Cabinetry Workshop

Build a Whole Drawer Box Without Changing Your Table Saw Setup

intermediate Tools: table saw, dado stack
▶ Watch the instagram video by @ryders_custom_creations

The Problem

Building drawer boxes normally means a run of separate table saw setups — one for the rabbets on the ends, another for the dados that take the front and back, another for the groove that holds the bottom. Every change is a chance to be off by a hair, and with a stack of drawers to build, the resetting takes longer than the cutting. Small setup errors compound into boxes that don't sit square.

The Technique

The quarter-quarter-quarter system gets rid of the resetting entirely. Every cut in the box uses the same three numbers:

  • A 1/4" dado stack
  • Raised 1/4" above the table
  • Fence set 1/4" from the dado

Build the box from 1/2" plywood — Baltic birch or ApplePly, which actually measure a true 1/2" rather than the undersized nominal stuff. With that single setup you cut:

  1. The rabbets on the ends of the pieces that form the corner joints.
  2. The matching dados that receive them.
  3. The joint for the bottom — cut a rabbet on a 1/2" plywood bottom the same way you did the front and back pieces, rather than dropping a thin panel into a groove.

Then glue up and check for square.

Using 1/2" ply for the bottom instead of the usual 1/4" is what makes these boxes so stout — the drawer will carry more weight than the slides under it are rated for, so the hardware fails before the box does.

Pro tip: The real principle behind the name is that the cut is exactly half the thickness of your material. It's "quarter-quarter-quarter" because the stock is 1/2". If you're working in a different thickness, set the dado width, height, and fence offset to half that thickness and the system still works.
Pro tip: This lives or dies on true-dimension plywood. Nominal "1/2-inch" sheet goods from a big box store are often closer to 15/32", which throws the half-thickness relationship off and leaves your joints proud or loose. Measure the sheet before you set the dado.
Safety note: Dado stacks remove a lot of material at once and can't be used with a standard riving knife or blade guard. Use a push stick and featherboards, keep your hands well clear of the cut, and make sure the stack is properly seated and the arbor nut tight before you start.
▶ Watch the instagram video by @ryders_custom_creations