I wrote back in mid-May about a customer asking for a small, four drawer cabinet to store their homeopathy medicines. The medicine comes in small tubes, and she needed each drawer to hold three rows of 12 – so overall the cabinet would be able to store 144 tubes (4 drawers * 3 rows * 12). She didn’t have that many yet, but thought she needed “room to grow.” After sharing design ideas with her, we settled on a plan and it was time to build.
I chose maple for the wood, as it has very minimal “outgassing” and the customer did not want any fumes to interfere with the medicines. I also planned to leave the chest unfinished, rather than risk any sort of finish (shellac, oils, etc.) causing problems as well.
The box
- After cutting the top, bottom and sides to rough size, I used the tablesaw to cut a 45-degree miter in each corner. With that, I used the router table to cut four grooves in each side, to hold the runners for the four drawers. I used two fences and stop blocks to make sure the pieces did not shift and the cuts were accurate
- After that, I used the tablesaw to cut a rabbet in all four pieces to hold the back of the chest
- Once that was done, I was able to glue up the cabinet, using band clamps to keep everything in alignment. I checked to make sure the cabinet was square before letting it sit overnight.
Drawers
- Now on to the drawers. I kept the drawers ½” thick, so the weight would be minimal. I milled the pieces to length, width and thickness, using the jointer, planer and tablesaw. I also used the tablesaw to cut a groove in the side pieces (for the runners) and a rabbet for the bottom pieces.
- I used a drill press to cut a finger hole on the front piece, and then glued up the pieces and used a pin nailer to complete it. If the drawer is a little twisted, I use a clamp on one of the corners to move it into square.
Drawer Hangers
- The drawer hangers consist of a series of ¼” x ¼” cherry strips which fit into the grooves in the sides and into the grooves on the drawer.
- In order to make sure the drawer front matched the front of the cabinet, I cut the hangers ¼” from the front. This made the drawers match the front
- The cabinet came out pretty well. The customer liked it a lot and filled the cabinet up with their medicine tubes. It still is unfinished, but works well and fits right on the shelf where she wanted it.
