I purchased 3/4" bamboo plywood from Cali Bamboo. In spite of the hefty freight fee, it was still cheaper than buying locally. Bamboo plywood isn't cheap, though: at just over $200/sheet, including shipping, mistakes with this material are expensive!
using the Domino mortiser |
I decided to tackle the project by rough-cutting one sheet of 3/4" bamboo plywood into 4 24x48"sheets. I made the cuts using a Festool TS75 plunge saw and its guide rail. The huge 8x4' sheets are way to big for my table saw. i was worried about the squareness of the cuts with the plunge saw. As will most things Festool, however, I was pleased with the results of using the plunge saw & track. I cut Domino mortises in the edges of the bottom panel, and along the bottom of the inside face of each side panel.
Then, I used the original chest's gouged drawer dividers as templates to cut the 5/8" MDF I was going to use for my dividers. Why MDF? Well, the original's drawers were made with MDF, and the rest of the original case Including the original dividers) was made of fiberboard laminated with melamine. Since we were upgrading the outer case from fiberboard & melamine to Bamboo, but still working on a budget, I upgraded the fiberboard dividers to MDF, but not all the way to bamboo. As it turns out, 5/8" MDF isn't easy to find. If you're in Boston, try Boulter Plywood. The guys there are really nice (if in a hurry!), and they'll deliver, usually the same day. They charge $40 to deliver small orders, but it's well worth it.
The, using some 4-foot cabinet clamps, I assembled the bottom and side panels, and then fit each original drawer with its original runner and new divider. Of course, the dividers were too tall, and both the top and bottom panels too wide. But this way, I was able to account for the slight deviations in each drawer, stacking them together first, THEN cutting the case panels to final size.
the Festool TS75 plunge saw and track make laser-straight cuts |
Here you can see the dry assembly. From here, I plan to mark and then cut the case parts to proper size. A back piece, made of MDF and sized to the inner dimensions of the case, will be mortised-into the case panels, giving the whole thing extraordinary strength against racking.
The view from the top rear - fitting assembly |
-isaac
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