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I would be inclined to laminate them to get some thickness back; particularly for the larger drawers. Something like a shallow and narrow utensil drawer may be OK. Laminating the sides would not only give you the thickness and strength back, but also give them more stability from further warping.
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Yah then I’m buying more wood and milling that down. At that point I’d probably just make new sides.
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03-26-2022, 03:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2022, 03:01 PM by fredhargis.)
As I sit here I'm looking at a drawer with a 3/8" side (this is on a printer stand/cabinet next to the 'puter) and i don't think they look funny, bear in mind they are only 17" wide. I built this stand, but I did recycle the drawer boxes from the previous computer desk. These drawers are also mounted on full extension slides (not bottom mount) but they only have 1/8" thick bottoms that look like some kind of hardboard. That doesn't mean they won't look funny to you, but you can make one and judge for your self. As for strength, I agree the bottom mount slides will be carrying the weight....in fact, I might still opt for 1/4" bottoms; but that's me.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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Thanks Fred. I’ve about convinced myself it will be just fine and that I’m over thinking it.. the plywood sides in my existing kitchen aren’t even 1/2” now that I look. Not quite 3/8 but somewhere in the middle.
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A bit late to the party, and *not* a professional cabinet maker, but the only potential issues I see are:
1) With only 3/8" thick sides, the grooves to hold the drawer bottom can't be very deep. So, if your drawer glides support the sides, rather than the bottom, the weight will be directed toward the narrow lip below the groove in the side. If either the drawer bottom or the lip is fully supported by the glides, no problem. BTW, to me 1/2" ply bottoms seem overkill, unless you're storing anvils.
2) The joint between the drawer side and front gets a lot of stress when the drawer is pulled open. That's where I've almost always seen drawer failures. With a thinner side especially, use a strong (dovetail?) joint.
That said, I'm certain that 3/8" maple would be stronger than any 1/2"+ particle board/melamine that seems to be the norm these days. Go for it!
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(03-26-2022, 01:58 PM)mound Wrote: Several of my wider re-sawn maple drawer blanks gave me trouble with movement after first milling.. Was shooting for 1/2" final thickness after 2nd milling, but several of them will have to go to 3/8" (or a hair over) to really get flat again across the full 8"-10" width. I'm trying to rationalize just going with it (3/8" drawer sides), or scrapping them and making new ones. That seems very wasteful for what may be an inconsequential detail.
These will be base cabinet drawers in a kitchen island on 100lb undermount slides with 1/2" plywood bottoms in grooves. I figure the box sides really don't need more than 3/8" of strength, so would it work? Sure.. but would it look or feel funny?
Part me thinks nobody will ever notice that, part me thinks if that if I make some boxes with 3/8" sides then I should do all the drawer boxes at 3/8" (probably an OCD detail!)
(edit: this is for my own kitchen)
Think 3/8" would be fine especially if you would epoxy the ply into the dados.
IMO, that makes the parts a unit and the unit is stronger than the sum of the parts.
Also, when you attach your slides put them low on the drawer so that you are not stressing the sides.
