Wood-on-Wood Drawer Runners

[MarvinWatkins]

I am working on a small dresser that has wood ('duh') drawers that will just run on wooden runners. I know that the wood runners should be waxed with paraphin wax, but I am getting differing inputs on whether or how to 'finish' the drawer body.

These drawers will only see light-weight duty and will be in a bedroom.

I know on standard finishing, there are at least two schools of thought:

1. Gotta finish both sides or you will have uneven expansion (or susceptability to mosture)
2. Don't worry about what you can't see... finishing one side is fine

I am finishing the dresser with brushed (and maybe some padded) shellac and a paste wax buff. Should I shellac the drawers? (It is a given that I will finish the drawer fronts.) If I do, should I tape off the contact points with the runners?

Also, the are pine drawers on pine runners. I heard that softwood runners can be problematic. Has anyone had problems with softwood-on-softwood? I saw some nylon drawer runner tape at WoodCraft that I thought about using to help things out.

Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Joe Scharle]

Marvin, I shellac everything for the reason you give, but also it gives a silky feeling to the inside and outside of the drawers; after a little knockdown with steel wool or brite pads.
And yes, the slicky tape is great for drawer runners. Makes 'em feel special and I doubt the drawer parts will ever show wear.

 

[MarvinWatkins]

Thanks, Joe. I definitely lean toward finishing the whole thing. I would feel strange delivering an unfinished/bare wood drawer box. It's something like getting dressed for work, but not putting a belt on. The job is just not done.

I am pretty sure that I will be picking up the nylo-runner tape at WoodCraft.

 

[froglips]

Hey there Marvin!

Get Bill Clemmons attention. We got to see how he did this in his shop. Has some great advice for sure.

Jim

 

[Canuck]

+1 on finishing with clear shellac.:icon_thum:icon_thum After it dries well, a little 0000 steel wool and Johnsons paste wax with have them sliding really nice.

I have used the slick tape as well and it works well. (Most of my drawer runners and drawer boxes I make from poplar.) One caution when using the slick tape is that if you are installing inset drawers, just make sure that you take into account the thickness of the slick tape when sizing the drawer for the opening/reveal. Got me a couple of times!!!:BangHead::BangHead:

Wayne

 

[kooshball]

I finished my chest of drawers with shellac including all surfaces of the drawers and runners. I then waxed the slide contact area with 0000 steel wool and paste wax. That was a few months ago and to this day they are smooth as silk.

 

[ehpoole]

I am pretty sure that I will be picking up the nylo-runner tape at WoodCraft.

As a minor point-of-fact the tape you are referring to is known as UHMW (or more thoroughly UHMWPE) -- short for Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. It is as slick as Teflon but more wear resistant than carbon steel -- most definitely not nylon. In its fiber form, it is also known as Spectra.

I would definitely line the runners with UHMW if using a softwood, otherwise you will experience significant and visible wear of both the drawer and runner and it will eventually cut grooves into the face frame over the course of time. You see this wear pattern quite a lot in antiques made of softer wood species (or very heavily used hardwood antiques). If not using the UHMW tape with a softwood drawer then you may wish to modify the design to use a hardwood runner and a hardwood wear strip on the underside of the drawers to greatly slow wear and tear.

 

[kooshball]

As a minor point-of-fact the tape you are referring to is known as UHMW (or more thoroughly UHMWPE) -- short for Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. It is as slick as Teflon but more wear resistant than carbon steel -- most definitely not nylon. In its fiber form, it is also known as Spectra.

Or Dyneema

 

[MarkE]

One of my really early projects was a chest of drawers made from Pine. The chest was built like a bookcase with no face frame. The drawer boxes just slid in to each compartment. I used it to store off season clothing, so it did not see very heavy use.

I finished everything with Minwax satin poly, three coats if I remember correctly. I also waxed the bottom edges of the drawers and the 'shelves' in the chest. It is now ~15 years old and shows no wear at all. If I take out the drawers, you can't even tell that there were drawers in there.

Here it is beside the bed in the room above my shop. Nothing special, but it served it's purpose.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Hey there Marvin!

Get Bill Clemmons attention. We got to see how he did this in his shop. Has some great advice for sure.

Jim

Thanks Jim. Lately I've been building my drawers w/ flat bottoms, then installing a hardwood (white oak or maple) runner that's approximately 1/8-3/16" thick by 1/2-3/4" wide. I finish it along w/ the rest of the drawer, usually w/ shellac on the inside, and either shellac or an oil/varnish mix on the outside and bottom. When it's completely dry, I smooth it w/ 0000 steel wool, or 320 paper, then apply paste wax to the runners and drawer sides. I suggest you also install a catch on the back of the drawer to keep it from sliding out and falling to the floor the first time you open it. They tend to slide out very quickly. :gar-Bi

As for using pine runners, if you go back and look at antiques w/ pine runners, you see noticeable wear on the bottoms.

HTH

Bill

 

[MarvinWatkins]

Thanks for the clarification. I couldn't recall the name of the tape. But that sounds like the stuff.

 

[MarvinWatkins]

Thanks for the tips Bill.

I always know I get good advice from folks here who have been doing this a lot longer than me. ;-)

 

[Mike Davis]

Most of my furniture is over 40 years old and some closer to 75. Nearly all have soft wood runners. All show some wear, but all still work well. I just repaired a small table with pine drawer and runners. I planed the runners flat and added 1/8 inch maple like Bill uses. I expect somebody will have to repair that table again in another 70 years. :roll:

All surfaces that show are painted the rest are not and the wood is still flat. But, I'm sure it would be better is it were "shallacked" all over.