# Drawer bottom material



## aarongough (Mar 1, 2013)

Hey all!
First post here! Looking forward to joining another great community!

My question is: does MDF creep the same way that particleboard does under constant load, therefore making it unsuitable for drawer bottoms? I assume this is the case, but I want to double check before I spend all the extra money on birch plywood.

I am building a series of tool chests for my small machine shop. The carcasses and drawers will be made from good quality 3/4" birch ply. I'm using a tongue and dado joint for the front and back of the drawers, and then a false front in addition.

I had originally planned to use 1/2" birch ply for the drawer bottoms, but today when I was knocking together the proof-of-concept drawer I didn't have any on hand so I used 1/2" MDF instead.

The MDF held up better than I had expected during my tests, so I thought maybe I should use it in the final drawers.

I've attached some photos of the drawer prototype. I had intended to test it to destruction, but even with over 200lbs in it, it still ran smoothly and there was no noticeable sag! I also 'tested' the tongue and dado joints with the aid of a couple of burly co-workers and even a hammer... No issues there. I'm using the 100lb full-extension drawer slides from Lee Valley, and I'm very impressed so far! They're *much* better than the slides on the other tool cabinets that I bought, that's for sure!

I'm looking forward to getting these chests built! Thanks for your help!

-Aaron


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## aarongough (Mar 1, 2013)

Forgot to attach the photos!

In the first photo you can see my extremely classy test fixture.

In the second you can see where I installed the 'indestructible' drawer on a friend's bench as a favor. Third photo is detail of the tongue and dado joint.


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