Some background:
My wife's mother died last month and her "new" furniture (as in only
40 years old) and her "old" furniture (as in having belonged to her
parents) is going to her granddaughters. The pieces are all "real"
wood (no MDF, etc).

The new owners do not want the pieces refinished (they want to retain
the character of the pieces), they just want the minimum repairs
needed to put the pieces into daily service.

The newer pieces (dresser, chest of drawers) have damaged wooden
drawer guides from being
1) overloaded
2) forced past the stops when removed (instead of being tilted up over
the stops).

The drawers in the chest have a "T" style guide mounted to the frame
with a shallow upside down wooden "U" runner on the bottom of the
drawer; a plastic guide that fits the "T" is attached to the back of
the drawer. The wooden "T" seems easy enough to reporduce with a
table saw and a table-mounted router.

The dresser has a metal guide on the bottom of the drawers and a
matching wood runner mounted to the frame - an upside down "U" that's
notched on both sides. This piece also looks relatively easy to
duplicate, with a roundover on the top edges and shallow blade-width
groves in the sides.

Now to the meat of the matter:
What's the preferred wood for this type of guide? The local BORG has
red oak, but would ash or hard maple be a better choice? The
original pieces are attached with a screw at the front and staples or
brads at the back (to allow for differences in the wood or just for
manufacturing convenience?).

The oldest pieces (vanity, chest of drawers) have no drawer guide
mechanism or stops, just wood-on-wood at the edges.

I want to stay reasonably close to the original design in these older
pieces, but would like to add a bearing surface to reduce the wear
from wood-on-wood contact. Nylon tape and plastic guides (plus some
internal flip-down drawer stops for safety) appear to be the easiest
solutions that make minimum change to the structure and are not
visible in normal use.

The furniture is 2 1/2 hours away from my shop tools, so I prefer
"on-site" and/or portable solutions (I have one each of the original
drawer guides to work from).

Thanks,
John

On Apr 10, 6:49 pm, John wrote:

SNIP

From the description of the hardware and construction style you aren't
working with a priceless antique. I know that a lot of that older
stuff is head and hands out of the ballpark better than the stuff in
stores today, so I wasn't being critical. But this does give a good
set of parameters to work in for repair suggestions. No doubt you
will have plenty.


Now to the meat of the matter:
What's the preferred wood for this type of guide? The local BORG has
red oak, but would ash or hard maple be a better choice? The
original pieces are attached with a screw at the front and staples or
brads at the back (to allow for differences in the wood or just for
manufacturing convenience?).

The oldest pieces (vanity, chest of drawers) have no drawer guide
mechanism or stops, just wood-on-wood at the edges.

I want to stay reasonably close to the original design in these older
pieces, but would like to add a bearing surface to reduce the wear
from wood-on-wood contact. Nylon tape and plastic guides (plus some
internal flip-down drawer stops for safety) appear to be the easiest
solutions that make minimum change to the structure and are not
visible in normal use.

The furniture is 2 1/2 hours away from my shop tools, so I prefer
"on-site" and/or portable solutions (I have one each of the original
drawer guides to work from).

Thanks,
John

Now to the meat of the matter:
What's the preferred wood for this type of guide? The local BORG has
red oak, but would ash or hard maple be a better choice?

Maple is ideal, hard and tight-grained.


The
original pieces are attached with a screw at the front and staples or
brads at the back (to allow for differences in the wood or just for
manufacturing convenience?).

Definetely the later, maybe the former too. It depends on the design and if
part spans significantly across grain.

The oldest pieces (vanity, chest of drawers) have no drawer guide
mechanism or stops, just wood-on-wood at the edges.

I want to stay reasonably close to the original design in these older
pieces, but would like to add a bearing surface to reduce the wear
from wood-on-wood contact.

Lee valley sells that stuff, but if the drawers are not suffering from
significant drawer-sliding abraision wear (My BIL has a very soft pine with
some brutal wear), just some periodic (annually) lubrication may be all you
need to limit wear. Wax is what you want. Paste is easy to apply; a candle
stub will do just fine in a pinch.


Cheers,

Steve



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:49:20 -0400, John wrote:

snip
Now to the meat of the matter:
What's the preferred wood for this type of guide? The local BORG has
red oak, but would ash or hard maple be a better choice? The
original pieces are attached with a screw at the front and staples or
brads at the back (to allow for differences in the wood or just for
manufacturing convenience?).


Most any hardwood will work for the guide. Popular is a good choice
as it is inexpensive. Obviously pick stock that is tightly grained
wihtout knots. You may even use pallet wood. The BORG's hardwood is
very expensive (the highest cost I've ever seen), but you only need a
small amount.

Most any hardwood will work for the guide. Popular is a good choice

Yeah, it seems like that's what EVERYBODY is using...
Actually, I agree that most hardwoods would be fine. I'd personally
stay away from Borg hardwoods - even if you can find straight boards,
IME they often have checking or warping problems once you cut into
them, possibly from hurried drying. I'd probably look for maple, r or
w oak, ash, or whatever at a real lumberyard or hardwood dealer. I'm
sure poplar would work, but it's softer than many other native (US)
hardwoods. Ash is pretty cheap, at least around here (NY).
Good luck,
Andy

On 11 Apr 2007 09:50:31 -0700, "Andy" wrote:

Most any hardwood will work for the guide. Popular is a good choice

Yeah, it seems like that's what EVERYBODY is using...
Actually, I agree that most hardwoods would be fine. I'd personally
stay away from Borg hardwoods - even if you can find straight boards,
IME they often have checking or warping problems once you cut into
them, possibly from hurried drying. I'd probably look for maple, r or
w oak, ash, or whatever at a real lumberyard or hardwood dealer. I'm
sure poplar would work, but it's softer than many other native (US)
hardwoods. Ash is pretty cheap, at least around here (NY).
Good luck,
Andy

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll start with wax for the
wood-on-wood surfaces and see what hardwoods are available locally
(Atlanta).

John

Andy, wrote the following at or about 4/11/2007 11:50 AM:
Most any hardwood will work for the guide. Popular is a good choice

Of course it is. That's why it's such a poplar choiceg



Yeah, it seems like that's what EVERYBODY is using...
Actually, I agree that most hardwoods would be fine. I'd personally
stay away from Borg hardwoods - even if you can find straight boards,
IME they often have checking or warping problems once you cut into
them, possibly from hurried drying. I'd probably look for maple, r or
w oak, ash, or whatever at a real lumberyard or hardwood dealer. I'm
sure poplar would work, but it's softer than many other native (US)
hardwoods. Ash is pretty cheap, at least around here (NY).
Good luck,
Andy

"John" wrote in message
...

I want to stay reasonably close to the original design in these older
pieces, but would like to add a bearing surface to reduce the wear
from wood-on-wood contact. Nylon tape and plastic guides (plus some
internal flip-down drawer stops for safety) appear to be the easiest
solutions that make minimum change to the structure and are not
visible in normal use.

The furniture is 2 1/2 hours away from my shop tools, so I prefer
"on-site" and/or portable solutions (I have one each of the original
drawer guides to work from).

I would consider returning the warn wood to flat and then apply a lining of
HDPE with some double stick tape and staples (Be sure to set these slightly
below the surface of the plastic.) to reduce the friction and to replace the
thickness to the original. In normal service this will never require
replacement or lubrication with wax for a lifetime.

As well as being a repair that you will never have to futz with it has the
advantage of being very cheap, and very easy.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:49:20 -0400, John wrote:

Some background:
My wife's mother died last month and her "new" furniture (as in only
40 years old) and her "old" furniture (as in having belonged to her
parents) is going to her granddaughters. The pieces are all "real"
wood (no MDF, etc).

The new owners do not want the pieces refinished (they want to retain
the character of the pieces), they just want the minimum repairs
needed to put the pieces into daily service.

The newer pieces (dresser, chest of drawers) have damaged wooden
drawer guides from being
1) overloaded
2) forced past the stops when removed (instead of being tilted up over
the stops).

The drawers in the chest have a "T" style guide mounted to the frame
with a shallow upside down wooden "U" runner on the bottom of the
drawer; a plastic guide that fits the "T" is attached to the back of
the drawer. The wooden "T" seems easy enough to reporduce with a
table saw and a table-mounted router.

The dresser has a metal guide on the bottom of the drawers and a
matching wood runner mounted to the frame - an upside down "U" that's
notched on both sides. This piece also looks relatively easy to
duplicate, with a roundover on the top edges and shallow blade-width
groves in the sides.

Now to the meat of the matter:
What's the preferred wood for this type of guide? The local BORG has
red oak, but would ash or hard maple be a better choice? The
original pieces are attached with a screw at the front and staples or
brads at the back (to allow for differences in the wood or just for
manufacturing convenience?).

The oldest pieces (vanity, chest of drawers) have no drawer guide
mechanism or stops, just wood-on-wood at the edges.

I want to stay reasonably close to the original design in these older
pieces, but would like to add a bearing surface to reduce the wear
from wood-on-wood contact. Nylon tape and plastic guides (plus some
internal flip-down drawer stops for safety) appear to be the easiest
solutions that make minimum change to the structure and are not
visible in normal use.

The furniture is 2 1/2 hours away from my shop tools, so I prefer
"on-site" and/or portable solutions (I have one each of the original
drawer guides to work from).

Thanks,
John

Thanks to the suggestions from the group, my daughter is quite happy
with the way the drawers now fit and work.

I made the replacement pieces from poplar using the measurements of
the original pieces, with the replacement pieces being just a touch
wider. 30 seconds with a sanding block got each piece to a perfect
fit in the guide.

All the wood-to-wood bearing surfaces received a generous coat of wax.

I did add one non-original item on one drawer of the older chest - a
couple of flat plastic glides to cover nails that were digging into
the bottom of the drawer sides. The thickness of the plastic was a
good match for the amount of wood that's been worn away, so the drawer
sits close to its orginal position. I'm sure there's a better remedy,
but I didn't think of one that I could do on an overnight visit.

John