Cabinet Drawer Joints

The grooves will be exposed and we want those to be hidden by the false drawer front.

Cabinet drawer joints.

Dovetail joints are the most durable. 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. Just because a cabinet includes dovetail joints doesn t mean it s a great quality drawer. The grooves used to make up the locking rabbet drawer joint are 1 4 deep.

Do screw add any strength to a joint. There is a certain amount of skill and special attention required when constructing a dovetail joint. For the wood joint torture test in wood magazine issue 173 they created and then destroyed more than 100 joints. 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.

Wood magazine shear test mortise tenon joint took 1 005 lbs force over double to triple the force to break compared to other. For this type of joint the best choice is a half blind dovetail. Which of the woodworking joints give the most strength. Learn how to build a clean strong and beautiful half blind dovetail joint and when to use this type of wood joinery.

The front and back pieces are the captive pieces locked into the sides.