Replies

1. 
   TomT226 | Jan 30, 2009 02:54am | #1

   1/2" Baltic Birch.

   Drawer lock or rabbeted and bradded joints.  Stable and strong.

   1/4" BB for the bottoms.

   No need to get fancy.

    

2. 
   YesMaam27577 | Jan 30, 2009 03:01am | #2

   Poplar is a good choice. So is pine, if you can find any that is truly good (no knots or defects, plus flat, straight, and square). I've also seen drawers made with baltic birch plywood, and with birch.

   Don't downplay the use of white oak. It's incredibly tough and long-lasting. And it would match well with the rest of you cabinets. You would not need to pay for the quarter sawn for drawer boxes -- who'd notice anyway.

   The current "gold standard" for cabinet drawers is maple for the drawer sides, with prefinished maple ply for the bottoms. It's pretty, light colored, durable, and easy enough to work with.

   Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
3. 
   jimmy | Jan 30, 2009 03:10am | #3

   I think Bob, from Kidderville Acres, might have a few extra feet of birch, a wonderful secondary wood for drawers, drawer runners etc....Jimmy

   For you case poplar, pine, or the baltic birch will be fine.  Depends how "upscale" you want to go with d-tails etc....

   So would the birch actually...

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   Edited 1/29/2009 7:12 pm ET by Jimmy

   
   

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   Edited 1/29/2009 7:13 pm ET by Jimmy

1. 
   mrbird90 | Jan 30, 2009 04:58am | #4

   I have a client that makes kitchen cabinets and vanities and I make a lot of his drawers and he specifies either soft maple of hard maple with 1/4" birch bottoms except for extra large drawers which have 1/2" bottoms. All sides and fronts and backs are 5/8". 5/8" is required so the screws used to attach the guides do not show through. ( sometimes with 1/2" a slight bulge occurs & this can be a problem) For my own projects I usually use poplar as it is less expensive than maple and avoid any wood that has purple or green streaks in it.

1. 
   johneel | Jan 30, 2009 07:53pm | #5

   Thanks all.