How to Engineer a Chest of Drawers
How to build a case that will stay square and stable through the seasons
Synopsis: Even if you build your projects to accommodate wood movement and choose the best materials for each part, there will be times when you’ll need to be more exact in your estimates. Armed with these handy charts and formulas, you’ll be able to estimate how any given piece will expand and contract with seasonal changes in humidity.
A solid-wood chest of drawers is one of the great feats of furniture design, providing square, stable pockets for drawers while accommodating big swings in seasonal humidity and the resulting swelling and shrinking of every component.
For me, success means drawers you can close easily by pushing on just one corner in any season, from the muggiest summer to the driest winter. Achieving this lofty goal is the culmination of many thoughtful decisions and careful steps throughout the designing and building process. I’ve been studying and refining traditional construction for…
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