On Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 9:46:29 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:
On 2/25/2019 5:14 PM, dpb wrote:
...

The bottom you can see I replaced entirely because the soft pine had
worn down so badly over the years the drawers would barely function at
all...

Actually, the recollection now arises (it's been 10+ yr now) that the
sides had worn to the point the groove for bottom panels had morphed
into a rabbet as there was so little material left the bottom edge had
broken off, dropping the bottoms out of the drawers...hence my using the
oak for the new pieces.

--

There is virtually no wear on the drawers. Here's the drawer itself...

https://i.imgur.com/QuxSAmL.jpg

....and here's the desk:

https://i.imgur.com/ee2rtX0.jpg

Note the thumbtacks(?) that were used as glides. Original? Don't know, but
I'll bet they helped keep the bottom of the drawer sides from wearing.

I also found that all of the center rails were screwed in at the front but
floating at the rear - although they all had nail holes at the rear. Just as
a test, I tried putting a tack at the rear of a couple of the rails, making
sure I hit the original hole in the carcass of the desk, but all that did
was make the drawers bind. They are back to floating and the drawers work as
smooth as can be. At least they do while empty, I haven't tried them loaded.

Back to the drawers: If you look closely you'll see that the bottom of the
back panel is beveled to allow for easier insertion into the carcass. That's
a nice touch.