Groove depth on drawer sides at a custom shop I visited last week

I stopped by a small custom shop in Portland last week to pick up some hardware. The guy there was cutting drawer sides and his groove depth was exactly 3/8 inch for 1/4 inch ply. He said he learned that trick 20 years ago to prevent the bottom from rattling. Anyone else set their groove depth that way or do you stick with the standard 1/4 inch?

2 comments

2 Comments

faithg261mo ago

wait, you said he set the groove depth at 3/8 for 1/4 inch ply? that's actually a bit much if you ask me. if the groove is deeper than the ply is thick, the bottom can actually dip down and still rattle against the back of the groove. i usually set mine to match the ply thickness exactly, like 1/4 inch for 1/4 ply, so the bottom fits snug without any extra play.

gavin_allen481mo ago

“The bottom can actually dip down and still rattle” - have you ever actually had that happen with a 3/8 groove, or is that just a worry on paper? I'm curious if it's a real problem or just a theoretical one.