# Russian birch plywood dovetailed drawers?



## robk1 (Jan 18, 2007)

Hi, Im making kitchen cabinets and I bought 1/2" russian birch plywood for my drawers. I was originally just gonna use lap joints or pocket screws, but as my project progresses I realized I want the quality of the drawers to match the rest of the cabinets...so I went out and bought a PC 4212 jig. The birch is beautiful 11 ply wood-can i use this for dovetailed drawers? Does anyone else use this for their drawers? The industrial plywood supplier I got it from told me a lot of the production shops in the area use it...And finally, any preference as far as banding the top of the drawer?


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I have used Baltic Birch on quite a few projects and love it. I would like to see how it looks with dovetails. It never even crossed my mind to dovetail the inside drawer corners when usinf Baltic Birch. Do it and show us.


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## Scott Newsom (Apr 18, 2007)

*Routing Baltic Birch*

I just bought the same DT jig, and I'm planning on trying it with some 5/8 Baltic Birch in the next few days. I've read elsewhere that to cut dovetails in plywood with a router, backer boards are an absolute necessity to help stop tearout. I confirmed that on some regular 3/4" plywood when I first got the jig, though I think the Baltic Birch will cut better because if the birch internal layers and better glueup with no voids.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

I have used the Russian birch 5/8" 11 ply for making dovetail drawers. It works but it is murder on the dovetail bits. To date I have sheared (snapped) more than 1/2 dozen bits. I am not pushing hard, just normal if not a bit slower than normal because of so many sheared bits. I find the edges of the Russ birch flake off a lot and can be problematic. I have switched over to Euro ply which is quite a bit more expensive but doesn't have the flaking problem. The tails on the drawers can delaminate but are still viable. I make my fit on the tight side and just pound them together with some glue. No need for clamps and you don't have to worry about splitting the wood. Go for it, but be warned about the bit snapping, have extras around.


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