Cabinet Drawer Joints

There is a certain amount of skill and special attention required when constructing a dovetail joint.

Cabinet drawer joints.

Which of the woodworking joints give the most strength. The front and back pieces are the captive pieces locked into the sides. For this type of joint the best choice is a half blind dovetail. The grooves will be exposed and we want those to be hidden by the false drawer front.

A perfect example is a drawer front where you don t want to see the end of the through dovetail on the face of the drawer. Although you can build drawer joints using any number of methods we think lock rabbet joints like the ones above make sense for attaching the sides fronts and backs of most drawers. However they can also be the most difficult to make. Learn how to build a clean strong and beautiful half blind dovetail joint and when to use this type of wood joinery.

With 1 2 drawer material you simply subtract 1 2 from the desired drawer width. Dovetail joints are the most durable. Do screw add any strength to a joint. Although not as strong as a dovetail joint a well made lock rabbet joint will hold up fine unless the drawer takes heavy regular pounding.

For the wood joint torture test in wood magazine issue 173 they created and then destroyed more than 100 joints.