"jo_jo" wrote in message

slides of any sort. Are there any coatings or waxes that I should use
on the inside of the casing or on the bottom of the drawers that will
make them slide easier?

Paste wax.

The reason I'm going slideless is because I want this piece to have the
feel of an antique piece of furniture, many of which were built without
slides or glides or guides of any sort. I know they will not slide as
smoothly as today's drawers with good quality slides, but I want to
know if there are any things to watch out for when building these.
These will be flush fit drawers, so the face of the drawer will be 3/4"
stock and hopefully the sides will be 1/2" stock, if I can find any
around here (otherwise, I've considered buying a planer to plane 3/4"
down to 1/2").

While by no means an exhaustive treatise of methods, there are a couple of
ideas on my website at the bottom of the following page:

http://www.e-woodshop.net/Projects3.htm

There are many more ways to attack the wooden slide issue than you see
there, but there is no reason why wooden drawer slides should not work as
well as modern metal slides providing you're not loading them down.

AAMOF, I recently saw an old cupboard with inset drawers that used side
mounted wooden slides, with grooves in the drawer sides, and the slides
mounted on the interior of the drawer box. After a good hundred years, these
particular drawers were working as smoothly as you could ask for.

Wished I'd taken pictures. Although I have clear idea of the concept, it was
an unusual implementation, with a few tricks, that has obviously stood the
test of time.

I wouldn't want to try to explain it until I can see it again ... but your
post may be the impetus to do that at some point this week, as I've got a
project on burner that I may want to use the idea on.

For those familiar with Houston, the piece in question is upstairs in the
old Heights Fire House, which is now called the Heights City Hall ... stay
tuned.

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Last update: 1/06/07