- The Wood Whisperer is sponsored by Powermatic and Titebond. One thing I've noticed with the way that I store things in drawers is that I don't always make
use of the vertical space. So a lot of times it's just things sitting on the bottom of the drawer with a bunch of airspace above it. So wouldn't it be cool if we could actually make use of that? Well, I was in my kitchen the other day and we're lucky to have a
couple of these organizers in there where if you slide back the top you reveal a bottom section, so there's essentially built-in
trays inside the drawers. So I figure why can't
we do that in the shop? So I tried to come up with a simple way to apply that to a shop drawer, but this is also something
you can do in your kitchen. All right, so let me show
you what it looks like. So here I've got all
of my writing utensils and even some room to expand back here. But if I move this tray back I've got some French curves, drawing aids, templates, things like that. So this was all stuff I
like to store together. The things that if I were
just to throw all this stuff into this wide open drawer it would be really inefficient,
stuff would be hard to find. But now it's perfectly organized, right? So to do this you're gonna have to do a little bit of surgery
to a preexisting drawer. Your strategy might be different if you're building
these drawers brand new. Let's start by destroying a drawer. I'm gonna cut out the top half of the back making a cut that's flush
with the inside face. I removed the top screw, but I still have a brad
nail to go through, so I use my hacksaw for that part. Then I can go back to the regular saw. I'm going about halfway down. Depending on how your
drawer is constructed you may have other obstacles to deal with. Just make sure that your
drawer doesn't completely lose all structural integrity by doing this. At the bottom of the cut I'll drill holes, so that I have a starting
point for my jigsaw. A piece of scrape helps prevent tearout when the bit punches through. I outfit my jigsaw with the smallest, highest tooth count blade that I own and start cutting along my line. The high tooth count helps prevent tearout with this plywood veneer. I can sand the inside and
smooth the cuts and edges. Now I'll cut some strips
of 1/4 inch plywood for our dividers and risers. The side risers should
be cut just a hair taller than the remaining back piece. That allows the tray to slide freely. The risers are cut to length
and then glued to the insides. Now I measure for the trays. The trays should be
about 1/16 of an inch shy from the measured width. The depth can be the
same as the drawer depth. The trays are super simple to make. I'll cut some scrap cherry
down to about 1/2 inch thick for the fronts and sides. And with the bottom cut to size I can measure for the long side pieces and attach them with glue and brad nails. Once both sides are attached I measure and cut the
front and back pieces and install them with glue and brads. This project was meant to be
just kinda one afternoon thing, so nothing fancy here. But the trays will be durable enough for their intended purpose. Don't judge. The inside edges get a little chamfer that makes it a little
bit easier on the fingers. Each tray is dropped in and sanded until the fit is what I need. Snug for the bottom and
sliding freely for the top. Keep in mind, you don't
really need a bottom tray. I made one, because I thought
it might make it easier to remove and modify grid
work that we'll install later. By the time I realized
I really didn't need it it was already made, so whatever. In order to easily slide the top tray back we're gonna need to carve
a small relief for fingers. I just use a rasp and
carve a little recess. As designed, the top tray will just tip when it's pushed more than halfway back, so I'll install a couple of
cleats to hold it in place. The paper just acts as a little spacer providing clearance for the tray. The inner grid work will totally depend on what you wanna store in there. I'm sketching mine out based
on my extensive collection of name tags and hairnets. The dividers are made from 1/4 plywood and will receive complementary notches where the pieces cross over. I mark everything out and
then head to the table saw. With the blade raised
to slightly over half the height of the dividers
I can cut the notches. The blade is only 1/8 of an inch wide so to simplify the second cut I just use a little shim. Some parts receive a notch
in the exact same location and I can cut all of
those at the same time. The pieces are then
assembled inside the tray. We really don't need
any glue or fasteners, just friction. Now let's fill this thing up. Am I the only one who clearly
loses his mechanical pencils before he even has a
chance to use the refills? So both trays are filled up and there's plenty of room to spare. (upbeat music) Ever wish you could have
more space in your drawers?
