# How to square an out of square drawer?



## jasemine111

I made a couple of drawers for my dresser out of square. one is about a 1/6inch out, i notice that with a drawer front attached it is not flush with the face frame is there anyway to correct this? short of building a new drawer, or do i just live with it? Any suggestions appreciated.


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## mdntrdr

You could try heating the glue joints while increasing pressure with a diagonal clamp.

If they are false fronts then hitting the front of the box with a belt sander may help. :smile:


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## woodnthings

*What he said..*

and get yourself a few true squared blocks of wood as deep as the drawer and clamp them in the corners to maintain a square, or use corner clamps that are self squaring. A simple square piece of plywood can be used as a checking gauge or a tri-square.  bill


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## GeorgeC

How does the drawer slide in and out? Does it have slides or is it wood on wood? Depending there may be a way to hide the problem without actually fixing it.

George


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## TGRANT

What is the drawer bottom made out of? A square piece of plywood, or even one that is slightly out of square in the opposite direction, can rescue an out of square drawer. Also, the problem might be the drawer runners. If you haven’t checked that, see if that’s the problem. Sorry to mention what might be obvious, but I’ve overlooked more mundane things than that.:smile:


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## Willie T

If you're using glides, loosen the screws on the side not touching in front, and move the glide rearward. Refasten.


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## Big Dave

I used to work for a cabinet shop and I don't think they ever built a square drawer. We would mount the front on the drawer then put the slides in and leave them loose at the rear. We would then insert the drawer and taking clamps make sure the front was flush to the face frame then attach the back of the drawer slides wherever they hit. No one was ever the wiser.


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## cabinetman

The drawer could be out of square causing the problem. There are other reasons for the front of the drawer not seating.

The slides may not be mounted on the drawer or cabinet in the same places for left and right. IOW, a drawer slide may be too far forward or to the rear, likewise for the cabinet members. 

In inserting the drawers, the actual cabinet can be racked to the point where even if the drawer was square, the front will be off the leading edge of the cabinet. You can do a test by having the drawer in place, and one corner at a time at the point where the cabinet touches the floor, lift it slightly to rack the cabinet up. Do all four corners and one at a time, see if the drawer front seats on the cabinet.

It could simply be that the cabinet is just not sitting right causing an out-of-square condition for the drawers. The same test can be done for doors that don't sit just right on the face of a cabinet. Try this first before you go doing anything major to your drawers.












 







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## jasemine111

Thanks tgrant i have made 4 of them since i will put them to good use in the future.


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## jasemine111

thanks guys for the help, i found that the one drawer giving me problems is out of square, but was out of adjustment to the case too. i needed to tilt the drawer down a bit on one side. I used my 12 inch steel rule and as i checked for flush to face frame.... the drawer started out flush from top to bottom on the left side.. I checked for flush on the right side and it was out side the case and was more out at the top than the bottom. I made the adjustment by tilting the drawer down know just a little on the bottom right side i will have to sand. I think the wood was warped or cupped? or something


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