Drawer Bottoms

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grbmds

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Has anyone used 1/4" hardboard (Masonite?) for drawer bottoms. These drawers are for workshop benches, not quality furniture. It seemed like I could save a little money over using 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood.
 
hardboard is pretty weak.it's basically heavy cardboard.  not even as strong as mdf.  and if it gets wet it's trash.
 
Hardboard will sag with time at 1/4" thickness, I would use plywood.

Jack
 
1/4" melamine might be a good option
Also, regardless of what you use, you can glue a couple rips of ply in the recessed area underneath for extra support
 
1/4" hardboard and masonite are not the same beast, hardboard is only hardened on one side and is essentially stiff pressed paper. 1/4" masonite is hard to find as it was no longer manufactured here due to environmental concerns.  Masonite is tempered all through the sheet and is quite hard.  It mostly is found only through industrial users.
 
Yup, I'd skip the hardboard  for drawer bottoms.  You don't necessarily need to go with Baltic birch  for shop drawers though. Have a look at other types of plywood that might do the job for less.

Seth
 
You want TEMPERED hardboard

Hardboard is also known as high density fiberboard which is stronger than medium density fiberboard (MDF).  "Masonite" is a brand name.  Tempered hardboard is coated with linseed oil and then baked which increases in strength, water resistance, etc

I commonly use 1/4" tempered hardboard in door panels and drawer bottoms and I get it at my local lumberyard
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I would use tempered hardboard which I think is reasonably strong. Aesthetically, of course, it would be better to use Baltic Birch, just because it is consistent with the rest of the drawer even though no one except me would know. I may look for luan (plywood I assume), but I found the Home Depots and Lowe's around where I live generally don't have much of a selection except whatever is used for construction. I can get other at either the Woodcraft I go to (which has a great selection of high quality wood) or another, non-chain woodworking store. Both are an hour away and I was looking for a fast solution as I realized I don't have any 1/4" Baltic big enough for 2 drawers (actually 4 or 5 because I will be making 2, maybe 3 more). On a positive note. . . I was very happy with Domino results. It was fast once I got through the initial hesitancy of the tool being unfamiliar to me and the results were great. I haven't glued it yet, but the fit was unbelievable and square and that was only using marks and the cursor to locate the mortises in all pieces.
 
I have been using 1/4 tempered hardboard as flooring, it is what they use as flooring in many theaters and in many of drawers in my workshop. The problem is finding somebody who carries it just like high density fiber board to create a mft style table top.
 
elfick said:
my only concern, assuming these are the same drawers you mentioned in http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/number-of-dominos-for-deep-drawer/ , would be that you'd be tempted to load a 10" drawer past the 1/4" hardboard's capacity...
Click to expand...

Could do that. Also, I'm thinking that, since I made the drawer box from 18mm Baltic Birch, why would I go cheap on the bottoms? So, I will just wait till I get some place to buy some more 1/4" Baltic and use that. It's worked great on other workshop drawers I have made, so, in the end, why not stick with what has worked. I was never sorry I made the other drawers with 3/4 Baltic (although I did that because it was easier to joing with pocket holes than the thinner stuff). So, thanks for the advice and suggestions. As usual, no reason to cheapen something only to regret it later.
 
grbmds said:
elfick said:
my only concern, assuming these are the same drawers you mentioned in http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/number-of-dominos-for-deep-drawer/ , would be that you'd be tempted to load a 10" drawer past the 1/4" hardboard's capacity...
Click to expand...

Could do that. Also, I'm thinking that, since I made the drawer box from 18mm Baltic Birch, why would I go cheap on the bottoms? So, I will just wait till I get some place to buy some more 1/4" Baltic and use that. It's worked great on other workshop drawers I have made, so, in the end, why not stick with what has worked. I was never sorry I made the other drawers with 3/4 Baltic (although I did that because it was easier to joing with pocket holes than the thinner stuff). So, thanks for the advice and suggestions. As usual, no reason to cheapen something only to regret it later.
Click to expand...

I don't know how close you are to the city but Wood World of Chicago is awesome.  Huge selection of wood and Festools!
 
I'm actually closer to Madison, WI. Also there is a great WW store in Sycamore, IL which is also only an hour. Both have great selections of wood and various sizes of Baltic Birch. Sometimes their prices can be a little high but, I also have gotten good deals there. Anyway, I have sources plus some I've never even tried which are within an hour or so in southern Wisconsin. I live closer to Wisconsin than Chicago in Illinois. I was just trying to use up some stuff I had but I'm convinced I would be sorry and will just wait till I get up to Madison again to finish the drawers. I will be more satisfied doing it the way I think is best rather than the way I will save a little bit of money.
 
I thought I'd bump this old thread as I picked up a half sheet of 1/2" Baltic birch for a couple of drawer sides.

I'll have plenty of material and I was thinking that I could save some dough and use the 1/2" Baltic birch also for the bottoms.

I realize it's overkill for the bottoms, but the alternative is to spend more money on 1/4" stock.

Is there any reason not to use my leftover 1/2" Baltic birch for drawer bottoms?
 
I use 1/2" for most all of my drawer construction including bottoms.  Sometimes I use 3/4" for the box but all my bottoms are 1/2"

This way I only have to stock 2 thicknesses instead of 3  [cool]
 
This may cause the true craftsmen to shudder, but for shop drawers I use 3/4" birch ply for both sides and bottoms, and pocket screws to hold them together. Reason being is I have a lot of machine tools and the contents of a 4" drawer can end up weighing 50-60#'s. The deeper drawers ~12" hold power tools, a small anvil, vises, arbor press, etc. & still no issues with weight.

I just flush the bottom with the lower edge of the sides and pocket screw into them. No need for dadoes, everything is a butt joint.

Assuming 24" cabinets you can get ~4 drawers worth of material from a sheet, so each one costs around $10-12. I guess it is a mite crude but they are bulletproof and fast to construct.

RMW   

 
I don't disagree with the 3/4" for shop drawer sides, but why wouldn't Dominos work for the joints? I still think dadoing the bottoms in is the strongest. I've used 1/4" drawer bottoms dadoed in with success. I doubt it would hold 100 lbs which my slides are rated at but it does hold a lot of heavy tools and one drawer is 10" deep.

I made drawers with pocket hole joints on the sides but found that Dominos were almost as easy and the drawers were a bit squarer since there was no slippage when I assembled them like I sometimes get with pocket holes. Either way works though.
 
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