Making drawers for a dresser
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- making the drawers for a dresser.
I often like to build the drawers first, I find it easier to size the cabinet to the drawers than the drawers to the cabinet.
A previous dresser build: woodgears.ca/dr... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Still one of the OG’s of the TH-cam woodworking community… no domino no walnut no epoxy just well built functional furniture. Thank you for continuing to share your work!
that is why i continue to come back here.
What's wrong with walnut?
Make the middle drawer the odd one - asymmetry is the new symmetry!! :)
Love the use of every single scrap!
I think I will put it in the middle. Lots suggesting to saw it off and re-glue it, but it's also flipped inside out, so I'd have to saw thru the veneer and plane it again. not enough veneer for that.
@@matthiaswandel often the most valuable - i.e. interesting pieces have the maker's 'errors' in them. Handmade = fallibility and that's what makes it unique!!
@@jholmessiedle Exactly! 👍
@@matthiaswandel could try drilling out the knot on that drawer and patching similar to the knot you replaced with dark wood but with lighter wood this time, so there is no knot.
my 1st thought
That "Oh, Mother Hubbard!" look at the end, when he sees the veneer. I felt that.
I love that you still leave mistakes in your videos after all this time. I always think "If it can happen to Matias too, and he over came it, so can I".
I'm a cabinet maker who started at the trade 40 years ago. One of my problems is trying to make everything perfect. Well we all mess up. I really like how Matthias doesn't let a mess up slow him down. Just roll with it.
If the customer does not notice it, then its not a problem. For cosmetic mistakes that is. Structural ones are always a problem.
@@ordelian7795 the customer always notices visual defects. They never give a shit about structural integrity. Every battle for safety or basic compliance with the laws of physics and fabrication at the expense of the designers vision is a hard won victory.
@@nickbownz "If" is what I said.
Aleksy said he couldn't get automatic translation to work for this video so I typed up an abridged version of the audio for him. Please feel free to edit and hopefully this helps someone else too.
0:15 an old table was outside and planing the surface should make it look good.
0:40 the length of the wood is just right for drawer sides.
0:44 the wood is from resawed 2x6
1:05 resawing
1:10 he accidentally resawed unequally.
1:27 gluing drawer fronts to get the height he wants.
1:44 cutting box joints in the back corners of the side pieces.
2:08 he shows where he wants the drawer fronts attached.
2:25 instead of making it a long cut, he decides mortice and tenons are more desirable because it will lose less strength.
2:40 he describes the spacing that he wants to use instead of the box joint spacing.
2:45 he isn't used to making tenons with the different spacing so he made a rough set of markings to help him keep count.
3:24 he comments that he was so worried about cutting accurately for the spacing of the tenons that he accidentally cut them 1/4" (6mm) too deep.
3:57 he says he has a count for his slot morticer.
4:15 he says if he had to use hand tools to make this he would avoid the knot in the wood, but his tool makes it easy.
4:44 his work was too precise for wood so he uses the sander to thin the tenons.
5:03 he points out that he was slightly off on one tenon.
5:17 he says logically the way to glue the joint is up but he doesn't want glue dripping in the drawer, so he lays it on the table to glue it.
5:30 he shows this to make idiots mad
5:40 he marks R to show that side is of the wood is the referenced side from the box joint jig and morticer.
6:26 he adds a lip to make it the low point, the spacing allows the bottom of the drawer to sag a little and not cause interference with the drawer below it.
6:40 he ran out of plywood so he glues some pieces together.
6:51 he wants veneers (wood covers to make the front look better) he hopes to get 5. approximately 1/8" (3mm) thick.
7:10 he joints the wood after he cuts a veneer.
7:20 he got all 5 veneers, but the knot in the wood is getting worse.
7:35 he uses a piece of carpet to help the glue make a better bond between the veneer and drawer front.
7:50 he can only glue up one at a time, but it's okay he has other things to do while he waits.
8:00 he says that a lot of people are sponsored by Total Boat® epoxy, but he prefers to use the old technique of gluing in a plug.
8:24 he shows his 5 drawers and says that with these drawers he knows the size of cabinet he will make to fit them.
8:30 he knows he accidentally put a veneer on backwards and his next video will be building the cabinet.
I have been watching your channel for years and I have to say the way you leave your mistakes in is awesome thanks for your realism "" everybody screws up once in a while ""
I really appreciate your creativity, and down to earth approach. Also, It was very comforting to see someone making the same type of mistakes that happen to me all the time.
I love the box joint. Such a genuine and utilitarian joint - no frills, no pretending to be something else. Your through tenon box joint is a new one, though. Great build, I enjoyed this.
🤣 i love the ending. If I'd have made it I would have done the opposite and messed up 4 of the 5 drawers.
PS- loved the mahogany knot hole plug 💕👍
I love the ending, too. It's every project I've ever done.
Always appreciate that you're doing 'common man' carpentry. Sure, those live-edge-epoxy-floating-burl-godknowswhatelse tables are fancy to look at, but nothing beats practical applications of carpentry.
Yet again you remind me that mistakes happen. Even to an experienced craftsman. Thank you for letting us peek over your shoulder. You've taught me a lot!
I love how you use reclaimed wood. Saves money on material costs and helps keep dumped pieces out of landfills! Resourcefulness ftw!
Yes... the resourcefulness is always appreciated. The reclaimed wood and resawn construction lumber will still produce a piece of furniture that is far better than anything you can buy from a box store.
Doesn't he always come out as a recycler? I have always seen Matthias as a guy who uses what he has at hand. Like my Grandfathers always did.
I love seeing the raw and real mistakes, and learning from your adaptations. It really helps me, as a perfectionist, to see that just getting something built and done is better than not building something because you don't have what you need to build it. I love seeing you use reclaimed wood and figuring out what will work. I did have to chuckle thought about that top dresser veneer having the knot on the opposite side. I guess it just gives it more character. I bet the dresser will work well for more years than your kids will be in your home. I love your work and videos. Thanks for sharing.
Natthias' TH-cam must be quite profitable but he is still trying to save lumber by reclaiming and even cutting trees from his yard. respect!
Drawers turned out great! I like how you filled the knots on the veneers.
It’s a pleasure to watch you work, using more at less scrap material and using so many tools that you’ve made yourself.
It’s also reassuring to see that you make mistakes too, just not as many as I would have made.
Every mishap is just an opportunity to be creative.
Sir, I have learned so much from you over the years, thank you so much for all the hard work and dedication to the craft. You are truly a woodworking master.
Hello Matthias,
for 7:40 you can use a convex piece of hard wood as a clamping help. About 1mm of a bow will be enough depending on dimension of that wood of course. That way you only need one clamp on each end.
Kind regards
Another Matthias
Love the mistakes are included, this is the best bit, how to adapt etc
Nice video. I like the fact that you show your mistakes as well. Good work
Using dark wood to keep knot symmetry, then ruining it by gluing one veneer backwards. Haha. Love the video.
always appreciate you leaving in the mistakes/problems and their fixes.
I really admire that you owned mistakes and said how you adapted the design, that's a really good skill to reinforce! Mistakes happen, the difference between a rookie and a pro is how you plan for them and deal with them
You sir, are a woodworking buccaneer - in a very good way.
That was nice to see multiple mistakes in one project, it really shows what woodworking feels.
I love you value wood unlike other youtubers who uses sheets and sheets of cabinet plywood to build tool drawers.
You use what you got or can get. Tool deserve the best storage too.
One of the reasons you are one of my favorite content creators is because you show your goofs.
Drawers first is something i've never done and it always bites me in the butt! Great video thanks Matthias!
Can you imagine if he hadn't built the drawers first? That mistake he made when cutting the depth of the box joint could have been more problematic. Now that the drawers are built, he can build the gram to fit them perfectly!
@@elliothuntington8980 1/4" short on the depth of the drawer would have no effect on the cabinet. 1/4" too deep could.
WOAH! your joints are the same ones I used on my most recent drawer project too! I feel so cool!
Love the warts and all approach.
This is one of the best TH-cam channels
i love how you called out those trendy woodworker youtubers that just use drums of resin/epoxy and call it a day lol
Your mistakes just make me happy to know even those with experience, wisdom and amazing tools can still drop the ball. Im getting there, maybe one day I'll just drop one ball and not a dozen! Great video and maybe total boat will come by and hook you up
Fill plug looks great, nice work👍
Excellent illustration of a craftsman. Thank you
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Sometimes it inspires us to renew our own crafts.
Beautiful work, Matthias! Nicely done! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
I appreciate the 'process' details like the R for reference.
Set up in my garage. Sure comes in handy. Works great
That old table wood looked really nice. Those not in the business might think that if wood is grey its bad, but that's not true. It's only the surface that has gone grey and the inside is still pristine. Unless its been out for a long time without shelter.
Great re-use, inspiring work!
Great job! It's not a mistake it's Artistic license to add character to the piece.
I'm happy to see you making mistakes. I don't feel so bad about my own. Many of my projects have changed during assembly due to cutting errors.
your projects are always interesting
Very Nice!!!! Thanks For Showing Us A Different Way To Plug Holes!!!!!!👍😎
Great work mr Mathias. May I suggest, maybe its possible to remove the bottom of the drawer and with a little bit of work turn the drawer around and fit the plywood on the opposite side.
Haha, I love the mistakes. Thanks for showing them! Nice drawers, btw.
I'm glad to see that even someone as skilled as M.W. makes mistake sometimes. It gives me a hope that one day I might finish a project with just moderate amount of screw-ups.
People who make no mistakes make nothing else either.
Nice project with reclaimed wood! The small mishaps just add character :-)
Hi Matthias. We have a saying in Greece that those small mistakes or defects protect you from getting jinxed. It is a way of silver lining this kind of mistakes I suppose. I always enjoy your videos and I have picked up a few tips and tricks. Thank you so much.
That backwards veneer would trigger my OCD every time I saw it. LOL Love how these turned out otherwise. I'm certain when it's all finished it's going to look fantastic. Looking forward to part 2.
A proper patch job, very good point about epoxy over use!
With the quality of wood that's available today epoxy filling is just a sign of the times. Believe it, or not, much of the world's supply of good wood has already been harvested. Most trees take a long time to grow. The old timers took the best of what was available to them long ago now too. I do not blame them for having done that one bit either. First come first serve.
Epoxy is way way way more expensive than wood. And not exactly environmentally friendly to make!
@@matthiaswandel no one was worried about the environment in the past. They harvested lumber like the stuff grew on trees. Which it does but slowly. The rate they harvested lumber far exceeded nature's capacity to replenish it. We went bananas on the giant redwoods. The only ones that remain today are all on protected land. Those trees take a thousand years to grow. We wiped them out in a few decades.
@@matthiaswandel I totally agree with you!
I made a set of 7 - 12” wide by 2 3/4” tall Knick-knack drawers to run side-by-side under a set of wall cabinets. The idea was to cut all the fronts from one piece of figured oak so you could follow grain lines from drawer to drawer.
Looks like I’m not the only one that glues wood on backwards.
Matthais, you made me laugh with that last drawer where you glued the veneer on backwards. That would drives me nuts lol
run that top draw back through the bandsaw then glue it back, think he's winding as well at!! lol good work once again.
You're right he could just saw it off the back board and re glue it. Wouldnt line up perfect though because it was on backwards too, but least the knot would be on same side
I think you could easily add a mechanical counter to your jig, similar to a car's odometer!! Might be a nice project for the channel too.
I'm digging the sheet good trick! More that once I could have used that idea. Also, I usually don't bother with the comments but I wanted to see if there were going to be any trolls. LOL!
It's good to be reminded of our human frailty. You''re among the few public woodworkers who don't hide their defects or their miscalculations.
@MatthiasWandel0 I don't get it.
It gives me hope that you, too, make simple mistakes. TY. The person who suggested putting the odd ball one in the middle is spot on! Best compromise.
All those jigs really awesome
Great looking drawers!
I like your style, what more can i say.
Now i get your thumbnail😁
Holy moly! I've never seen jigs like this before. This is like an engineer feel in love with woodworking.
Wait wait wait, what happened with those three pieces you glued together to make the last drawer bottom?! It looks like one o ft the pieces was overlapping the other two, how do you get that to work? I love using scrap pieces but this is baffling me.
Yeah id like to see that finished. Maybe notch around it putting the humped piece up into the drawer with another piece cut to fit and nailed below it to make bottom all flush and support inside 🤔
enjoyed this. Looking forward to the next video where you put together entire bedroom set from reconstituted sawdust.😂
Also, some form of distance counter or adjustable indicator would be a wonderful addition to that jig.
Hi, nice feeling for me when even experts make mistakes HaHa. Also good that you allow us to see them, many thanks from Nr Liverpool UK.
Those look great! I thought you went supposed to glue bottoms on boxes or drawers in case they needed to be replaced in the future?
Everyone makes errors......you're an awesome craftsman though. I'm amazed at the things you create and bring together.....
There's "new wood" a few thou under the old stuff.......
love your work
That's actually quite wholesome to see someone making mistakes :) Happy little accidents happen to the best of us :)
Matthias is big enough of a man to not only admit, but really own his mistakes :D
Still impressive asf how he whips up his projects. I love that he uses his self-made tools and jigs :)
Matthias Wandel ................The Gyro Gearloose of Woodworking Love it !!
The plywood seemed to be advertising some sort of "Lifetime War". Oooh, ominous.
You forgot to say oops when you showed the finished drawers. But what the heck, it adds character and uniqueness to the piece!
Since the bottom is the weakest part of a drawer and bears the most load, I make my drawer bottoms out of 1/2" Baltic birch then set the drawer walls atop the bottom. I mount the slides to the bottom.
I think it gives the whole frontside a nice look with the one verneer glued the other way - so not an mistake but style!
I am proud of myself because I do most of the mistakes you do! Always rushing things to get back inside to be with the kids 😂😂😂
6:05 -- Lifetime War!! But seriously, good project! I like projects that are not only nice looking, but useful and see daily use! I wish I had some of your machines ... and yes, I know I can build some of them, but no, I'm not going to. Just as I hate spending money on tools that will only get used once every 3 years, I'd hate spending hours and hours on building those tools that I love, but probably don't need. Yeah, I'm looking at you, dovetail jig covered in dust.
Matthias . I heard you use "unfortunately" in your video many times. How do you stay so calm and always recover from your mistakes ? i have noticed that it is one of my biggest struggles to always stay positive and finish projects without excessive amount of F bombs and/or some damaged goods or repairs caused by tantrums.
It's not Louis the XIV furniture. It's a dresser for kids.
You're going to have to remake the other 4 drawers to make the knots line up.
😆
Even genius can sometimes make mistakes. The wrong knot was funny😂
I'm always amazed at how you recycle
Thanks for the info, Matthias. At least gluing another piece to the two boards made them a bit stronger. Of course we all make mistakes, but I can't build anything without making more mistakes than ever. It's weird.
5: 15, but we can see you're not laying flat on your workbench to do the gluing, you're standing on the floor (°__,°)
I will not sleep well until I know and seen you fixed that knot position.
Brilliant...why have you not got a tv channel yet ?
@MatthiasWandel00 no need but thanks.
Is there a reason why sometimes, you slot the drawers to fit the bottom in, and other times you just glue and nail it straight under?
Is it just because there won't be hewvy stuff so you don't need the strenght of the slot fitted bottom?
Glued and nailed on the bottom is the strongest construction option available. Putting plywood in slots wouldn't make it any stronger. Plywood is put into slots so the panel can float with expansion and contraction. But if the wood is well seasoned and acclimated that's not really an issue.
A router template bushing is great for dealing with knots. You could replace that last knot with lighter coloured wood to soften the error. Such replacements don't have to be circular, and the fit is fantastic.
I love how you show all the mistakes.. that makes me feel much less bad about myself.
100 years from now, when your grandkids' kids ask why the dresser has such interesting "character", they can just watch the video🙂
Truly a thing of beauty!
That was a cool way to handle the knot. I hope you don't mind if i copy it. Thanks
The odd knot is a style choice.
I usually build "quarter/quarter/quarter" drawers, and they're very strong and have served me well. Next time, I may forego the rabbets and just shoot a few 1/4" dowels into each joint.
Throw out the odd drawer? Then you can make the dresser a little smaller than originally planned. Another reason to make the drawers first?
I laughed before you mentioned the problem at the end😂
If it was me, I would end up making a cabinet for four drawers or redo the last drawer so that the veneer match.
I really appreciate that you choose to reuse materials when possible/available instead of buying new.
If it was me, I wouldn't worry about it.
I'd cut the front off then use some other means to reattach it. Domino, dowels, biscuits, pocket holes etc.
Is there a video for making the screw box jig ?
no problem for the last drawer, it will make it much more interesting to look at
I was waiting for you to take a running jump and land sitting on the stack of drawers 😆
Is it worth the effort for fixing the fronts with tenons and mortises? I would have just plugged dowels. Maybe less strong joint? but much less effort :). Well... when in 10 Years I do my planned drawers, I will be able to tell what is easier... :P
dowels would work, but more work, I think.