Recently, I've been trying to optimize my existing storage shelves, moving things pertinent to woodworking near the workbench and things that are infrequently used to the attic. As part of this I wanted to do something about a large pile of completely unorganized hardware on one corner of a shelf.
This is really just an overflow area; I have screws, nails, and other hardware stored in the hot water heater closet in a small workbench with drawers. Originally, I thought I might build some type of parts organizer. It would be a little wooden cabinet with a bunch of drawers. Now, I love building drawers as much as the next guy (probably a lot more, actually), but I decided this was really overkill. So I built a couple of small drawers to hang under the existing shelf.
I had some scrap 1/2 inch birch plywood kicking around, so I used that for the drawer carcasses. Usually I build drawers with just simple rabbet joints at the corners, but since all the stock is only 1/2 inch thick I decided to make these with tongue and dado joints to give them a little extra strength. This is a design for drawers I've seen used before, but never done myself. I figured this would be a good time to test it out.
I cut the joints all using my table saw sled and a stop block. I cut the dadoes in multiple passes with my standard blade. I cut the tongues in the same way. I cut a groove in the back, front, and sides to hold the bottom, which is 1/4 inch plywood - also scrap.
Since all the parts of the drawers are plywood, I glue in the bottoms on assembly. An added bonus of this type of drawer construction compared to my usual rabbets is that you only need two clamps per drawer for glue up.
These drawers hang from T-shaped blocks attached to the bottom of the shelf - similar to this.
I make the T-shaped blocks all on the tablesaw out of scrap pine 2x4. I rip them to 2 1/2 inches wide to start, then make a couple of rip cuts using the fence to define the vertical part of the T shape.
Then I turn the block up on edge and make two more rip cuts to define the horizontal parts of the T shape.
I take the squares that I ripped off of these T blocks and attach them to the sides of the drawers as the runners.
When I start hanging these up to test them out, I quickly realize that I didn't think about the existing shelf brackets. My drawers are two wide for them both to fit between the brackets. I decided to just take one of the brackets down for now.
I squared up the first T block to the wall, and then made the rest of the blocks parallel by using the drawers themselves.
I cut a 1/16 inch shim on the table saw. For such a thin strip, I
usually cut it to the waste-side of the blade just to make it a little
safer.
It takes me a couple of rounds of measuring and moving the fence to get the shim just the right size.
I then take this shim and attach it temporarily with just a few tiny drops of wood glue to the drawer, and then press the next T block up against it to determine the correct position for the block. Once it's mounted, I take the drawer back out and pop off the shim before the glue dries with a chisel. I repeat this for the other drawer.
Then I make a couple of false fronts for the drawers out of some spruce I had on hand. I planed it down to 1/2 inch, just because I thought the full 3/4 inch looked to thick for these relatively small drawers.
I attach the fronts with glue. I had some cutoffs saved from making the handles for my toolbox drawers (article coming soon), so I used those as the handles for these drawers. I glued them on as well.
I put 2 coats of water borne polyurethane on the hangers and the drawers, and this project is complete!
If you looked at that pile of hardware in the first picture and thought it wouldn't all fit in these two drawers, you were right. As you can see in the last picture, I still have one bag of random hardware left. Guess I need some more drawers!
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