Will it work??

[James Combs]

I have a small repair job consisting of repairing a warped drawer in a three drawer chest-of-drawers. The COD is solid oak and fairly old but was cheaply made, even appears to have been made from green lumber. No adornments just flat front drawers and a face-frame style box. The biggest problem of several is that one of the drawer fronts is severely warped and bowed giving the entire drawer a very skewed look.

Sorry I didn't get pic of it before I disassemble it but this is a pic of it in "traction".:rolleyes: Looking at this photo which shows the inside of the drawer front, the left side at the far left corner was curled up about 1/2" plus there was an overall bow of about 1/4-3/8" along the entire length. That plus the 1/2" corner curl put that corner up about 3/4". You can use your imagination as to what the drawer looked like.
205021

Anyway short of making a new front which would never match, I put some torque on the end that curled plus some weight for the bow. All this put the corner down past flat by about 3/8". I then covered it with paper towels and wet them down and kept it very wet for several hours. There is no finish to speak of on the inside of the drawer front so the water soak the wood pretty good. Just before I closed up shop this evening I took the wet towels off and wipe the panel dry and place a fan blowing across it. I am hoping it will dry with a little of the induced torque in it and the bow reduced.
205020

What do you folks think? Have you ever had to do anything like this? If so what worked?

[John TenEyck]

Some will tell you that what you are doing will work, but I'm not one of them. You may get the drawer front to straighten out somewhat, temporarily, but when it dries out again it will go back to where it was when you started. The only sure way to get a straight drawer front is to make a new one, and that is what I would do, and then dye the wood to match the rest of the cabinet. Steaming the bent drawer front might get you close, but that approach is fraught with hit or miss, take multiple attempts, and not what I would attempt unless the cabinet is worth a lot or has great sentimental value. Good luck.

[Paul Symchych]

I somehow doubt it would be a permanent solution. A potentially wacky thought is to either resaw or plane down the old drawer to the thickness of a veneer, thus preserving the grain, color and finish of the original drawer front. Then glue it to a new flat plywood drawer front. As a thin piece even a warped veneer should stay nice and flat if properly glued to a solid base. If it doesn't work you're no worse off because I think the original is a gonzo.

[johnny means]

You are wasting your time. That bowed shape is that boards natural shape, it will return. I agree with Paul, reducing the thickness and using a stable substrate will surely fix the problem.

[James Combs]

Some will tell you that what you are doing will work, but I'm not one of them. You may get the drawer front to straighten out somewhat, temporarily, but when it dries out again it will go back to where it was when you started. The only sure way to get a straight drawer front is to make a new one, and that is what I would do, and then dye the wood to match the rest of the cabinet. Steaming the bent drawer front might get you close, but that approach is fraught with hit or miss, take multiple attempts, and not what I would attempt unless the cabinet is worth a lot or has great sentimental value. Good luck.


I somehow doubt it would be a permanent solution. A potentially wacky thought is to either resaw or plane down the old drawer to the thickness of a veneer, thus preserving the grain, color and finish of the original drawer front. Then glue it to a new flat plywood drawer front. As a thin piece even a warped veneer should stay nice and flat if properly glued to a solid base. If it doesn't work you're no worse off because I think the original is a gonzo.


You are wasting your time. That bowed shape is that boards natural shape, it will return. I agree with Paul, reducing the thickness and using a stable substrate will surely fix the problem.

Thanks guys, what you are saying is pretty much what I suspected but I thought it was worth a try. It didn't cost anything but a little time. The cabinet is a customers and I can't believe they would want to spend a lot on it, much more then what I am doing anyway. The chest is old but It can't be worth much more then sentimental value. I will check and see if they want to go the thinned front "veneered" route as was suggested. I will also post the results of my "torque" try. Don't expect a lot though. Thanks again for the comments and especially the veneering idea. They may go for it but I doubt it.

[Bill Huber]

I agree with the others that I don't think it would work.

Now I don't know if this would work or not, kind of just asking.

Could you not cut a slice of veneer off the front and then glue that to a new drawer front, then you would not be the big problem of getting the matching stain?
Build the new drawer front out of the same wood but make it thinner by the thickness of the veneer and glue it on. Then you would only have to worry about matching the end and edges of the front, which would not be seen until the draw was open.

Just asking so if I ever have this come up I would have an idea on how to fix it.

[Paul Symchych]

Good thought. I mentioned plywood because of it's stability but didn't stop to think the cosmetics through. Using a new piece of the same species of wood as the original drawer front to back the veneer would make the repair much easier to hide when the drawer is pulled open.
One could also edge plywood if that is what he chooses with original wood from the otherwise discarded back part of the drawer face.
That said I hope I'm never faced with a project like this. Fun though.

[James Combs]

I agree with the others that I don't think it would work.

Now I don't know if this would work or not, kind of just asking.

Could you not cut a slice of veneer off the front and then glue that to a new drawer front, then you would not be the big problem of getting the matching stain?
Build the new drawer front out of the same wood but make it thinner by the thickness of the veneer and glue it on. Then you would only have to worry about matching the end and edges of the front, which would not be seen until the draw was open.

Just asking so if I ever have this come up I would have an idea on how to fix it.


Good thought. I mentioned plywood because of it's stability but didn't stop to think the cosmetics through. Using a new piece of the same species of wood as the original drawer front to back the veneer would make the repair much easier to hide when the drawer is pulled open.
One could also edge plywood if that is what he chooses with original wood from the otherwise discarded back part of the drawer face.
That said I hope I'm never faced with a project like this. Fun though.

I didn't want to put to much time into this project and I already have some 3/4"x8" oak boards. I found one that had some bow in it that was pretty much opposite of the drawer front. I kiss planed the back of the drawer front then the same for the "cut to size" 8" board then glued the 8" board to the back of the drawer front with the bows opposite and with the front in the torqued setup I had previously used. Now they are drying in just a slightly opposite warp/curl position. The front will be a little heavy but it should be straight enough to remake a square drawer box. BTW the back of the drawer is worse then the drawer front but it is easy to replace. It is about 5/16" solid oak and I am replacing it with 3/8" oak front ply.

And also BTW the "water torture" torque trial did take out about 1/2 of the curl and a lot of the bow but the resulting 1/4" overall of curl & bow was still too much.

[John TenEyck]

And also BTW the "water torture" torque trial did take out about 1/2 of the curl and a lot of the bow but the resulting 1/4" overall of curl & bow was still too much.

Let us know whether that's still the case when it dries out completely in a few days.