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Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Lewiston, NY
I would not use plywood, even Baltic birch, with dovetails. It is easily damaged by the router cutters with those sharp corners, and the material is rough on a handsaw should you choose to hand cut them. Baltic birch is great for finger jointed drawers though, and that's my preferred way of making drawers on most projects. For high end stuff, though, I'm with others here. Solid wood just looks better. Maple is my preferred choice, but poplar or even your project wood is fine. I've seen lots of drawers from Becksvoort in cherry.
For anything except exceptionally large drawers I think 1/2" stock just looks better than thick stuff. Even on really large drawers, I don't think I've ever used anything thicker than 5/8". You can use solid wood bottoms if you prefer, but I like maple plywood because you can glue it into the drawer box w/o expansion/contraction concerns, and that makes for an incredibly strong and rigid drawer. For wide drawers I add a stiffener at mid span to support the bottom, which typically is 1/4" thick, but I've used 1/2" on occasion for an extra beefy feel.
John