stuck drawers

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:21 am

I make a lot of dressers using various materials. I give them away or sometimes sell them. A while back for the first time I made one out of solid wood. Never had wood movement problems before but I normally use a lot of veneer plywood or MDF.

This is the second Minnesota winter where the drawers on this dresser stick (the drawers have grooves that slide on wood runners). I would have thought they would stick during the hot humid summer when the wood swells but no they stick when the air in the house is drier due to our forced air furnace.

I'm in the process now of studying just what's moving and and sticking. Should be a lot of lessons for me in the process.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:29 pm

Have ya tried waxing(candle wax) the runners?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:04 pm

Wood moves as moisture in the air ebbs and flows!;)

Major direction is tangent to the annual rings.

Minor direction is 'normal' to the rings.

Negligible movement 'along' the rings.

garys · Post by **garys** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:37 pm

[quote="JPG40504"]Wood moves as moisture in the air ebbs and flows!]

Yep, that is the nature of real wood. I find that it can be minimized by sealing all sides and ends of every piece of wood with urethane when building a project. This way, moisture can't so readily get into and out of the wood and cause it to change size.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:15 pm

garys wrote:Yep, that is the nature of real wood. I find that it can be minimized by sealing all sides and ends of every piece of wood with urethane when building a project. This way, moisture can't so readily get into and out of the wood and cause it to change size.

And after cutting into it?:rolleyes:

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:19 pm

First, gotta determine what part of the drawers are the sticking culprit. Once determined the sealing as mentioned above will help. Maybe you just can't get away from it on these drawers without replacing drawer parts.

Their are few ways to fix the sticking potential with new drawer parts. If wood is used, pick a species that has less movement potential than others. Also take care in milling your wood so the annual rings are at right angles to the suspected unwanted movement.

All that said - there are two other ways - #1) The most obvious is - make your drawer parts smaller to allow for movement.
#2) use fabricated wood products

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:28 pm

charlese wrote:First, gotta determine what part of the drawers are the sticking culprit. Once determined the sealing as mentioned above will help. Maybe you just can't get away from it on these drawers without replacing drawer parts.

Their are few ways to fix the sticking potential with new drawer parts. If wood is used, pick a species that has less movement potential than others. Also take care in milling your wood so the annual rings are at right angles to the suspected unwanted movement.

All that said - there are two other ways - #1) The most obvious is - make your drawer parts smaller to allow for movement.
#2) use fabricated wood products

Like Baltic Birch plywood for drawer sides.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:37 pm

Just thought of this method to determine the cause of the sticking. Needs an answer to this question - - Shrinkage of what part (s) of these drawers would cause binding? If the wood slides are dovetails they could be culpable. If the drawers are a bit too large, the shrinkage of the drawer space may be the problem.

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:37 am

charlese wrote:Just thought of this method to determine the cause of the sticking. Needs an answer to this question - - Shrinkage of what part (s) of these drawers would cause binding? If the wood slides are dovetails they could be culpable. If the drawers are a bit too large, the shrinkage of the drawer space may be the problem.

Hey Chuck, I should have mentioned this earlier. The carcass of the dresser is solid birch but the drawers are mdf with a plywood bottom. The problem has to be with the carcass. In the dead of winter (right now, it's minus 10 outside and it's not getting any warmer today) the drawers stick. The rest of the year they work fine with plenty of clearance. As soon as I am able to remove the drawers again I will do some close examination to see where the sticking point is. I'm actually glad this is happening, it's a great learning experience. I've pretty much been ignoring all the warnings I've been given over the years about the movement of wood with the seasons until now.

reible · Post by **reible** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 8:01 am

They make a product called "slip-it" that might be all you need. It applies with a brush and we use to use it on the old wood windows that would stick....

http://www.amazon.com/Rockler-Slip-It-S ... ds=slip+it

This looks like the same stuff. Ace use to carry it but the last time I asked they had no idea what I was talking about....

It looks like the price is up, last I remember it was like $10 so shopping might be in order.

Ed