"ideal" Drawer Depth?

[intjonmiller]

Thanks! That's just the look I'm going for, except that I'll have drawer fronts to keep dust (especially saw/router dust) out. I have a pretty good selection of drawer glides, mostly the 100-150 pound variety, but also some 36" 500 pound monsters. Four of them. I'm thinking I'll use those on some steel-reinforced drawers for material storage, since that's another major constraint for me.

A couple years ago my father was cleaning out his storage shed and gave me three fruit boxes full of drawer glides, well over 100 total. Almost all were Accuride brand, and only a couple were used. He got them from his father who apparently got them as part of a big auction shortly before he passed. I have put many to use in my shop, built a few things for the house, and traded a couple dozen pair for a 6" jointer. Now for the first time since getting them I'm going to need to buy a few more, but only because I have so much room for so many drawers, and many of what I have left are only 9-18" long.

 

[HBilly1022]

Thanks! That's just the look I'm going for, except that I'll have drawer fronts to keep dust (especially saw/router dust) out. I have a pretty good selection of drawer glides, mostly the 100-150 pound variety, but also some 36" 500 pound monsters. Four of them. I'm thinking I'll use those on some steel-reinforced drawers for material storage, since that's another major constraint for me.

A couple years ago my father was cleaning out his storage shed and gave me three fruit boxes full of drawer glides, well over 100 total. Almost all were Accuride brand, and only a couple were used. He got them from his father who apparently got them as part of a big auction shortly before he passed. I have put many to use in my shop, built a few things for the house, and traded a couple dozen pair for a 6" jointer. Now for the first time since getting them I'm going to need to buy a few more, but only because I have so much room for so many drawers, and many of what I have left are only 9-18" long.

Nice score on the glides. Too bad you ran out of the longer ones.

I like your bench and that you are putting drawers under it. I really appreciate having them under my lathe and will soon (ya right) build a bench with drawers for the mill drill. I hate having my milling accessories spread out in the shop. Seems like I spend half my time looking for things. At least if they were under the machine it would limit the search area.

The reason I waited for the drawer faces was that I had some turning that was gnawing at me and I had to do that first. I've almost finished that project and the drawer faces will follow, barring any other priorities that arise.

Make sure you post pics of the finished bench. I'm sure it will be very nice.

 

[kd4gij]

No matter how you build them now, Down the road you will wish you would of done it different.

 

[intjonmiller]

Make sure you post pics of the finished bench. I'm sure it will be very nice.

Of course! I expect to have a detailed post about it when I'm done. I haven't done a good job of taking detailed photos of the process, but that should be clear to most people. I haven't seen anything else quite like I'm doing here. Part of that is surely because there are advantages to having dedicated machine stands with space between them, especially for the mill, but that's not an option for me. I think what I've come up with in the semi-secretive 4th bank I mentioned earlier (reserved for a special purpose) is fairly innovative. Assuming it works out as I plan it will be awesome. If not I'll just fill it up with more drawers.

No matter how you build them now, Down the road you will wish you would of done it different.

No doubt. I'm just trying to give myself the best chance of not needing to change them any time soon. Fortunately drawer glides can be moved, and wooden drawers can be cut down (height anyway) easily on a table saw. Also not very difficult to make them taller, or to just give them more vertical space without changing the height of the sides.

I think what I'm looking for, more than anything else, is probably along the lines of "I find that I don't use anything deeper than 8", or "I find that I don't have enough shallow drawers", or "I find that I have more shallow drawers than I need and wish I had more deep drawers instead", or whatever the cases may be. Since I do need to order some more drawer glides I'm just trying to get an idea ahead of time how many to do. I have enough already for six drawers, though they are 22" instead of the more ideal 24". Even if I made them all fairly deep I'd need at least six or eight more sets.