Building cabinet style furniture can be a fun and challenging endeavor for the DIY. Whether it’s a nightstand, a buffet, an armoire, or any piece that has two plywood pieces adjoining, there are many options to hide the plywood edges. One of my favorite ways, corner support posts, adds a decorative touch, as well as providing additional structural support – and I think it even makes the joinery a little easier. You can use a contrasting wood to add a little interest to your piece, or if you are planning on painting the piece you can use standard construction lumber squared and cut down to size.
If you are using 1/2″ plywood, you can make a decorative corner support post from a piece of 2×2 lumber (which is actually 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″). The nice things about using corner support posts is that it actually allows you to use thinner plywood than if you are constructing your cabinets from just plywood. So you might even be able to use 3/8″ or 1/4″ plywood, depending on your application.
Below I provide a diagram, and also directions, for how to make a corner support post from a 2×2 for use with 1/2″ plywood. I also included an optional slot for using biscuit joinery if you don’t want to use nails to attach your panels.
If you are going to use biscuit joints to join the plywood panels to your corner support posts, start by running them through the table saw with the blade set to 3/4″ depth and your fence set to 5/16″. You will then need to make a corresponding cut 1/8″ deep 5/16″ in from the edge of your plywood.
If you want to just use wood glue and finish nails, you can skip that first step and making these because super easy! The only other cuts are a 1/2″ wide by 3/4″ deep rabbet cut on two opposite corners as shown in the diagram below. This cut is what will allow the plywood panel to slide in and lay flush with the exposed part of your corner support post. So you want to make certain the width matches your plywood panel.
That’s all it takes to make some decorative corner support posts. I hope you decide to incorporate these design elements into one of your future builds. I know I have a few projects coming up where I’ll use them again to add a bit of extra interest to my pieces.
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