Scooter67 Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 I have a couple of questions. I am making or good to attempt making a toy chest/organizer for my children. I was thinking of using 1/2 Baltic Birch Plywood and then painting it. Can I make dovetail joints in plywood or would I be better to use a butt joint and screw on the top? Second question is if I was going to use 1"x14" boards and not having a planer, could I find a cabinet maker to plane the board for me? I have never done that but I heard some where that some professional shops will plane a board for a fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairwoodworks Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 I have a couple of questions. I am making or good to attempt making a toy chest/organizer for my children. I was thinking of using 1/2 Baltic Birch Plywood and then painting it. Can I make dovetail joints in plywood or would I be better to use a butt joint and screw on the top? Second question is if I was going to use 1"x14" boards and not having a planer, could I find a cabinet maker to plane the board for me? I have never done that but I heard some where that some professional shops will plane a board for a fee. You can cut dovetail joints in plywood. I assume your 1x14" boards are solid wood. You might be able to find a fellow hobbyist who will plane them down. However a 14" board requires a 15" planer which is a pretty big machine. If you cut them down to less than 13", they will fit through a benchtop planer (which may be 12", 12-1/2", or 13" wide). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 My joint of choice with plywood is a dado. Easier than a dovetail and stronger than a butt joint. You can cut dadoes with a router and a straight bit, or with a table saw and a dado blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bywc Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 How do you make a Dado to join two pieces of wood at 90* at a corner? do you mean like a locked rabbet joint? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 How do you make a Dado to join two pieces of wood at 90* at a corner? do you mean like a locked rabbet joint? Ahh, for that I'd use a rabbet. A locked rabbet would be fine. Here's another trick. Since plywood often has an odd thickness (not exactly 3/4" or whatever the nominal size is), instead of trying to cut a dado / rabbet to match, you can cut shoulders onto the ply so that there is a "tongue" that it exactly 1/2" thick (or whatever you want). You could also do this to join two pieces at a corner with a dado. At a corner, I'd cut one shoulder on the outside (towards the corner). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOneHandedHandyMan Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Yeah, dovetailing plywood isn't really necessary. Rabbets or locked rabbet joints are a good choice and should save you some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kesac Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 I have a couple of questions. I am making or good to attempt making a toy chest/organizer for my children. I was thinking of using 1/2 Baltic Birch Plywood and then painting it. Can I make dovetail joints in plywood or would I be better to use a butt joint and screw on the top? Second question is if I was going to use 1"x14" boards and not having a planer, could I find a cabinet maker to plane the board for me? I have never done that but I heard some where that some professional shops will plane a board for a fee. Cabinet shops will plane your lumber. You might have to wait for them to get to it. I have seen people dovetail plywood. I would use a miter and biscuits if looks mattered. If not biscuits and glue are better than screws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter67 Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 You can cut dovetail joints in plywood. I assume your 1x14" boards are solid wood. You might be able to find a fellow hobbyist who will plane them down. However a 14" board requires a 15" planer which is a pretty big machine. If you cut them down to less than 13", they will fit through a benchtop planer (which may be 12", 12-1/2", or 13" wide). My toy organizer is a top and two sides with a middle shelf. Then on the middle shelf there is going to be three equal sized drawers that can be slid in and out. Under the middle shelf, there will be two larger size drawer with casters so they can be rolled around. The width of the top, shelf, and sides are 12" so I was thinking plane a 1X14 board and by the time it is perfectly flat and have squared sides it will be really close to the 12" that I need. As far as the corners goes I was either going to use dovetails or a rabbet joint done with my table saw and dado blade. Since this will take some abuse from kids I was going to make it out of plywood or pine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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