Durability of wooden drawer slides like this...

[George Carion]

I need some advice for wooden slides for the 8 drawers in the piece of furniture I'm building. They're not that large... with the largest being about 19"W, 15D, 8"H. The faces are black walnut and the insides are made from hard maple.

As opposed to making a channel along the bottom, or on the sides for support, I was thinking I could make L shaped runners for each side of a drawer and and let the drawer sides slide on those with wax. Does that make sense? Would this method hold up over time?

Thank you!

[Jim Becker]

What you propose is quite common in a lot of furniture that has been made for as long as furniture has been made, as it were. Just be sure to also build in an anti-tipping rail above the drawer that the back top of the drawer box engages to keep things from spilling when the drawer is pulled out close to the max.

[Jamie Buxton]

And another nice touch is a stop so that you can't just accidentally pull the drawer all the way out and dump it on the floor.

[Vince Shriver]

And another nice touch is a stop so that you can't just accidentally pull the drawer all the way out and dump it on the floor.

Am I confused, or isn't that what Jim just posted? The drawer back cut a little high so it engages the top rail of the face frame, if the drawer is pull out that far. How do you install a stop otherwise? Thanks, Vince

[Jim Becker]

Vince, Jamie is right. What I described was the (my words) "anti-tip" rail. You may want to put a stop on the side of it that will engage the inside back of the drawer box so that you can limit the travel to about 3/4 extension. If you screw it to the side of the anti-tip rail, you can easily reach in and rotate it up if you actually need to remove the drawer.

[Peter Quinn]

Am I confused, or isn't that what Jim just posted? The drawer back cut a little high so it engages the top rail of the face frame, if the drawer is pull out that far. How do you install a stop otherwise? Thanks, Vince

What I believe Jim described I know as a 'kicker', either built into the case's design or applied depending on the size of the drawer sides relative to the opening. It is a strip of wood above the top edge of the drawer sides which keeps the drawer from tipping increasingly forward as it is pulled out. In a web frame situation the base of the drawer above can act as the kicker for the drawer below.

A stop by contrast does what it says; it stops the drawer from moving forward and falling out of the case. If the back of the drawer is higher than the frame, how will you install the drawer? You would have to assemble the case around the drawers thus making them non removable and non adjustable. I usually make stops from strips of maple that I screw to the top of the drawer back which allow me to reach into the installed drawer and flip them up in use, or down to allow removal of the drawer for future tuning or waxing.

To the OP, that is a fine way to make drawers slide that will require occasional maintenance like waxing or sanding, but should serve you well. When well fitted they perform nearly as quietly and smoothly as metal slides. And they are made from wood, often secondary wood or scraps! Might not be the way to go with some of the very large pull outs popular today but a nice touch on average sized drawers like you describe.