along front edge of drawer bottom, with bevels on sides
Drawer clamped and glued, with bottom

2013.08.30

When the glue was dry, I had some final tweaking to do in order to make the drawer fit and slide easily.  On the front, the gap on one side ended up a little too large compared to the others, but overall, not too bad.  The next step was to glue a couple small blocks to the inside of the back apron to stop the drawer from pushing in too far.

Drawer fitted into opening in nightstand
Drawer stops glued in place on nightstand
Drawer for nightstand