Newbie adding drawers

Submitted by Bhumbl4him on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 21:08

We are brand new to building and need help. We bought an armoire for storing my sewing stash and would like to add drawers to put the fabric in. We need help in figuring out how to assemble the drawers the best way to hold the weight, which species of wood to use, and any other things that we might not even know is an issue. It is rather large and don't want to use trial and error to learn with. The sides are about 1/2 inch thick and not sure if we need more support or not. The inside measurements are 44 wide and 28 deep. Should we make two drawers side by side instead of one large one? Thanks!

claydowling

Sat, 12/31/2011 - 09:10

Drawers aren't a good first project, because they require a level of accuracy that you aren't going to have on your first time out.

You can learn all the stuff you need to learn though by building boxes. Boxes are the basis for most furniture and cabinets. And you can always find a use for some variety of box. They're good for storing notions, put a hinged top on it and you've got a blanket chest, put the door on the front and its a cabinet.

Bhumbl4him

Sat, 12/31/2011 - 15:46

Well, I say we are newbies but I grew up in a barn. I've been building things most my life. We built a square bale hay feeder for the horses just a couple months ago. Most times though details didn't really matter. Now we are looking at building things for people instead of animals. People care more about the details... ;)

claydowling

Sat, 12/31/2011 - 17:05

If you have a bit of experience, know how to build square, you can do it pretty quickly. I'd recommend picking up a good book on furniture design and construction, which will cover drawers and cabinets. The Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking series is my favorite, but there are others out there. Tage Frid just makes everything easier because he'd been teaching woodworking for decades before he wrote the book, so he knows the best way to explain stuff.