How to Build a Tool Drawer

Building a Drawer

• 1

  Measure the height, width and depth of the cabinet or desk opening where you want the drawer to go. The depth is the distance between the back of the opening and the front of the opening. If the opening has drawer slides installed, measure the width from one drawer slide to the other and the height from the drawer slide to the top of the opening. Otherwise, just measure the width from one side of the opening to the other and the height from the bottom of the opening to the top.

• 2

  Cut two 1-inch-thick boards so their heights equal the height of the opening minus 1/2 inch, and their widths equal the width of the opening.

• 3

  Cut two 1-inch-thick boards to fit the height of the opening as well as the depth of the opening minus 2 inches. The thickness of the front and back boards will account for the missing 2 inches of depth.

• 4

  Drill screw holes, spaced 2 inches apart, on each end of the front and back boards. Attach the front and back boards to the side boards with 2-inch wood screws to make the drawer’s frame.

• 5

  Cut a plywood sheet to fit the depth and width of the opening. This will be the drawer’s base. Nail the drawer base to the bottom of the drawer frame, using finishing nails.

• 6

  Fill nail and screw holes with putty and smooth it out with a putty knife to conceal the hardware. Paint or stain the drawer to match your furniture, if desired.

• 7

  Install drawer slides that match the existing slides in the cabinet or desk opening, using the hardware that comes with the slides. Follow package directions to determine whether to attach the slides to the bottom or sides of the drawer. If the cabinet or desk opening has no drawer slides installed, you may omit the slides. Many older wood drawers function perfectly without drawer slides.

• 8

  Install a commercial drawer pull to the front of the drawer to make it open easily. Use the hardware and instructions for your specific drawer pull to determine how to do this.

Adding Dividers to a Drawer

• 9

  Draw a scale plan for how you wish to divide your drawer, using graph paper. The average tool drawer has small grid-style partitions on one side to hold small hardware such as screws, nails, nuts and washers, and a large open space on the other side to hold hand tools such as hammers, pliers and screwdrivers. You may also wish to have larger partitions to separate your hand tools.

• 10

  Using a jigsaw, cut strips of plywood -- for purposes of this article, use 1/4-inch-thick plywood -- according to your plan so that each strip is 1/2 inch narrower than the height of the drawer and long enough to cover your desired divider space. For example, if your drawer is 24 inches wide, 20 inches deep and 6 inches high, and you want the dividers to cover half the drawer space, cut the front-to-back plywood separators 20 inches long and 5 1/2 inches wide, and the side-to-side separators 12 inches long and 5 1/2 inches wide.

• 11

  Cut slots in the plywood pieces where they intersect with other plywood pieces, using a jigsaw. Make the slots 1/4 inch wide and half as long as the height of the plywood pieces.

• 12

  Apply wood glue to the slots and slide the plywood pieces together to lock them in place and form your partitions. If you are only covering part of the drawer with a grid, you will have one front-to-back divider that forms the side of the grid, and it will remain unslotted. Attach it to the ends of the side-to-side grid boards with two finishing nails at each juncture.

• 13

  Place the plywood grid in your drawer and attach the ends to the edges of the drawer using wood glue. Once the glue dries, the drawer is ready to use.