The lumberyard doesn’t have the kind of lumber I need to replace drawer sides that are 1/2″ thick and 8″ high. Their 1/2″-thick solid wood does not come as wide as 8″. I would have to use 1/2″ plywood and cut it to size.
The original drawer sides were not made from single pieces of wood, but from three pieces (1/2″ thick and 3-1/2″ wide) connected side-by-side and then trimmed. Is it possible to duplicate this in a home shop? I have a router and a table saw.
Janet
Replies
The answer is ... yes and no. If you don't have a good table saw, where you can get very true cut lines that are OK for direct gluing, you'd have to use the router to get a straight and true side. But if the lumber you're cutting is only 3 to 4 inches wide, it'll be hard to straight-line the boards.
Here's what I'd suggest. Get the lumber and edge clamp it so that it's much wider than the 3 to 4 inches (you're clamping several pieces together here, so make sure the boards are flat at the joints). Put a straight edge on the boards far enough from the exposed edge so that you can take about 1/16th of an inch off. Use the router to get a true and straight edge. Then rearrange the boards to do other edges. Once you've got the edge "jointed" you can glue them up. I'd get a spline bit for the router, the same size as biscuits, and biscuit join them. This will make alignment easier.
John
Another thing you could do is to buy the 3/4" thick boards and have a shop plane them to 1/2" thick.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
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