My wife asked me to build 12 boxes to hide 1 gallon Mayo jars she is going to use to put flowers in for my Step Daughter's wedding next month.

This is the mock up in 3/4" softwood.

I've reduced the hardwood pieces to 1/2" thickness.

I'm ready to start building tomorrow

Edited Friday at 11:03 PM4 days by frenchwwr

That'll keep you out of trouble for a couple of hours!!

I'm looking to get more than a couple.

This has priority over lot of other "Honey Do List" items

Applying water-based finish to plywood is not as rewarding as oil-based on walnut, but is worth the effort (I guess!!). Two coats on most surfaces. I didn't focus much on the bottoms with 2nd coat.

Hope to get started with drawer slides today. Getting them all installed would be great...but trying to keep expectations in line with current skill and ability.😉

Alot of! Right Barb?

Not smooth sailing, but weathered the storm (for the most part). 😬 All six are in place waiting on face fronts. I did have an issue where I had to add 3D shims - guessing case squareness (or not square!) issue.

Relieved to be at this point!

And, I will not be interviewing for any cabinet shop jobs in the foreseeable future. 🤣

I can't remember ever installing drawer slides without a shim somewhere! 😀

12 minutes ago, JWD said:

I can't remember ever installing drawer slides without a shim somewhere

I didn't even know that was a thing to do with slides! YouTube makes it all look so simple and quick. Not reality for me. Persistence wins! 😉

12 minutes ago, BB1 said:

I didn't even know that was a thing to do with slides! YouTube makes it all look so simple and quick. Not reality for me. Persistence wins! 😉

Yep. And if you are a creator who tries to leave it all in there so people can actually do the job, Youtube AND the Viewers will punish you for it.

Edited Saturday at 11:39 PM3 days by Handfoolery

As most slides have the screw holes down their center, I install on centerlines. Using a front view I first draw where the draw boxes are, then mark where the center is on each side. Get my CAD software to them mark across where those centers are on the cabinet inner face. Add dimensions up from the bottom, print out the view with dimensions to each centerline, and take that sheet to the shop. Measure and mark up the front inside, then transfer those marks across to the back edge. Repeat on the other side. Screw half the slide to the carcass centerlines, screw the other half of the slide to the centerline on the drawer box. So far after a few thousand drawers on student projects that system has worked every time.

I've used quite a few shims on those myself. Sometimes it's not the drawer but the cabinet. Even if it was perfectly square, fastening it to a wall that might not be can twist it a little.

15 hours ago, BB1 said:

I didn't even know that was a thing to do with slides! YouTube makes it all look so simple and quick. Not reality for me. Persistence wins! 😉

Youtube is rarely reality for anyone. Those people are selling ad time. 😁

Ah...Cmon @JWD ! 😯 .....

59 minutes ago, JWD said:

Youtube is rarely reality for anyone. Those people are selling ad time. 😁

... there is much you can learn from YouTube posts. What about Paul Sellers, Frank Klausz, Wood and Shop, and many many more?

51 minutes ago, MrRick said:

Ah...Cmon @JWD ! 😯 .....

... there is much you can learn from YouTube posts. What about Paul Sellers, Frank Klausz, Wood and Shop, and many many more?

He did use the qualifier "rarely", the ones you listed are the rare ones. 😊

50 minutes ago, Wichman3 said:

He did use the qualifier "rarely", the ones you listed are the rare ones. 😊

Yup.

I've also learned a lot about finishing both concrete and stucco from youtubers - pro's explaining why they make it look easy rather than dilettante's getting an ego boost from making it look easy through editing.

The trick to learning from youtube is a skeptical outlook.

Edited Sunday at 06:06 PM2 days by JWD

Getting back to the subject - shimming drawer slides at the moment - I keep a variety of handy shim material around. Everything from beer carriers (or cereal box if one isn't a beer drinker) to 1/16" veneer. Thin waxy cardboard like butter comes in is a good one too, thinner than the cardboard from beer carriers.

I rarely need thick shims these days, but I remember some pretty ugly situations when I was learning in a paid shop. Over 1/8" was possible. Fred is right about cabinets getting tweaked when they get attached to walls. Usually you can be very careful during installation and shim the box rather than the drawer, but no always. I've also had to come along and fix the drawers on stuff that others installed and tweaked with wild abandon.

Last kitche I did required no adjustments of the drawers/doors once I'd put in the boxes. Combination of a really well framed house that was plumb and square on 16" centers and careful box installation. I think commercially made boxes might be better too, on the whole. As careful as we are when building the boxes.

I had printed 3D shims of various thicknesses for another project. Have quite a few left so just used a couple of those for the two slides I needed to "adjust." Pretty easy to insert and can be drilled through with no problem. Although not hidden, the shims look OK when in place.

I guess I could reprint narrower ones of the same thickness and then they would pretty much disappear.