Build a Shaker Work Bench

Drawer Dividers

At this point you think you are ready to start assembling the bench base. But wait. There is one more thing to do before assembly. Sliding dovetails secure three drawer dividers to the front face of one of the two bays formed by the bench legs. Sliding dovetails are milled on the ends of each divider. These in turn, slide into dovetailed dadoes cut on the inside faces of the two legs that form the sides of the bay you have chosen to be the drawer rank. Lay out the location of the three dividers on both legs. I clamped the two legs together and used a temporary fence clamped across both legs to center my router and dovetail router bit in the centerline of each divider. I then cut a dovetail profiled dadoe across both legs in a single pass. I repositioned the fence and cut the remaining two pairs of dadoes in the legs. Quick, easy, and safe. Do this before gluing up the base. Mark the mating leg faces to be dovetailed. Then recheck to make sure that you have correctly marked the right faces.