Drawers - how do you rabbet yours?

[BentonTool]

Just as an alternative approach, I think this is interesting:



He suggests using draw slips.

I use slips on all my good furniture. There was an article in FWW magazine years ago comparing many of the different types. This is easily the best article I have seen in forty years. Here is a copy of the *.pdf file. Once you use slips, you will not go back!

 

[BentonTool]

Kind of weird slips though. He sounds American and I suspect, like most Americans, drawer slips are a bit of a mystery to them (that's my experience of American woodworkers anyway) and he's come up with what might be called an unconventional arrangement, aka basically the wrong arrangement, as well as being rather ugly. He's created extra unnecessary work for himself by including a drawer slip on the back of the drawer front. The normal way is to simply run a groove in the back face of the drawer front itself with slips attached only to the drawer side with the slips tenoned into the drawer front groove. The tenon at the front of the slip and the notch at its rear end to fit under the drawer back are what positions the slip at the right height, see images below. The extra piece of slip he attaches to the drawer front is a potential source of height misalignment, which is another good reason for not adding a slip there, as well as for the fact, already mentioned, that adding it creates unnecessary work. Slainte.

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YES... exactly... perfect.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I seem to recall I had a bit of a go at you for doing the same thing, i.e., putting a slip on the back of the drawer front. I guess the configuration he shows works so for him it's okay, and I suppose a magazine editor liked the look and explanation of the methodology. I wouldn't touch his configuration with a barge pole simply because it is unconventional, extra work, rather ugly (subjective opinion, I know), and I wasn't taught to do the job like that maybe fifty years or so ago. Slainte.

Yes. I did it once only, in 2010, was hauled over the coals by you, accepted the lesson, and learned from our interaction. Wrote it up here.

Now I do it this way ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[RobNichols]

Yes. I did it once only, in 2010, was hauled over the coals by you, accepted the lesson, and learned from our interaction. Wrote it up here.

Now I do it this way ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

Another really useful post - this is turning into a really interesting thread.

 

[--Tom--]

Another really useful post - this is turning into a really interesting thread.

Agreed commenting in the hope it helps me find it again as planning drawers with slips in next project

 

[LancsRick]

Never expected it to lead to this sort of discussion, loads of food for thought thanks all