42 Joinery joints
through dovetails; and the initial setting out of the tails
would have to take into account the position of the
plywood drawer- bottom of, say 6mm thickness. The
grooves for this (the depths of which should be about
⅓rd of the side’s thickness) would have to be accom-
modated within the drawer- front’s bottom sockets
and the sides’ tails – to mask the groove’s exit. And at
the rear, it is common practise to reduce the depth of
the drawer’s back to allow the ply bottom to be slid
into the front- and side- grooves before it is pinned or
screwed (at closely- spaced centres of approx 75mm to
100mm) into the underside edge. It is also good prac-
tise to reduce the topside edge of the drawer’s back to
allow for a lowered edge of at least 9mm. This reduced
edge is often rounded – and the two projecting, rear
top- corners of the sides are either bevelled or rounded,
as illustrated. The reason for the low top edge at the
rear is to reduce the build- up of air pressure when
the drawer is pushed in; as often this can cause other
drawers or doors in a unit to be forced open.
Having pre- cut the plywood bottom squarely to
size and made pilot holes in the rear edge for screw-
ing, immediately after the drawer has been glued up
I insert the (unglued!) snugly- fitted plywood bottom
and – whilst keeping it pushed tight up into the
drawer- front’s groove – screw down the back edge.
By this self- squaring method, no diagonal checks are
necessary and the drawer can be set aside to allow the
glue to set before cleaning up is undertaken.
Edge fillets, drawer slips and muntins
Figures 3.38(a)(b)(c)(d): Before leaving drawer- making,
there are a few more details illustrated below which
should be explained: (a) This shows a common groove
in a drawer- side with a plywood bottom; the plywood
is usually either 3.5mm- or 6mm-thick, according to
the drawer’s size; (b) This shows the addition of edge
fillets which are top- and side- glued to the sides and
front to give extra support to the grooved bearing;
they also provide a wider running/sliding edge to the
drawer- sides. Alternatively, short edge fillets of about
50 to 75mm length, can be used to give intermediate
support and a glued connection to the ply bearing; (c)
This shows traditional quadrant- shaped drawer slips
which are glued and pinned to the inner drawer- sides.
These were often used when it was felt that the drawer-
sides were too thin to take a groove; they also provided
a wider running/sliding edge to the drawer- sides; (d)
This shows a traditional muntin which was used across
the central, narrow span of the drawer’s bottom to give
support to the front and back of a very wide drawer.
The muntin was lap- dovetailed to the under- edge
of the drawer’s front and rebated and screwed to the
under- edge of the back. Drawer slips and muntins were
more common when drawer- bottoms of solid timber
were used. Such bottoms were usually 6 to 9mm thick
and were often splayed off like raised- and- fielded
panels on the undersides to fit the grooves. The grain
ran from side to side and the front long- grained edge
was glued into the groove; the opposite edge (slightly
protruding) was open- slot- screwed to the underside,
unglued back- edge to allow for shrinkage.Machine- made dovetails
Figure 3.39: In industry, with the aid of metal tem-
plates (shaped like sets of uniform, protruding
fingers) and jigs, dovetails are mostly – if not entirely- made by machines nowadays. With dovetail- shaped
cutters fitted to fixed machines or portable powered
routers, the two components of a set of dovetails are
clamped together in an offset position (equal to the
width of one tail) and the tails and pins are formed
in one machining operation. Because of this, they
are equal to each other; i.e. of uniform shape and
size. Also, this process produces semi- circular shaped
inner- edged tails and inner- edged dovetail sockets. If
the material being jointed is relatively thin, say 10mm,
the semi- circular ends of the tails will be exposed, as
illustrated in Figure 3.39. But if the material is thicker,
the ends will be covered and lapped dovetails will be
produced (similar in appearance to those illustrated in
Figure 3.35).
Figure 3.38 (a) Drawer sides (and front) grooved^1 ⁄ 3 rd to
receive plywood bottom; (b) Edge- fillets added to sides
(and front); (c) Traditional quadrant- shaped drawer slip
glued and pinned to drawer- sides; (d) Traditional muntin
used on wide drawers.(a) (b)(c) (d)