On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 10:58:18 AM UTC-4, dpb wrote:
On 04/09/2016 8:09 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
...

The biggest problem with the dresser is that the bottoms of the long
drawers sag a bit (actually, a lot) so I may need to add some "beams"
to flatten them out. (suggestions welcome)

http://imgur.com/Y7aKfPU

I think that they are solid wood (?) because I don't see any plies.
Did they use plywood for drawer bottoms back then?

http://imgur.com/pRNq7Ab

In any case, the insides of the drawers are finished and I don't want
to replace the bottoms. Again, suggestions for flattening them would
be most welcome.
...

As J McCoy notes, they're nailed with brads; this is common construction
so the bottom can be replaced if necessary; if all four sides are
captured in groove then the only choice is to try to disassemble the
drawer itself...anyway, that aside, I'd recommend to _not_ do major
structural modifications; two suggestions.

1) use a _tiny_ drop of epoxy in _only_ the nail holes and sufficiently
small it won't glob up and glue the bottom to the rear drawer bottom and
re-nail. I've had success if the drawers aren't subsequently
drastically overloaded in that the epoxy will hold the nail but you've
not ruined any chance of removing them for repair/replacement of the
bottom later by gluing the bottom itself...

2) there are only three (or maybe there's a fourth towards the left;
unclear from picture for certain) brads shown; whether that's all there
were or that's all there are left, having lost a couple of others, the
obvious fix in the vein of the original is to add a couple new ones in
fresh wood locations. I'd probably add a second near the existing and
then insert new between present locations.

Securing the back of the bottom to the back of the box may take care
of the sag from left to right, but the bottoms have actually taken on
kind of bowl shape.

Flattening the back by securing to the box hardly removes any of the
center sag.


Btw, the knob kickers can usually be fixed by a strategic insert of a
small patch inserted in the necessary location to provide a new "bite"
surface. I didn't look at all the pictures but have had a number of
these in the past when the SHMBO ran a small antiques booth in TN and
worked over a lot of pieces for her...that was a "trick" taught me by
Lonnie Bird in one of his seminars many, many years ago, now...


For now I used the standard glue and toothpick methods and I was able to
crank the bolts down really tight.