Small chest drawer – middle shelf between the two drawers?
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I’m building a small drawer, about 2 feet in length and 10 inches high and about 13 inches deep. I was originally thinking of creating a dado on each side and putting in shelf made out of cherry (.5 inch thick).This shelf/divider ( think it’s called the stretcher) will be between the two drawer the top drawer sits on. Do you think this will cause movement issues?
I saw an article in FW magazine, link below, where the editor basically put supports on each side of the dresser and had nothing in the middle. My approach is to put a wood panel made out of cherry. Almost as if it’s a bookshelf.
Hopefully this made sense. Would appreciate your thoughts.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2016/09/06/cherry-chest-of-drawers
Replies
A wood board as a stretcher will be completely fine.
When attaching it to each of the sides, you will have a joint where the grain is going to expand in the same direction. So no problems there. (Assuming sides will have vertical grain direction.)
The place where you may have cross-movement is along the back of the case (if you have vertical grain direction on the back of the case). Joinery that allows movement would be required if you are joining the back of the case to the stretcher.
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