Cutting drawer openings

[DaveO]

During one of their sober periods a couple years ago.

Dave

[farmerbw]

Dave, sorry to have made this so drawn out. I swear it seemed like a simple and straight forward inquiry!!!

Definitely going to be using pocket screws for apron to top attachment. That way I get to try out my newly acquired (indirect Gloat here) Kreg kit. Picked it up from Rockler with a 15% off coupon and also got in on the $20 mail in rebate!!



Was considering making it a little more sturdy by doing something like this as well.




And the last thing I think that I still haven't cleared up is this. I understand your suggestion to allow extra width and length to make up for kerf and such. But the 1/2" that I was asking about is the min amount of material above and below the drawer opening. I assume I don't want to go too thin or I'll have something that's not very strong and could possibly break out under maybe not so normal use, say a kid opening the drawer and leaning on it. Then again I suppose most of that stress would be transfered to the internal drawer support frame work and therefore might not be an issue at all.

Thanks everyone,
Brian.

[DaveO]

Brian, using your Kreg jig for the anchoring of the top is an excellent use. While you have it out I would recommend using it for the apron to leg joint also. I have built a set of table using the method you are thinking of, and looking back at them, they look quite amateurish to me now. By joining the aprons to the legs with pocket screws you can have a nice reveal on the legs and have a much more traditional look. I don't really think that you need the block support under the top inside the aprons.
You do have a good point about the amount of material left in the apron above and below the drawer opening. In that table I posted earlier I have about ¾" on the top and 1" on the bottom. The drawer is supported by wood runners and a top kicker to keep it from tipping forward as it's opened.

I thought I had taken a pic of the underside for another thread but I can't find it now. If you're interested I can shoot it again.

Dave

[farmerbw]

Dave, thanks for the follow up and offer of the picture but I think I'm got it pictured well enough to get started. Granted that could change mid construction!

I'll have to figure out my drawer opening once I finalize drawer size and material. I've got some off cuts of 1/2 ply which I'm considering using instead of going with the 4" pre-finished drawer sides as originally planned. I'm beginning to think that a 4" drawer may be overkill for this particular table and am leaning towards something around 3" instead.

Since we're presently only doing craft shows, mobility and compactness are really important, and maybe shipping later if we're lucky. With that said I'm not planning on attaching the log legs to the apron. Instead I'm going to have an attachment block/plate of 3/4 ply on the table top and a matching plate attached to the top of each log which I'll pre-drill and screw to it's mate on the table top. This will allow us to remove the legs for transporting.

Thanks again.
Brian.