Build a Shaker Work Bench

Make and Install the Drawers

The drawer fronts were milled from soft maple to match the rest of the work bench. The drawer sides and back were made of ash. I like full extension drawers so I can find whatever is lurking at the back of a drawer. The depth of the bench base allowed me to extend the drawer sides six inches past the drawer's back while still having a drawer of sufficient depth to be useful. The extended sides let me pull the drawers out to their full depth without the drawer falling on my toes. For convenience and to save both time and money, I cut the drawer bottoms from 1/2 inch plywood. The plywood bottom is rabbeted on it's front and sides to form a tongue 1/4 inches thick and 5/16 inch wide. The tongues slide into grooves cut in the inside faces of the drawer sides. The drawers are dovetailed together: half-blind dovetails at the front and sliding dovetails at the back. The sliding dovetails were cut with a 1/2 inch dia. dovetail bit set 1/4 inch deep. I cut the sliding dovetail pins on both ends of the drawer backs using the same jig I used earlier, repositioning the temporary fence on the jig to achieve the cut desired.

To dress up the bench and to make drawer fitting more forgiving, I used a thumbnail shaped overlapping edge on the drawer fronts. This profile was formed using a 3/8 inch radius roundover bit and the tablesaw.