How to Build a Four Drawer Dresser

Welcome to Pawpaw's workshop. Well, today I'm taking a little break from the CNC machine and

build

ing a double set of

four

-

drawer

dresser

s for the grandkids. You don't want to miss this. Let's go step by step how to

build

it from start to finish, so let's get started before we start today's video. I have a big favor recently. YouTube changed its algorithms. What does that mean? It means my videos are not being recommended. Often, like they used to, how do we change? I need your help most urgently to be able to like this video, share it with as many people as you can and subscribe.

By making these three simple changes, you will really activate those algorithms. You will be able to get the recommendations to everyone in the woodworking community and the CNC world, so if you like the videos I am producing, you like my teaching methods, please subscribe, like and share now, let's get back to today's video . It's going to be a little longer than normal, so be patient. I'm going to try to include everything you would need to be able to build your own to get started. I want to be able to cut the two side panels and since I'm building two of these

dresser

s, I'm actually going to cut

four

of these, but as far as size, they're 21 inches wide and 41 inches tall.

Now the next thing I'm going to do is cut the boards so I can join the two sides together now, these supports can be any width you want. I made mine two inches, but if you want to make them wider, that's perfectly fine length-wise, the total cabinet will be 45 inches wide, so these are three-quarter inch pieces of plywood, which means that these braces will be 43 and a half inches long. As for quantity, I'll need four, I'll need two for the top, and I'll need two. for the bottom again these will be two inches wide and 43 and a half inches long and again don't forget you can widen yours if you want of course there are several ways you can build this dresser but for me, This is the easiest and simplest way to be able to do it and that's why I want to share this method with everyone in the cabinet back woodworking community.

I want to be able to cut a recess so I can receive the five. millimeter uh board and in order to do that I need to be able to cut this to a depth of five millimeters and I need to cut it at least halfway, but I want to be able to cut it more than halfway so I can have a good nailing surface, so this area here will be cut so let me go ahead and set this up on the table saw and show you how I cut it now that I have the fence set up so I can cut this distance here, but I need to raise the blade to the height so I can cut the other distance and in I'm actually going to stay in inches, which is about a half inch, so I want to lift the sheet up about a half inch high and make it so instead of using the tape measure, I'm just going to use a half inch piece of plywood.

Now this is just a half inch piece of plywood and I can leave it and then lift the sheet up to that point and that gives me the height that I need and this is actually a lot easier than trying to do it with a tape measure with the tables ready, It's time to be able to go ahead and cut the first part of this rabbit joint now here again. I could have taken the time to set up a set of slotting blades on the table saw and cut it in one go, but for me it's actually easier and faster to just make two cuts instead of taking the time to set up a set of slots and realizing that a Many of you may not have one and you can see this is the first cut that goes all the way to the top of this line and that's perfect and that depth is going to be 5 millimeters so I'm going to go ahead and cut. the rest of them the same way and then I'll remove the guide and cut the next part.

Now I went ahead and changed the height of the blade and also adjusted the fence so I could make the second cut on this rabbit joint. Now that it's cut, I want to zoom in and get a close up of the camera so you can see the rabbit joint and what it looks like and the fact that it will be able to take that five millimeter plywood exactly. as it should be so here's a close up look at that rabbit joint and I'm going to take a piece of five millimeter plywood and I'm going to show you exactly how it fits into this space and this provides a perfect space for nailing.

In order to secure this back panel in a previous video, I showed you how I made the table saw sled and then followed up with being able to make this cover so I could have dust collection. I also now added the measurements so I can raise and lower this guard to the thickness of the plywood and you can see there are my measurements, so if I'm cutting the three-quarter inch plywood, I just set it to my three-line a quarter inch and I'm ready to slide it in so I can cut it. It was a great feature I added to this table saw sled, so if you made your own, maybe it's time to add this feature to it, so I'm cutting the crossbars now which were two inches by 43 and a half inches long, so I have a fence installed on my 43 and a half inches and again I use that little block at the end so it doesn't cause a problem with the guide um and causing possible binding on the saw, that's a very important feature now that everyone is cut out, it's time to be able to use the pocket hole jig and be able to place the pocket holes on each end so Now I can secure these crossbars to the sides of the dresser using these pocket holes, it works extremely well, it's very easy to do and very effective and creates a strong cabinet, plus you will see it in a moment.

I'm going to add some additional supports to the cabinet so I can make it a little more secure as I move through this process. I want to point out one thing: I'm building two of these vanities at once, but I'll only show you one of the components as I go through this, otherwise the video would be too long. Now is the time to be able to connect them to the cabinet and it is important to keep in mind that they see how. the screw goes in at an angle towards the bulk of the material which creates a much stronger joint, if it were turned and went the other direction like this that joint would be much weaker and could have a possible tear, so always When planning a project, always plan it, if possible, so that that screw goes into the widest part of the material so you can add strength.

The screws I am using to attach this is a quarter inch screw and that is because I am using a three quarter inch material as the thickness of the material changes of course the screw will change length as well which again for three-quarter inch material, inch and a quarter screw and of course, I'm going to use glue to be able to help hold these crossbars. Another tip I want to give you now I'm using the drill to be able to drive these screws and I have the torque settings. Set it up so that it tightens the screw but doesn't strip it and every drill will be a little different so you will have to experiment to see the setting you need for your particular drill but this is a very effective and easy way to make sure Make sure the screw is screwed in and tightened without overtightening and possibly removing the screw on the front of the dresser.

I want to be able to have this three quarters of an inch setback to do that, I'm using this three quarters of an inch piece of wood so I can place it right on the front face of the dresser, hold it in position and then I can go ahead and screw this crossbar into place. exactly where it is needed. be and you don't even have to measure it for me, this is more accurate than trying to use a tape measure because that gives me the absolutely perfect alignment and I can easily duplicate this on each side of the dresser, of course I'm using the glue so I can keep it in position along with the two pocket hole screws, this little piece of wood also helps keep it in place so it doesn't move while I screw it into position and that's the second advantage now of course I didn't have that advantage on the back so I just had to be able to work with a little bit more, but it actually makes it easier to be able to put these screws in and have a net block in there once. those are screwed on, I just remove the block, wipe off the excess glue and that's it, I can move on to the next one to attach the other side of this dresser with these crossbars, had to change the angle a little and have a different setup, but the bottom line is that the wood block is still in place and I'm clamping that crossbar directly to that waste block so I can screw it into position, so a little different technique to get exactly the same results next time.

What I need to do is cut out the back of the two dressers and I'm using five millimeter plywood to do that. This is a very thin plywood and when you cut that full sheet it will have a tendency to fall below this. close and if it falls completely underneath you won't be able to get an accurate cut, plus your table saw may get stuck to avoid it. I just have a very, very simple jig that allows me to slide it right under the fence. fence and create a temporary work surface here so that the material can scroll and I can just clamp it and I can use two clamps and now when I slide the material across it, it will have something to scroll across and it's not going to cause a problem , so again, a very, very simple solution to be able to make this cut much safer with that little jig held in position.

I want to be able to show you how easy it is to be able to cut this entire sheet. Now this is a four by eight sheet of the five millimeter material that I'm actually cutting and you can see how it wants to build an arch and fall under the fence, but it can't because that template is in place and then from there. It's very, very easy to be able to handle this entire sheet by being able to cut it on the table saw and once I'm done cutting the first one, I can just slide it in and cut the second one again.

Remember I need two backs, one for each of the dresser cuts the second is actually easier because it can handle a much smaller blade, but again, having that simple little template in place makes all the difference in the world to be able to make this cut safely on the table saw. Now I went ahead and put this on the face so the back is exposed and I want to check the squareness to start with and that's going to be five feet and a half inches, so 60 and a half inches and let's look at this side and This is 60 and three quarters, like this which I can put it in place, so what I can do is I can literally nail this top and I have my little gap there, then I can turn it and that will square it now with the top stable. in these two corners I can go ahead and move this down and put it where it needs to be now we have a third stable corner and that's 9 16 60 and 9 16.

That's 60 and 9 16, so now it's exactly square. everything is square I can go ahead and nail this down every which way now what I'm using is a one inch staple it's an 18 gauge staple holding this in place now the next thing I want to be able to do is add a little bit of stability on this front because this cabinet is 45 inches wide, there is a little bit of flex in the front face frame and I don't want that to stiffen it, I'm just using a leftover piece of my two one inch wide material and the shape easiest to do is just measure at the end, no tape measure required and then I'll take it to the table saw and cut it to the length needed so I can glue and nail it into place one last time.

I quickly checked to make sure it's cut to the right length and now that I know it's done, I'm just going to slide it into the middle, glue it and nail it into position and use the clamp just to do it. It's a little bit easier to be able to work with it until you nail it that way. I don't have to worry about it falling to the floor before I nail it in. I can also make some minor adjustments to make sure it's right. exactly flush and exactly where I want it and then from there I just nail it into position and then I can remove the clamp.

A quick note. This isn't the only support I'm putting up. I have some corner blocks that I will place. in just a few minutes I'm using this three quarter inch wide birch iron on material to be able to cover the edge here now to be able to make this work you need to be able to have an iron now I have an old hobby iron that I used to use when I was flying models of airplanes and built them from scratch, but any iron will work if you have it, don't use your wife's iron, but you can get a normal iron that works fine now.

In order to put this material on, you will also need some type of roller. Again, this is a very old tool, but it was used to be able to roll the seams of wallpaper, so it actually works extremely well. To placethis material on the front edge of this plywood, I just start by centering it on the plywood and heat it up about the first three or four inches. Once I've heated it up and the glue is activated, I take the ruler and roll it down. to make sure it adheres really well and then from there I'll start working on it about one to two feet at a time so I can do the same process along the entire length of the dresser.

Now this is a very easy process to do and it works extremely well, it gives a nice protective edge to the plywood and gives it the appearance of being solid wood now once you have completed this all you need to do is being able to trim the edge so that it is flush with the edge of the plywood and then just leave it smooth and this will give you a very nice finish. and this will stain nicely too now it's time to be able to cut the top of my dresser and I'm cutting this where there's three quarters of an inch hanging on each of the three sides and on the back I want to have it flush. with the dresser now this is one of the reasons I wanted the larger table saw sled because I can actually handle material that is actually quite large and it fits on this sled very easily before I put the top on the dresser.

I want to be able to put those corner blocks that I talked about a few moments ago and to do that I just set up my template which is at my 45 degree angle and then I can take my scrap wood which is your square blocks and cut them at a perfect 45 angle degrees. Now by attaching these corner brackets it really increases the stability of the overall cabinet. The other thing it does is give me a place that I can screw into the bottom of the top and secure the top in place so it has two sides. purpose of the fold, so of course I'm using the glue so I can get it right in the corner and then I'm going to nail it into place and I'm using a one and a quarter inch nail so I can hold it on. in position once the glue dries this will be a really solid cabinet and of course the nails also help hold it up and I'm doing this on all four corners now as we get back to the table saw it's time to be able to cut the faces of the

drawer

s and for that I am using three-quarter inch plywood.

Now the drawer face is going to be nine inches and I'm going to cut this material so I can cut all the drawer faces for all eight drawers, remember. I'm building two dressers and then from there I'm also going to cut all the material out of the half inch plywood for the drawer boxes. Now the height of the drawers will be six and a half inches and as far as possible. For the length of the drawers, I'm using drawer rulers, which means the drawer has to be an inch smaller than the dresser opening. Now I use the same technique that I have used in other videos and I will put a link. the description so I can refer you to those videos, but I am using glue on all the joints of this particular drawer, two reasons: one is plywood and I don't have to worry about movement because the plywood is very stable and the other reason is that this drawer is so wide that it would have movement and arc and the bottom would fall out, which is why I'm gluing this on all four sides and of course I'm going to use the staples.

To secure each of the sides now I also wanted to show you up close on camera exactly what I'm doing and I rotate this drawer so you can see exactly what I'm doing a little bit easier but with glue. on all surfaces, so I can literally put it into position and have that. Now the nice thing about this is that I can put this whole drawer together and then I'll go ahead and nail the top, turn it over and nail the On the other side, now the plywood bottom ensures that the drawer is square, but to be sure, I checked with the tape measure by measuring each diagonal to check it was square again.

A drawer this size it's very important to make sure it's square so the drawer rollers work properly now once the drawer is fully nailed in I'm going to go ahead and put a clamp right in the center because again due to the size of the drawer, there is some movement there from the plywood sides and I don't want that, so I'm going to hold it very lightly in position so it doesn't move and give the glue a chance to dry so that drawer be exactly what I'm looking for and I don't have it arched or the bottom isn't in the position it needs in that slot, so I put this aside now and build the next one.

Now I'm focusing my attention on the drawer. faces and I'm actually measuring and I'm drilling the hole so I can accept the knobs. I am using two knobs on these drawers. Now I'm doing this at this point because I'm going to use this as my method. In order to align and attach these drawer faces to the actual drawers in the cabinet, now mounting the drawer rollers is actually very simple, I just had to measure exactly where they needed to be and they actually screw right into the side of the cabinet. nothing special at the time, the other part was screwed into the bottom of the drawer on each side and you can see everything works very well at this point, one last step before placing these drawer faces on the drawer and that is to place the edge on all four sides of each of these faces of the drawer now it's important to do it now because it's much easier.

I can clamp it directly to my workbench and work at a comfortable height to get it into position and I'm doing the same thing. I start I just make the first three four five inches, making sure it's secured, roll it down so the glue adheres and then I can work the rest of the material onto the surface of the drawer face, now the only thing I didn't show before when What you're putting in is after you put it in, I'm going to take a knife and just cut along the edge to remove the excess and get it flush with the plywood and this saves a lot of sanding if you don't want it. to do that you would have to sand this little thin strip.

I would prefer to cut it. This works very well. I have a knot here in this plywood that I need to be able to fix and I'm going to do it. using starbonne medium black to be able to fill that in and the nice thing about it is that it dries almost instantly and I can just squeeze it right into that hole, spray it with the accelerator and give it a moment and it'll be dry and the nice thing about that once it's dry you can sand immediately. Now I'm using 220 grit sandpaper with a small sanding block and that just brings it up to where it's perfectly smooth with the surface of the wood and this only takes a few moments to do and now you can paint it or stain it either way.

It works very well. Being able to assemble the drawers. The first thing we need to do is be able to lift it an eighth of an inch off this bottom piece. I have the little eighth inch spacers here so I can do that. Next thing I want to use the other spacer so I can get the eighth of an inch on each side and that's perfect now that that's set up I can drill the holes in this. drawer and I'll put that screw in there and that'll hold it in place now that that one's done we can move on to the next drawer put my spacer right there put the other one next to it grab my next drawer and I'll put it in place I'll use my another spacer so I can place it exactly where I want it and then I'll drill the hole again so I don't bore you.

I'm going to go ahead and continue with this exact process. to be able to attach all four sides of the drawer now here is a look at the completed cabinet the only thing I didn't show was that I just put some screws on the inside of the drawer so I could hold it in place More than just the knobs I then turned the knobs to so they could see them, so now all I have to do is stain and seal them. Hello everyone, thank you for watching my video today. If you liked the video, go ahead and press. the subscribe button below and the little bell next to it so you can receive notifications about the different videos I upload.

Also check out the videos here so I can keep you up to date on what's happening in my store, so again, thank you. for watching my videos