# Chest of drawers



## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

They do indeed grow up too fast. 

My grand daughter Mia, turned 4 recently. Even at that age, she's is into her wardrobe *L*. This little one really loves to dress up. She has easily outgrown her current chest of drawers soooooooooo....you don't have to twist my arm  :no:

Started out with a trip to Mars Lumber in Mars Pa.. and coming home with 100 board feet of red oak and hard maple (there was actually 4 more red oak boards than whats shown in the pic)

Wasn't too long before it started looking like something. Finally finished her up tonight...couple of light coats of poly last few evenings and she's ready to go....

I've got a entire series of pics on the build.. just wanted to post these first.. might do a how-to on it...


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

No words to express it. Very nice, awesome and more.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Premium...

now get the back on it before it racks...


WOW!!!
that was fast...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

thank ya guys, but in all honesty, she's a fundamentals kind of build. Nothing fancy. The daughter actually picked out the plans and said THIS IS WHAT I WANT...there were not many options available *LOL*.. bout the only thing I got my way on was the little inlay work on the upper right corner..


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Sweet...I love maple.

Looks really nice, Bill.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Nice job, bud.


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Looking good Bill, inlay was a nice touch keep up the good work Bill


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

That's a really nice piece she will be able to uses her entire life. A real keepsake.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

_Wow!_ You're not just a pretty face, Bill !!


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## Admin (Feb 13, 2012)

WOW! This is the kind of piece that she will be able to pass on to her own children and grandchildren one day.

Absolutely beautiful. :smile:


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Wow you do nice work Bill !


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## old coasty (Aug 15, 2014)

Amazing what Grand Kids can get Grand Parents to do.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Very nicely done Bill.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Great result, Bill.

You make it sound easy...


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Nice indeed. With the extra space to the sides of the drawers, you could put in a secret compartment to keep rifles and other stuff..


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## bcfunburst (Jan 14, 2012)

Beautiful Job!! Love to see the rest of the photos and How To!! Thanks for sharing.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Lovely job Bill.


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Excellent Bill. Very nice design and build.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cricket is stingy w/ the thumbs up...
so here's another on DL/QT....
work like that deserves it...


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Very nice build. N


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## Admin (Feb 13, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> Cricket is stingy w/ the thumbs up...
> so here's another on DL/QT....
> work like that deserves it...


I gave it a thumbs up!


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## berry (Oct 17, 2005)

Nice build and great pictures. Thanks.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cricket said:


> I gave it a thumbs up!


I meant the TU button allows only one entry...
that chest of drawers deserved extra...


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Great Job Grandpa!


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

Very well done Bill! congrats!
Sid.


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## bryansong (Mar 4, 2015)

schnewj said:


> Sweet...I love maple.
> 
> Looks really nice, Bill.


What!!!!

That is very nice, I've got to build myself one of those some day.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Heh...you better get started on a matching one, Bill! No self respecting young woman can get by with _only_ 7 drawers... (VOE)


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

schnewj said:


> Sweet...I love maple.
> 
> Looks really nice, Bill.


Thank you Bill.... the bulk of the chest was made with red oak, drawers were done in 1/2" hard maple..
Even though I came back from the lumber mill with 50+ board feet of hard maple, I ended using what I already had on hand and saved the new stuff for a later project..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

MT Stringer said:


> Nice job, bud.


Thank you Mike...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Semipro said:


> Looking good Bill, inlay was a nice touch keep up the good work Bill



thank you John... much appreciated.. here's a better pic of how the inlay turned out... I was going to do the ladybuy as well, BUT,,just too much detail for my skill set yet... so I went with just epoxying on a ladybug ear ring... and to be honest.. it really looks kinda nice


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

denniswoody said:


> That's a really nice piece she will be able to uses her entire life. A real keepsake.


As always, appreciate your kind words Dennis...I sure hope she does my friend,,, these are the things that I'll leave behind


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> _Wow!_ You're not just a pretty face, Bill !!



You outta see me without my make up :surprise:


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

RainMan1 said:


> Wow you do nice work Bill !



Thank you Rick....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

old coasty said:


> Amazing what Grand Kids can get Grand Parents to do.


Boy, ain't dat the truth of the matter  and if Mom hadn't pulled the reins in on me,,, I would have gone all out on this one... but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo she wanted a simple, basic utilitarian kinda dresser... 

in the end, she got something maybe, just kinda a lil bit more than that


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Very nicely done Bill.


Thank you Charles... for what it is, it actually turned out nice...I'm very pleased with it


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> Great result, Bill.
> 
> You make it sound easy...


Thank you James... I always look for your response...

Honestly... this was not a technical challenge in any sense.. very straight forward, fundamental kinda build.....that just happens to turn out pretty nice. In terms on difficulty, I'd be inclined to put it in the low side of moderate to medium skill set needed...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DesertRatTom said:


> Nice indeed. With the extra space to the sides of the drawers, you could put in a secret compartment to keep rifles and other stuff..


You noticed all that extra space did ya??? *L* so did I and it drove me nuts.....a secret compartment or two isn't out of the question!!!!:wink:


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

bcfunburst said:


> Beautiful Job!! Love to see the rest of the photos and How To!! Thanks for sharing.



Thank you very much Reg....

I am leaning towards doing a how to w/photo's....seems to be some interested,,,


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

old55 said:


> Lovely job Bill.


Thank you Ross....


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Knot working said:


> Excellent Bill. Very nice design and build.



Thanks for the kind words Larry.. I can't take credit for the design...this is one of the few times I actually went off of printed plans I got online.. my daughter picked it out... I deviated very little from them... I had no choice *L*


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

neville9999 said:


> Very nice build. N


Thank you good sir!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

berry said:


> Nice build and great pictures. Thanks.


Thank you Berry...

Pictures are fair at best, but she did turn out nicely... i must say


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

MEBCWD said:


> Great Job Grandpa!


Thank you sir!!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

When she gets married, couple of years from now, she'll take that beauty with her! And thus are heirlooms created, Bill.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

ksidwy said:


> Very well done Bill! congrats!
> Sid.



Thank you for the kind words Sid..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

bryansong said:


> What!!!!
> 
> That is very nice, I've got to build myself one of those some day.


thank you Brian....

you will!!! this one looks far more difficult than it was...a great exercise in the basics..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> Heh...you better get started on a matching one, Bill! No self respecting young woman can get by with _only_ 7 drawers... (VOE)



Man, I"m tellina you....this lil girl loves her wardrobe!!! your right, no way will one be enough...*L*


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

DaninVan said:


> When she gets married, couple of years from now, she'll take that beauty with her! And thus are heirlooms created, Bill.



WHAT???, married a couple years from now???


whack,whack,smack,whack, smack... hush you mouth!!!!

all kidding aside Dan... this is why I do it.... years from now, I just hope that she pauses one day, takes a look at the dresser and just smiles....just a pretty lil girls smile and I"ll rest a very, very happy man


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> thank you John... much appreciated.. here's a better pic of how the inlay turned out... I was going to do the ladybuy as well, BUT,,just too much detail for my skill set yet... so I went with just epoxying on a ladybug ear ring... *and to be honest.. it really looks kinda nice :*)


you got that right...

how did you do the inlay and w/ what did you do for the green ???...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> You outta see me without my make up :surprise:


another picture stuck in the head that needn't be there...
thanks a bunch Bill...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> you got that right...
> 
> how did you do the inlay and w/ what did you do for the green ???...


Two different pieces of inlay were used. The darker green is little more than stained popular. The lighter green is a natural green popular. Used a french curve to get the general shape of the blades of grass. Next I took and taped one side of the popular with painters tape (the blue stuff), drew out the blade of grass then cut it out with a scalpel and savedit. I used the cutout portion of the inlay as a template. Repeatedly lightly scored the oak until I had a relatively deep outline. 
I used a micro bit in my colt to remove the bulk of the material and an assortment of flex-cut carving knives and Lee Valley template inlay chisel to remove the rest. 
Veritas® Template Groove Cutter, Inlay Chisel and Pin Awl - Lee Valley Tools
Then all that was left to do was to glue and clamp in the blades of grass. Most of the lines are pretty clean, except for a few places. I found it very difficult to cut and clean out the negative while working on a vertical surface. I never did it that way before and I found it to be considerably more difficult than when working on a horizontal surface. Couple places got a little buggered up, but all in all not to bad...I will say that even on a flat (horizontal) surface, oaks can be contrary to work with..
I wish I had used a second piece of the lighter material just for the sake of balance..


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> another picture stuck in the head that needn't be there...
> thanks a bunch Bill...


yeah, I know  my apologies :grin:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Thanks for the tutorial Bill....


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> yeah, I know  *my apologies* :grin:


I'll bet...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> Thanks for the tutorial Bill....


well, certainly not much in the way of a tutorial but you get the idea.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> well, certainly not much in the way of a tutorial but you get the idea.


so don't a the others here...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

originally I had planned on using a positive for a guide, but given how slender everything was, keeping the templates in one place long enough to get a clean 'outline' cut was darn near impossible. Like I said, oaks are very difficult to begin with (at least for me). Pines and popular are great to get started with due to their being so soft and taking a very nice initial cut with a Xacto/Scapel..


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

some times it helps to seal the wood 1st before cutting...
razoring the out line is a big help too...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> some times it helps to seal the wood 1st before cutting...
> razoring the out line is a big help too...


Yep... that does work. But,, what I find is that with oak, even with a topcoat, once you get past that, the grain of the wood wants to derail the template cut. Not saying its impossible, heck I can do it, but man its alot of work. Excellent lighting, new blades and a magnifying medium all are big helps, especially for older eyes


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Yep... that does work. But,, what I find is that with oak, even with a topcoat, once you get past that, the grain of the wood wants to derail the template cut. Not saying its impossible, heck I can do it, but man its alot of work. Excellent lighting, new blades and a magnifying medium all are big helps, especially for older eyes


have you tried this style blade???

.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Beautiful work, Bill...nothing like a Granddaughter to wrap a Grandpa around her finger...I know the feeling.

The chest is beautiful and can see the care you've taken building it even in the few pictures. Nice touch with the ladybug...

...can't help but commenting on how you shop...buy more than you need so you can be prepared for the next project...then buy more than you need again...love your philosophy; the only way to stay ahead...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

for irregular and wild grain/rays it sometimes it helps to razor and then seal the slit...
razor and seal again... and so on...
a hollow swizzle stick makes for a good applicator...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

that blade is for a box cutter knife... they do have that design in an scalpel blade. I've tried it, didn't much care for em. too much contact area for me. I did find that they are pretty slick when doing moderate outside curves or straight lines. I pretty much stick with 11's and 12's...Carbon Steel blades are great..


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

13, 21, 22A and 24 appeal to me...
as you draw cut and you feel the blade trying to ''walk'' stop drawing and use an advancing chopping/rocking motion as if you were trying to shave your way instead of slicing...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Nickp said:


> Beautiful work, Bill...nothing like a Granddaughter to wrap a Grandpa around her finger...I know the feeling.
> 
> The chest is beautiful and can see the care you've taken building it even in the few pictures. Nice touch with the ladybug...
> 
> ...can't help but commenting on how you shop...buy more than you need so you can be prepared for the next project...then buy more than you need again...love your philosophy; the only way to stay ahead...


Thank you Nick... very kind words indeed  

Yep, she got me wrapped up alright *L* all of em do. The chest itself really was a very straight forward build. The really great part about it was that even though nothing fancy was done, it turned out pretty nice. The only thing that I did when it come to the actual construction was pay extraordinary care in measuring and cutting. Making certain my angles were dead on. Other than dado's there is really no other joinery work. 

The plans called for something like 30-40bf. The panels are all 3/4" cabinet grade ply. I always get more than I need, sometimes ALOT more than I need. Especially if its a really good deal or some really nice grain etc...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> 13, 21, 22A and 24 appeal to me...
> as you draw cut and you feel the blade trying to ''walk'' stop drawing and use an advancing chopping/rocking motion as if you were trying to shave your way instead of slicing...


13's are not bad at all....
been there, done that with the rest....ie chopping/rocking etc.. I've become relatively proficient with cutting the thin inlays. Its making cuts like the one used in the dresser I need to do more of. I'm learning what to expect/anticipate and what to do when I run into an issue...just a matter of doing it often enough to become good at it. Gimmie some popular, cherry or mahogany and i'm golden..gimmie some oak and i'm gonna sweat the details


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Olfa cutter...

.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

another style....

.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> another style....
> 
> .


You can find these on Amazon, or locally in a quilting or sewing supply store. Good for trimming long cuts along with a straight edge. The one with the retractable blade is really nice for safety reasons, the other the blade is somewhat protected, but I think it tracks better because the center of the blade is closer to the center of the handle...less likely to wobble. They are surprisingly sharp. My wife's are made by Friscars. The blades are the same as what are used in rotary paper cutters.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

well, delivered the dresser. Gram took Mia and her brother for ice cream while Pappy, mom and dad set it up in her bedroom. When they got back from ice cream, mom asked Mia to go and get one of her new bows to show Gram. She ran upstairs and the only way I can describe the next 15 minutes is "wow"..  *L* Alot of hollering and jumping up and down, arms flying everywhere, more jumping up and down and I can't even remember the number of hugs and kisses. One could not ask for a better response  no way, no how...

now, mom wants a matching night stand  this one I get to play with a little bit...twist my arm..geesh


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

That is wonderful, and your description made me laugh a lot. A very grateful grand-daughter.


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## john60 (Aug 30, 2014)

This is beautiful.
Notice you did not comment on extra space around the drawers. Is the space an optical illusion. How did you do the drawer slides.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

vindaloo said:


> That is wonderful, and your description made me laugh a lot. A very grateful grand-daughter.



Thanks Angie... some days are just a lil bit better than others


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

john60 said:


> This is beautiful.
> Notice you did not comment on extra space around the drawers. Is the space an optical illusion. How did you do the drawer slides.


Thank you John....

This is one of the few times I was "told" to follow the plans *L* Plans were gotten from WoodSmith. *L*

The extra space around the drawers seemed like such a waste of space. But our daughter liked the look and who am I to argue, especially when one of the ladies of the family request something. Plans could have easily been modified to either make the drawers a bit wider or make the cabinet a bit narrower. Once I got the plans, I made a few suggestions that were quickly shot down 

The sides and back of the drawers were done in hard maple. It sands silky smooth and takes to wax. The slides are as about as basic as they get. As I recall (dont' hold me to this) the slides were 2 15/32"S wide x 1/2" thick x 18"s long, with a 1/2" wide by 5/16" deep rabbet on the inside (the inside slide for the top 4 drawers were a big narrower)...The bottom of the drawer sides ride atop the rabbet. I did go and place some UHMW tape atop of the rabbets. So I had to compensate for the rabbet thickness. I've used this method on a couple of projects and it works extremely well. the drawers slide in and out just as slick as can be...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2-Inch-...e-XSJ06CM39-/191611215251?hash=item2c9ceb1d93


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

gotta love it when a plan comes together...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> gotta love it when a plan comes together...


ain't that the truth!!!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Here's a better shot of the drawer guides in place and how they set up:


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## john60 (Aug 30, 2014)

Thanks


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