This is a continuation of the Girl’s Maple Dresser project.

Time estimate for this step: 5 hours.

The second step in making this dresser is to build the inside support framing, which will support the drawer slides. Because these will not be visible from outside the dresser, I have decided to make these parts from Poplar to save a little on cost.

Step 2a: Cut the pieces to size


Out of 8/4 Poplar stock, cut 6 pieces to 25.5″ by 3.5″ in size. These will be the vertical supports. Cut 9 pieces to 18.5″ by 3.5″ in size. These will be the horizontal supports.

Step 2b: Split center pieces


Use a vertical fence on a band saw to split two of the vertical supports and three of the horizontal supports.



Run all support pieces through a planer to make the thick pieces the same thickness as two of the cut thin pieces stacked together. For my purposes, this was 1.5″ thick.

Step 2c: Make dado cuts in the support pieces


Using a dado blade on a table saw, make horizontal dado cuts through one side of each piece. On the vertical supports, these cuts start at 0″, 8.5″, 17″ from the end. On the horizontal supports, these cuts are on both ends. For all cuts, the final width of the cut should be 3.5″, the same width as the supports.






Step 2d: Assemble the support pieces


Next, dry-fit and clamp the support pieces into the frame to ensure they fit correctly. Countersink two screws in each joint, ensuring that the front of the supports are flush with the front of the frame.





Lastly, countersink two screws in the top of each vertical support.



That’s it for the support framing. Next, we’ll work on the front and rear facing.
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tags: woodworking, dresser, maple