Wooden Drawer Runners

[Dave Novak]

I'm building a router table with several drawers that will ride on side-mounted wooden runners 23" long by 1 1/16 tall by 15/16 wide. I had planned to use either maple or cherry stock shellacked and waxed. However in looking at my precious pile of thick stock, I'm reluctant to use these beautiful boards somewhere they'll never be seen. Do you think regular old borg 2 x 6 pine/fir jointed and planed to size will be tough and stable enough to stand the test of time?

[Sam Murdoch]

Can't you buy maple or poplar boards at the local lumber store? Likely you'd get years and years of good use from pine runners if not tracking drawer boxes filled with hardware - and they would be easy enough to change out - but I would still check first for the other options.

[Jamie Buxton]

Softwood runners will wear faster than hardwood runners. And wood-on-wood runners do wear. I'd put the money into hardwood. Heck, I might even get one of those exotic high-density woods like jatoba or ipe.

[Dave Novak]

Local sources of hardwood (borg) don't have anything thicker than 3/4", and I'm too impatient to glue up boards for this. Closest real hardwood supplier is about an hour and a half drive. I'll bite the bullet and use some of the beautiful 8/4 hard maple I had stashed for my next project; a workbench build. Thanks for the advice guys.

[Alan Schaffter]

Local sources of hardwood (borg) don't have anything thicker than 3/4", and I'm too impatient to glue up boards for this. Closest real hardwood supplier is about an hour and a half drive. I'll bite the bullet and use some of the beautiful 8/4 hard maple I had stashed for my next project; a workbench build. Thanks for the advice guys.

Why don't you just adjust the size of the dadoes (depth or width) in the drawer box sides for the dimensions of whatever (hard)wood you can get for the runners?

The first question I would ask is what wood did you use to make the drawer box sides. My preference for the smoothest sliding drawers is hardwood drawer sides riding on hardwood runners. I don't include Poplar in this category, too soft- oak, or maple is a much better choice- just take a look at the hardness numbers. If the design calls for the drawers sides to rest and ride on the parting rails and they are not made from hardwood, then I will add smooth thumbtacks or plastic pads to the parting rail for the sides to ride on.

[Jim Neeley]

Dave,

Why are your runners so wide? Ware you planning these drawers for the storage of sheet steel? <g>

With a 15/16" runner, that'd be 7/16 in the drawer and 7/16 in the cabinet, with 1/16" gap. To be 7/16" in the drawer you'd need a 1/2" deep dado on each to allow for wood expansion. Unless your drawer sides are 1-1/2" or more thick this is excessive.

With 3/4" drawer and cabinet sides, making 3/8" dados in each (the max I'd go) and using a 3/4" wide runner lets you glue 3/8" into the cabinet side, a 1/16" drawer side gap, with the remaining runner sticking 5/16" into the 3/8" drawer side. Even this may be excessive, especially with them being 1-16" tall. The largest I've seen used were ~5/8" square. I'm sure others have seen larger.

If you really want to cut up that thick maple for heftiness, that's up to you but 4/4 stock will work be plenty strong.

Jim

[Todd Burch]

I have made runners out of pine, and then "skinned" the wear surface with oak, with a 1/8" thick piece on the runner and another 1/8" thick piece on the case. Doesn't take much hardwood to do it this way.

[Larry Frank]

You could make the runners out of pine and then use some of the slick tape as a wear surface. I have done this on some drawers and it works well and has not caused any issues.

[Ryan Baker]

I'm with Jim that those runner dimensions seem very excessive. Normal 3/4 stock does just fine. In any case, my preference for runners is hard maple. Softwoods wear too much.

[Roger Feeley]

One time, an old school wood shop teacher told me that he kept Sycamore around just for drawer sides. He said that as it wore, it would develop a slick surface and slide really well. I have never heard or read anything to corroborate it.

[Dave Novak]

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Dave,

Why are your runners so wide? Ware you planning these drawers for the storage of sheet steel? <g>

With a 15/16" runner, that'd be 7/16 in the drawer and 7/16 in the cabinet, with 1/16" gap. To be 7/16" in the drawer you'd need a 1/2" deep dado on each to allow for wood expansion. Unless your drawer sides are 1-1/2" or more thick this is excessive.

With 3/4" drawer and cabinet sides, making 3/8" dados in each (the max I'd go) and using a 3/4" wide runner lets you glue 3/8" into the cabinet side, a 1/16" drawer side gap, with the remaining runner sticking 5/16" into the 3/8" drawer side. Even this may be excessive, especially with them being 1-16" tall. The largest I've seen used were ~5/8" square. I'm sure others have seen larger.

If you really want to cut up that thick maple for heftiness, that's up to you but 4/4 stock will work be plenty strong.

Jim

The runners are 15/16" wide because I assumed that a big heavy drawer would benefit from having some runner surface area to support it. The pic below is one of the drawers. The other pic is the cabinet they'll live in eventually. The drawer sides are 1-1/4" wide poplar. The dado in the side is 7/8" deep. there's 1/8" inch of space between the outside of the drawer and the carcass side, so 15/16" gives me about 1/16" of "slop" on each side. In retrospect, that's sounding a little tight. Today I built the runners out of hard maple. The came out of the planer very smooth so I'll put a coat of shellac on them tonight and sand them in the morning. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Larry Edgerton]

They do not need to be that big in the future. I built a tool chest for my pops thirty five years ago with ash slides 3/8" deep, and he has severly overloaded them with wrenches ever since. Work better all the time.

Larry



Larry

[Todd Burch]

I would not put shellac on them, just wax.

[Carl Beckett]

I would use wax only.

Have build a lot of drawer runners from wood. I think its good you went hard wood and not the pine.

In the future if you are worried about loading you can go the 'NK' style. I did this on a dresser a while back and they are the smoothest running drawers I have made, and can have whatever running width/area you want to take high loads. (and doesnt affect drawer side width)

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?42799-NK-Style-drawers

[Todd Burch]

Another comment about using shellac on runners.

If you want to take the time to do a test, coat the edges of two boards with shellac - let them cure for a week. Now, rub them together to create friction. See what the shellac does - it gets soft and the two pieces, if left to sit together under weight (vis-a-vis a drawer runner scenario), they will stick together. Weld together. Fuse together.

Ever heard of a jeweled watch? Shellac is what is used to hold the jewels in place. Google "shellac as a glue".

[Dave Novak]

That NK style looks pretty cool, I'll definitely try that style next. Interesting about no finish, just wax on the glides. Should I also leave the dado on the drawer side unfinished?

[George Brown]

Try putting some Slipit on them, good lubricant for wood.

[Mel Fulks]

OH! GREAT! Now I've got to remember to be absolutely sure the socks match before closing the drawer,or it might get stuck .How would I get to the Prozac ?

[Michael Weber]

Use this stuff on your runners. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2000902/4003/slick-strips-34-width-132-thick.aspx Available lots of places UHMW is very useful stuff in tape form or otherwise. The link is just an example, not recommending the particular product or source.

[Todd Burch]

That NK style looks pretty cool, I'll definitely try that style next. Interesting about no finish, just wax on the glides. Should I also leave the dado on the drawer side unfinished?

I wax both parts. Yes.

[Dave Novak]

Use this stuff on your runners. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2000902/4003/slick-strips-34-width-132-thick.aspx Available lots of places UHMW is very useful stuff in tape form or otherwise. The link is just an example, not recommending the particular product or source.

In a previous thread the consensus advice was no UHMW; just paste wax.

[Alan Schaffter]

Don't forget to knock down the edges of the runners just a tad, so they won't bind in the corners of the drawer dado.

[Alan Bienlein]

Well just do what I did and use plywood for the runners. I doubt you'll ever have as much weight in your drawers as what I have in the ones I used the plywood runners for. The drawers are about 24" deep by 21" wide by 6-1/2" tall loaded with drawer slides. It's been about a year since I built this out of scrap lying around the shop.
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[Steve Peterson]

Well just do what I did and use plywood for the runners. I doubt you'll ever have as much weight in your drawers as what I have in the ones I used the plywood runners for. The drawers are about 24" deep by 21" wide by 6-1/2" tall loaded with drawer slides. It's been about a year since I built this out of scrap lying around the shop.
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Alan, Couldn't you find any drawer slides laying around when you built the cabinet? This looks like a case of the cobbler's kids having no shoes. :)

Steve

[Alan Bienlein]

Steve that's no where near all of the slides I have! At the time I got these they were to be thrown away so I grabbed them. There is no way a pair of these will support the weight that's in those drawers. I have about 3 other cabinets this size packed full of 100 lb full extension slides and about one more cabinet this size of blum under mounts that were also to be thrown away.