How to Build Drawer Boxes

A typical drawer consists of a simple open-top box with drawer slides attached to the sides and a decorative drawer front attached to the face.

There are lots of ways to build drawer boxes, but the method we used makes strong, lightweight boxes with inexpensive materials and minimal time investment.  You'll need 1/2" plywood for the sides, 1/4" plywood for the bottoms, 1-1/4" cabinet or trim screws, wood glue, and a table saw with a dado blade.

Measure the space your drawer needs to fit into and subtract the thickness of your drawer slides.  Our drawer slides need 1/2" on both sides, so we're subtracting 1" from the width of the opening in the face frame.  For instance, if the space our drawer will occupy is 16" wide and 18" deep, the finished dimensions of our drawer box will be 15" wide and 18" deep.  The fronts of our drawer boxes are flush with the face frame because our decorative drawer fronts will overlap the face frame.

Cut your drawer sides out of 1/2" plywood.  The sides of the drawers should be exactly as long as your drawers are deep.  In our above example, that's 18" long.  The front and back of the drawers should be 1" shorter than your drawers are wide.  In our above example, that's 14" long.

Next, we'll cut the dado for our drawer slides.  My dado set comes with two 1/8" thick blades, which together are exactly the same thickness as a 1/4" piece of plywood.

Set your fence to be 1/4" away from the blade, and set your blade height to 1/4".  I like using a scrap piece of 1/4" plywood as a guide.

If this is your first time using a dado blade, take a moment to appreciate that you have just removed all the safety guards from your saw.  You should be wearing eye protection and ear protection.  Your body should be to the side, not in front of the blade in case the saw picks up your workpiece and throws it back at you.  You should NOT BE WEARING GLOVES.  Wearing gloves with a power saw is dangerous because if the blade catches the glove, it can grab the material and pull your hand in.

Generally, don't put your hands anywhere you wouldn't put your genitals, and you should do fine.  Sorry for the coarse wording, but it's remarkably effective at generating safe behavior with power tools.

Now, use a scrap piece of 1/2" plywood to make a test dado cut to check for proper fit. 

Once you're happy with how your saw is set up, go ahead and make your cut along the bottom of each piece you've prepared.  Take a moment to check the plywood for defects before cutting.  Sometimes you'll find a void in the plywood that would compromise your dado, so don't cut that side.  You can fill the void later.

Now that we're done with the dado blade, you can put your regular blade back in and cut your drawer bottoms out of 1/4" plywood.  The length and width should be 5/8" less than the finished dimensions of the box.  In our above example, that's 14-3/8" wide and 17-3/8" deep.

Now that you have all the pieces of your drawer boxes, test fit them together.  Remember, the drawer sides extend all the way to the corners, but the front and back are overlapped by the sides.  Make sure there are no gaps at the corners -- the drawer bottom tolerances are pretty tight, so if you cut your bottom too wide or your dados to shallow, you may need to recut your drawer bottom to get everything to fit perfectly.

Once you're satisfied with the fit of your drawer box, remove one side at a time to apply glue.  Put a thin bead of glue inside the dado cut, as well as a thin bead where the sides meet at the corner.  Use a couple of 1-1/4" cabinet or trim screws to secure the corners together.  You need to aim for dead center of the plywood you're drilling into.  I like using these star-drive trim screws because the small gauge and trim head cause less splitting. If you find you're having trouble with splitting, or just want to be on the safe side, drill a small pilot hole before installing each screw.

Now, I know what you're thinking.  That raw plywood edge looks pretty rough.  Are we really going to have to look at a raw plywood edge every time we open the drawer?

Yes.  But you can vastly improve the look with a little touch-up.  First, sand the raw edges with 100 or 150 grit sandpaper.  This would be a good time to wear those gloves and save your hands from splinters.  Just a few minutes with sandpaper will drastically improve the look and feel of your drawers.

Next, if you have any voids in the plywood showing, you can make them virtually disappear with a little glue and sawdust.  Apply some glue to the void, then shove some sawdust in there, then more glue, then more sawdust.  Keep going until you have a fairly solid surface.  Then, go over it with sandpaper to smooth it out.  Finally, smear a layer of glue over the area, and gently sand around its edges, creating a fine sawdust to coat and smooth the area.  Once the glue dries, you'll forget the void was there.

That's all there is to it.  Once I make my decorative drawer front, I attach it to the drawer from the inside with cabinet screws.

This is also the same method we used to make our sliding pantry shelf system.  We're basically just making a stacked drawer, with multiple dadoes cut in the front and back face of the drawer.  If you end up cutting across the grain, it helps to put a strip of masking tape on the wood before you cut, which will help prevent tear-out. 

The Grand Unified Couch Theory

The Airstream originally had a gaucho, or sofa bed, up front.  The couch cushion had a sheet of plywood attached to its underside, and the whole thing sat on top of an aluminum frame.  This design makes for a cheap and lightweight piece of furniture with a good bit of storage underneath, but it makes for lousy sitting and sleeping.

I set out to make a durable, comfortable piece of furniture.  This is really our only inside seating area aside from a small desk and ... ahem ... the toilet.  So the couch needs to be comfortable.  We also wanted to be able to convert it to a bed that's a bit more comfortable than a bunch of couch cushions sitting on the floor.

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I researched common furniture dimensions here and here, and got pretty deep into a Youtube upholstery hole.  I found a very useful set of videos for hand-tying springs produced by DIYUpholsterySupply.com, and ended up getting a bunch of my supplies from them.

Since I want this furniture to last, I'm building the major load-bearing parts out of oak, and using dovetail joints for the higher stress areas.  None of my local hardware stores carry dovetail saws, so I picked up this Japanese dovetail saw over at Amazon that I'm very happy with.

After a few practice joints, we're off and running.  It's good to leave a little extra on either end of the joint, which you can trim flush with the dovetail saw or a block plane

After watching a bunch of YouTube videos of carpenters saying they do just fine marking their dovetails freehand, I tried it that way.  Then I picked up this dovetail marking tool for $12.  If you want to cut dovetails, just buy the marking tool.  It'll easily pay for itself in frustration and wasted material.

Frames are 6' long by 20" wide.  11 sets of 20" spring bars per frame made for fairly even spacing.  Also got the big roll of Ruby Italian Spring Twine and a box of spring nails.  About 300 knots per frame and we're in business.

I used a piano hinge to attach the two sides together and test fit the assembly.  Lounge mode on the left, slumber party mode on the right.

I built the base and attached legs to the front of the seat.  The legs will support the front of the seat when it's pulled out into a bed.  I also started work on the arm rest, which will angle slightly outward.  I considered building shelves or drawers into the space between the arm rest and the wall, but I think we're going to like the freestanding look better.

Next, I removed the piano hinge from the frames and started on covering them.  First burlap to cover the springs, then 1" edge roll around the front and sides.  I probably could have used 1-1/4" and got a little flatter seat.  I did not put edge roll at the back of the seat or the bottom of the back because I don't want you to feel a lump behind your tailbone when sitting, or in the middle of the bed when laying down.

One layer of cotton batting with the edges tucked behind the edge roll, then another layer on top, hanging over the front.  This will smooth out the back and seat a bit, and protect the fabric cover from the springs wearing through it.  The fabric we chose is this charcoal colored linen blend.

Next, we reattached the piano hinge to the covered frames and reinstalled in the Airstream.  The frames are fairly comfortable by themselves, but much better with a layer of cushions on the seat.  I have the back angled at 26 degrees.  Since the seat is horizontal (no backward angle), if the back reclines too much, you'll feel like you're sliding forward off the seat.

The seat cushion is going to be 4", but the back cushion is going to be pretty thin.  Every inch of back cushion takes away an inch of seat depth, and 20" is on the shallow side for a couch seat anyway.  If I didn't have to work around the wood stove and hearth, I might have used 21-1/2" bar springs for the seat to make it a little deeper.  But the seat back is pretty comfortable even without a cushion, so we should be fine.

Luna approves of our progress.

Kitchen Cabinets

Last kitchen post, we had finished the counter top and set the appliances in place.

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I've since painted the cabinet face frames and built some drawers.  The drawers are 1/2" plywood sides with a 1/4" plywood bottom.  Drawer slides are soft close ball bearing models from the Orange Box.  They're on the heavy side, but they provide enough resistance to opening that the drawers should stay shut while we're moving.  And that soft close feature is so nice.  It's important to build your drawer just a bit smaller than the space between the drawer slides, because if it's not loose, the drawer slide will bind (hence the negative reviews on the vendor's website).

Drawer fronts are shaker style.  Just pine 1x2 frames with luan in the center.  Use painter's caulk on the inside of the frame to make the lines look clean.

For the drawer pulls, we're using these cup pulls from Amazon.  The reviews are right, the pulls are nice but the screws are garbage.  We originally installed with stainless steel screws, which looked good, but switched to brass because we like the look better.  For the cabinet hardware, we're using these.

IKEA Butcher Block Countertops

We were originally hoping to do PaperStone countertops, and had gone as far as ordering samples and picking out a color.  But the nearest distributor is in North Carolina, and we aren't up for making that trip at the moment.  So, we went with our second choice, IKEA butcher block.

After a predictably frustrating trip to IKEA (these folks have very different ideas about what makes a good retail customer experience than I do), we came home with our two pieces of oak butcher block.  I need to butt two pieces together since the longest piece is 96", and our countertop is nearly 12' long.

First, I want to get these sealed on both sides to prevent warping.  If I were to install before sealing, it would be very difficult to seal the underside, which would cause my counters to warp as moisture moved in/out of the wood unevenly.  After everything is cut to size, I'll re-seal the finished counter.

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I'm using Formby's Low Gloss Tung Oil Finish.  As previously noted, this is wiping varnish, similar to the Waterlox product that I could not find locally.  It's not Tung oil, despite what the marketers want you to believe.

Now, I need to cut the hole for our farmhouse sink.  It didn't come with a pattern, ostensibly due to the inherent variation in the dimensions of their fireclay sinks.  So, I taped a piece of paper to the top of the sink and traced the inside rim of the sink with a crayon.

I made the cut along the length of the countertop with a router and a piece of wood screwed to the underside of the countertop as a guide.  I was hoping it would make a cleaner cut than my scroll saw, but it ended up pretty rough.  I cleaned up the cut with my block plane and a bunch of sandpaper, then used the scroll saw to cut out for the sink.

After cutting fresh ends on both pieces of butcher block and a quick test fit, I'm ready to glue my two pieces of butcher block together.  The butt joint is going to be at the stove cutout, so I only need to glue the back 8" or so.  I made a small relief cut in the remainder of the joint so that I can clamp the 8" I need to glue as tightly as possible.  I used gorilla glue and three Tite-Joint Fasteners to secure the butt joint.

Once my glue was dry, I made the stove cutout with my scroll saw, sanded, and resealed all of the exposed wood.  The picture to the left is upside-down, so you can see the three tite-joint fasteners.  The picture to the right is right side up, ready for final sealing. 

Here's the finished countertop with the appliances temporarily set in place. 

With all the worrying I did that the 1-1/4" thick butcher block would be so much heavier than the 3/4" paperstone, I have to say, this piece of countertop isn't all that heavy.  With the cutouts for the sink and the stove, and the thinner depth over most of its length, there just isn't all that much weight.

How to Disassemble Plastic Airstream Latches

I'm talking about these babies.

Our '74 Overlander used these latches for cabinet doors and the screen door hold-back.  They're riveted on from inside the mechanism, and there's no apparent way to disassemble them without breaking the plastic.  So, how do you get these things apart?

First, it helps to understand the mechanism a little.  There is a top sliding latch and bottom plastic base with a spring in the middle.

What's important to note is that when the latch is in the retracted position (spring compressed), there is very little engagement between the grooves.  That means the ideal position to separate these pieces will be in the compressed position.

So here's how to get them apart.  Press the latch open with your thumb as far as you can.  Remember, the further you can open it, the less force it'll take to remove.  With a flat screwdriver in the other hand, lift the back of the latch straight toward you.  It'll take some force.

Pop! and you're free.  Don't lose the spring -- it's going to want to fly out when you do this.

It's important to pull straight toward yourself with the screwdriver.  You don't want to wedge the screwdriver in sideways and twist to spread the grooves apart or you'll probably break that 40 year old plastic.  No twisting, just lever it toward you like the latch is a beer bottle cap and you don't have a proper opener.

Now, to reassemble.  One end of the spring goes in the latch, the other end wedges against the tab on the base.

Compress the spring and press the front grooves into the center of the base first.

Now press the rear of the latch into the base and guide it forward to the closed position.

That's it!  Success!