Hey Keith, I have a little time save to deal with the centering of screws I think you will like. When doing that three handed align the drawer slide and screw while holding part of the assembly. The bit driver for Philips is a consumable and often just a freebie with the pack of screws. So I don't feel bad about using it as a make shift center finder and punch/spot drill. Just push it in to the slot or hole you want to transfer, use the same amount of force you would to drive a screw, and give it second or so to spin. It makes a nice shallow taper which is more or less sized to the hole perfectly because of the bit size of smaller screws. It helps countersink and makes starting and driving the screw easy.
So, when are you going to discover what we Canadians have long since embraced and moved up from Phillips head screws to Robertson, LoL! Gone will be the days of the screw flopping around at the end of your screw bit!!
@@ApexWoodworks I switched to robertson screws in my shop years ago and absolutely love working with them. Rarely do I get cam outs; mostly when installing screws at awkward angles or in tight spaces. Spax t-star plus screws are equally amazing. Those two are the ones O use the most in my shop, though I do still have some phillips drywall screws kicking around.
@@ApexWoodworks Pity us poor Brits: the only time we see Robertson bits is in over priced boxes from Trend for use with their hyper expensive pocket hole jigs. Great screws, the woodworkers equivalent to the Allen Bolt.
Thank the world, finally a RU-vid woodworker that admits you don't have to own every Festool and Woodpeckers tool and jig to actually build something!!
Thanks for noticing. Yeah I get a bit of a twitch when I see woodworkers constantly talking about Festool-this, Festool-that, etc. Maybe we're just not yet enlightened. Thanks for the comment!
Years ago, I had a friend who joined the local union’s apprenticeship program. Everything they built in the first year was with hand tools. The first project was an apprentice toolbox, and all she had to work with were her saws, a plane, chisels, and clamps. The finished project was pretty sweet.
Honestly, on what planet is a dovetail or rabbet needed too? Just finished my garage cabinets using this same design and materials (except I did Brad nails and screws instead of staples because I don't have a stapler) right after finishing, while the paint was still wet, I pulled my full sized truck in for an oil change and because I'm super smart, ran right passed the ramps and drove right into my cabinets. I definitely damaged the gable end that I hit and pushed the whole cabinet set into the drywall, but the drawers still open and close just fine and are dented but not broken. If lap joints are good enough to withstand a Chevy Avalanche, then dovetails and rabbets are just for show, and maybe not as strong
Upon unboxing, I was immediately upset at how the rails were very noticeably bent. But I kept going, all tools needed to assemble were included ru-vid.comUgkxqtX4Dxs6aecAZEuz6GY5-d81YecKCshn and I had it set up in about 30 minutes. Honestly I love this thing, make sure to read the measurements and measure your space so you know if it'll work for you. I bought this to put inside my closet, underneath where I hang my clothes and it is absolutely perfect! It is VERY sturdy and all drawers glide easily and mine are stuffed, and they are still flush when closed.
Finally, a how to ,no nonsense, no drama , no over explanation video without the over priced imaculate staged background of seldom if ever used tools Thank you
Hi Kieth, here's a tip for you; when you are installing the slides start from the bottom, so that you can use gravity and the spacers to hold the slides in place, freeing you up to move around or use both hands to install the screws. Do the same again when adding the drawers to the already installed slides. If you like, you can dry fit the drawers with the spacers (doubled over blind slats in this case) in between to check your fit before committing to screws.
Good tip. In this case, I wanted the bottom free as a tool/junk shelf for the time being, but most people will probably be filling the cabinet with drawers, so thanks for sharing the tip.
@@KeithsTestGarage That's when you find an offcut that's the right height to use as a spacer for the bottom hole! Or a pile of offcuts, stacked to the right height And for wvreyone else... Don't worry about finding/making two equal offcuts, just use it once for each side.
having done woodworking and carpentry for a living I guess that makes me a pro. My pro tip would be to do as you say- work from the bottom up, wherever you want the bottom drawer to be. When minutes = dollars, there's no way I'd go through 'setting' the drawers every single time- I would set them once at the bottom. I also would not install the drawer slides assembled, or one-at-a-time like this. The same 'reference edge' methodology can be used to stack them up the carcass and 'reference' from the drawer with that small combo square or a jig and time-efficiently get the all applied, then just slip them into the carcass. If that is accurate enough for inset drawers for hybrid carcass/built-in kitchen cabinets- and it is- it's accurate enough for everything else. Stacking up from the bottom avoids compounding errors
I made a couple quick and dirty clamp racks the other day. I think all in was an hour. I used my CNC to cut 1/4" slots into a piece of scrap plywood. I think it was around 6" wide by around 15" or so. And I CNC'd a rabbet into both ends. Then I took that piece and cut it in half on the table saw. Slapped a piece on back at 90 degs. Slapped some end pieces into the rabbets. BAM. Storage for I think 12 F-styles on each rack. I screwed them under the overhang on the right side of my CNC table.
I've had the chance to use this table a couple of times now. It's fun to whip out in front of people:) I can see what people are talking about when they say the legs are delicate, but they're design to support a "mostly" vertical load, not be torqued from the side or pushed back into place. If you just let the table open or close on it's own and don't force anything, it works great ru-vid.comUgkxyFZUPFEey-PuqsPMxqaykBhgA1LWxFHh Once it's set up, it's pretty solid. My only gripe would probably be related to the clamps provided. They're not the highest quality. They do the job, so no big deal, but they could be better. All in all, pretty cool gadget.
I was literally scared to make drawers. I know I must have watched 25-30 videos. I watched yours and it made sense. I was still a little worried but I jump in. I used your methodology on making drawers, they turned out perfectly. Thanks for sharing!👍🏼
I appreciate that everything you do has a purpose, there are no frills for a shop drawer, and it's all easy to understand for a woodworking pleb like myself!
“Little old lady” here who used to love woodworking. No longer have any of the fancy tool stuff. But with my couple of Kreg cutting jigs along with some pocket screws, I think I will be able to built the small cabinet I’ve been thinking about. Thanks!!
Great video thanks! In office work there's an expression, "analysis paralysis", and I agree this sort of approach is a good way to break that bad habit. Sometimes a pragmatic mindset of 'fast, cheap, and good enough' is better than perfectly engineered to tolerances of 1000ths of an inch.
You're a life-saver! I'm self-taught and just completed a structurally sturdy workbench. Next phase is drawers. Like yours, this isn't going to be pretty, it just needs to work. Looking forward to running away with this over winter break
Your wife telling you that you should tell people you make nice things is something my wife would say. True love there. She's a keeper. Treat her well and you will go far.
I like your philosophy of were you put your emphasis and energy. I am amazed at how many videos discuss making shop items to improve ones shop but little on nice creative projects as you demonstrated. Something that needs to be functional for supporting production should not take up large amounts of time or money. It should make money. Your wife was very wise.
Man, thanks for this video. I really need a workbench with tool storage for my garage, and I definitely don’t need anything fancy. This looks a lot like the shelving in older tool trucks. One thing that could save even more time, you really just need a finger hole to pull a drawer out. You could easily stack all your drawer fronts of the same size, clamp them together, and drill a 1” hole through the middle, a bit above center and then zip a dremel-style sanding drum around the hole real quick. Thanks again, I’m feeling inspired by the simplicity of this project!
Keith, I have seen lots of these videos on drawers and slides, I absolutely appreciate yours the most, as there is no dragged out B.S. and is clearly & quickly explained ( and very well filmed, ) - This is now my "Go To " video on drawer slides. - Thank you so much.
man i looked for a long time today trying to find the simple and strong and almost ugly drawers! thank god i found the perfect video! amazing!!!!!! different strokes. fk nice things personally. i wanna see more of ur honey badger ways!
Wise wife. I also appreciate your approach to your shop. And I will emphasize “your shop”. I have watched many woodworking videos about making things for shop organization, but don’t see much, if any project builds. I enjoyed the video.
Thank you for this video. It is refreshing to learn common sense techniques and shortcuts like you've shown. I also appreciate the utilitarian approach to good enough with being obsessed with making them look like fine furniture. My shop could really benefit from about a dozen of these fine shelf units. I think I'll be referencing this video quite a bit.
Fantastic, love the down and dirty drawers for a workshop. I don’t need Nora Abrams level in my workshop, just functional. Thank you you gave me the incentive to make some simple drawers. References so much easier.
At last, I have finally found exactly what I have been looking for for about a year and a half!!! You have made drawer building and drawer slide placement so simple that even I can understand t. Thank you.
Just in time dude. For me gone are the days of the dado joints and all the intricate work I used to build my drawers. Heck, this is so simple. I’m about to start a set of 12 drawers and was looking for dado joinery equipment. No need to, my friend. Your video is great. Thanks
There is a time and place for perfection in life, and then there are the other times. When I'm making boxes for drawers, even "good" drawers for me, I use a similar butt-joint method. Works perfectly well with glue, screws, and precise cuts. NOBODY is inspecting how my drawers were built. I edgeband, paint, or poly the surface, usually three coats. I prefer my drawer slides to be nearer to the bottom. In the end, my finished drawers look damn good, they function well, and they hold up for years and years. They don't cost me a ton of time, fussing over dados and rabbits, when I'd rather be using that time to work on something else. Your video is very helpful, because it proves what can be done with a little reasoned thinking and a reduction in obsession.
YES! Exactly what I was looking for! Straight to the point with just the right amount of bonus subtle comedy. You are a genius. You know your stuff. Thank you for this. Only the second video I searched for and I don’t need to keep searching. Video editing is superb. The sound quality and audio bits with time lapse with pauses for the little things I end up running into like the kicking sound, the importance of the screw in the dead center, your preferences on adding a little space behind and why, the unique way of using things around you as off sets and references like the blinds for spacing, and I could go on. Seriously appreciate the time you put in making this video. Looking forward to seeing more. Loved that your wife gave you a note and you added your work. Gonna go build my drawer now! You rock!
@@KeithsTestGarage Yo Keith... thanks so much for this vid! Total neophyte here. I'm building some simple plywood drawer storage for my camper van. I'm going to follow your great directions for calculating sizing... ty! My question is, I don't have a power stapler gun or even a nail gun, and I'm assuming that screws are a no go for the plywood? So then I'm left to a regular hammer and nails? Will that be the best approach? It's not a massive project... 23" long by 17" wide by 24" tall... with 3 drawers. Would be easier if I could use screws, so I'm just checking. Gracias again. :)
@@uber2tuber I'd pre-drill and counter-sink for screws. Just be sure to pre-drill to the right length and diameter so the threads bite without destructively displacing the wood.
I’m with you! People spend way too much time and effort on shop cabinets drawers etc. It’s a friggin shop! Spend the time and effort on nicer projects or paying projects. Simple effective, affordable, and efficient.
Lot of wisdom and good ideas. If you are getting extra traffic today it’s because I’m bragging on your ‘badger’ approach and simple design. Nice content!
Thanks a lot! You removed a lot of the measuring mumbo-jumbo. Also, thank your better half for making you show your fine cabinetry. She's preempting some of the trolls!
There are a lot of good lessons in your video. My personal favorite philosophical moment is "screws are sharp". I'm sure that will come in handy later.
First time I have ever heard anyone talk about partitioning time and effort in a way that just clicked with me! I am terrible about basically being a perfectionist and managing how much I care about something.
@12:10 I've learned that self centering drill bit is paramount for any shelf installation. No matter how you try to be accurate, the slides move up or down. Also, I throw out those cheap screws that come with drawer slides. Just now worth my time fighting them. And you can use manual screw holding screwdrivers to get it started, but again, self centering gets rid of any guess work. Finally I've used spacer blocks that are referenced from the drawer slides so I can knock it out easily. But other times, I've used method like yours. Great video.
Keith - wanted to say thanks for the vid and the crown staple gun recco, just got one and it's made a huge difference. Holding power between that and a brad nailer is night and day!
I know I'm late to the party, but I found you down a rabbit hole. I love the simplicity. I'm in the middle of getting my own shop going and boy do I need drawers! That's the way I previously did drawers for my hubbie's armoir. Flat pack thing, 5mm euro screws to fit the existing holes, and measured with the whole thing stacked like you did. I made fancy cedar drawers with a dado bottom and finger- jointed sides, but the measurements so the drawers fit the existing case were spot on. Almost can't mess it up measuring this way as long as you remember there is a front and back to measure depth, and 2 sides + the two slides to measure the width. Was considering a drawer front, but why when it's enclosed in a closet?
First time watching your videos so your wife was right....I appreciated seeing what else you can do so I’ll be watching a lot more of your videos. Appreciate the “we’re not building a Swiss watch” approach to these shop drawers
Wow - you just desensitized this diy-er to making drawers. I've only ever installed 2 scary-looking industrial-strength metal drawer slides just like yours (I bought 2 for my crazy medicine cabinet mirror/door, which worked fine with only one slide, so I left well enough alone and used the second for a tall spice rack/cutting board pull-out). They both work, even the spice thing which is probably overloaded and supporting a significant torque (because *cutting boards* ), but now I see it is in fact possible to install *2* on the same project and have them both work. Thank you very much :-D
awesome measurements - ref edges and window blinds 🤣. Definitely a good way to look at things - functional for the shop to make more time for nicer things.
Man finally something easy to follow, thanks for the video, I just built a drawer for a shop cabinet that I had forever and it took me 2 days and many trips to the hardware store for the drawer sliders, thanks again
Just came across your video... Very well made, great editing. I am a budding wood worker. Gathering tools as I need them. At 60 yrs old, I just remodeled our kitchen, enjoyed every minute. I am an orthodontic laboratory tech by day. Can't wait to play with power tools when I retire. I will be looking up your channel to see your other great vids..., keep up the great work! Thank you!
I needed to hear this. I get caught up in trying to make shop equipment so perfect to the point that most of it NEVER GETS COMPLETED! I need to keep it simple and complete the project. Thanks!
I’m in a process for civilizing the unruly mess of my shop. It’s primarily out of hand from a lack of places to put things away. This method of draw creation will be a big help. 👍
Great video. Found myself relating to being overly obsessive with builds like the tape holder. Maybe a good time to relook at that. Love your dry sense of humor. Keep making great videos.
Keith, I love your practical viewpoint on things. OK, we are making shop draws, not cabinets for the space shuttle, so lets just keep it simple. I often find myself spending too much time on the things that don't matter, thus eating into my time for the things that do matter. Thanks for reminding me about how to prioritize my time. Plus you showed me a few great tricks I will use for all my projects. Thanks!!!!.
I watch a lot of you-tube material on 1.25 speed to reduce the waffle and artistic noise. Not needed with KTG. Solid content so had to subscribe. Well done mate (translation from UK:"cool dude")
Great video! I have built kitchen cabinets before and used all of the proper and fancy techniques and then later built a chest of drawers for my garage and used some of those techniques but never added faces to the drawers. Now, I am rebuilding my garage and plan to make many cabinets and some drawers to keep everything enclosed as I do mostly metal fabrication and grinding dust and dirt make a mess of anything in the open. This woodworking project will be all about building a decent looking solution that is strong and easy to build while keeping my budget low. While I am OCD, I have also learned to pick and choose my battles. My shop cabinets can look nice without being custom kitchen quality. HD prebuilt and unfinished cabinets would be fine, but I will need various custom sizes and I'm sure I can build them for less money than buying prebuilt. You showed exactly what I wanted to see and the video was to the point without a bunch of filler. It will certainly help me to meet my goals for building shop cabinets.
I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've ever pressed the like button on youtube. You're awesome. Thanks for the informative video without 20min of nonsense
Thanks for this. Stay tuned - I'm working on my long-term drawer strategy video now. Your message was timely, as I frequently look back at the gobs of time I spend reviewing/cutting/redoing for clarity and wonder if anybody appreciates it, or if people would rather just sit back and watch a long video.
@@KeithsTestGarage It’s not long videos that are the problem, it’s the incessant AGGRESSIVE chatter from douchebag bro carpenters trying harder to establish their “personal brand” than to pass on useful information. Just as bad are the videos that ONLY show the work without first indicating what the goal is, leaving you guessing (or skipping to the end to find that the finished product is a poorly thought out useless thing). What I like is either (1) calmly informative or (2) meditative. Some chitchat is OK as long as the noise isn’t drowning out the signal. For (2), I want to know what the build is at the outset; “Simple cabinet doors made with elaborate customs built tools” or “Cool circular saw crosscut jig made from leftover chicken bones” is fine. There’s one guy who literally uses misleading thumbnails and doesn’t say what he’s building until the end. I hate that guy.
6:00 in made me post. I have not seen your videos before and I took this as my Shop not my end product. I like the video at this point and think the rest will be as entertaining and interesting 🤔 thanks. Yeah yeah 1 year old videos is my thing.
I love this. It's always nice to have shop furniture that's furniture grade, and that can be a great way to develop and maintain skills for making "nice things", but most shop furniture gets the living crap beat out of it on a regular basis, so there's nothing wrong with making it cheap, simple, and ugly. NOTE: Your shop drawers are not ugly at all, even though they're cheap and simple, they're elegant and sleek. Two things: 1) For the drawer fronts - if you're cutting the handles with a bandsaw anyway, mark one, stack them all together, wrap some tape around the stack to hold it solid, and cut them all at once. Simpler, easier, and the edges of most of them will be cleaner and require less sanding, because the ones in the middle of the stack won't have tear-out problems. 2) When installing the drawers, if you work from the bottom up, gravity will hold them down against the spacers, freeing up both your hands and ensuring that they won't wobble after you get that first screw into place. If you're set on working from the top down to maintain a perfect space between the top drawer and the cabinet top... turn the whole cabinet upside-down while you install the drawers, and let gravity be a shop tool that works for yourather than an enemy that works against you.
First time watching your videos, and I loved this. I finally am building my “dream shop,” and I find I’m spending way too much time building storage. It will be a year before I can build anything other than shop stuff at this pace. I’m going to shift to quick and easy for my shop. Thanks.
Thanks for the video. This demystifies slides and making a drawer. I like that you shown that you don't need to be a cabinet maker to make the drawers and they don't need to be anything fancy. As my brother would say, it's a drawer...your not building a watch. I'm going to give this a try.
Thanks! I'm a fan of your channel BTW. You directly inspired me in a particular way when you rationalized doing things nicely by saying "because that's what I like." I'm typing this comment on a nice figured Cherry desk I made last weekend. My first thought was "maybe I should save that Cherry for something else." then I recalled your comment and decided "I'm using that Cherry doggone it because that's what I like!"
Keith that is awesome my friend I'm so glad to hear. and I'm so sincere when I say I love the fact that you like things organiz. And congratulations on the Cherry desk. Make sure you put it out there so I can see it. I would love to. if you haven't yet check out my majestic butterfly and tell me what you think I would love to hear from you. And thank you so much from Doug
Love it dude, I like the mentality behind I would rather be spending time making really nice things that aren’t drawers while still providing form and function. Amazing dude really enjoying going through your content!
What a coincidence, these are drawers I thought of making today!! Just simple and easy drawers with an opening like the one you have in the video to open it.
I usually like to see something more than butt joints, but these look very nice! These simple instructions are very good and helpful to those who struggle with math. I have an upcoming shop makeover this spring (if lumber prices have come down that is), and I will be building dozens of drawers. I finally succumbed to the realization, if I do dovetails for each drawer, it may take me a year to finish them, lol. These look very nice and just may go this route instead. Maybe dovetails for the two drawers that will be attached to the upper cabinets. That is only 14 drawers! Count me as a new subscriber and thank you for showing me that butt joints can be done to look very nice!
I LOVE to build things using surface references. This is actually fundamental knowledge of engineering and most of the time greatly simplifies the process and reduces time. And yes, you have to check your measurements once or twice when you use spacers. The only thing I would have done differently - make facia full width instead of sides. Since you’re not putting any faces on the cabinets.
Yeah the only reason I did the fascia inset was to reduce # of trolls who’d insist fascia on front would pull the staples out. Some cabinets of drawers have full width fronts and none have broken.
