Refinishing an old dresser

[petertay15]

Just refinished a hundred-year-old butternut dresser. The bottom edges of the deep drawers were so badly worn, the drawers could no longer be closed. I had to cut off the lower edges of the sides and glue on new strips. Makes one wonder why dresser drawers are made with soft wood drawer sides. Why not hardwood that will last as long as the dovetailed fronts.

Also wonder why drawer interiors are, traditionally, left unfinished. A coat of paint would be so much more friendly and cleanable.

BTW, the rebuilt drawer sides now have nylon tape on the lower edge. Makes them slide in and out almost as if on rollers. I can highly recommend such. 10 mil thick. Got it at Rockler.

[jteneyck]

Most furniture back then was not built with thoughts of how it would wear over a hundred years, not much different than most furniture today. People used softer woods for interiors of cabinets because it was cheaper and easier to work. Dovetails made with poplar are much easier to cut and convince to fit than those made with maple. I have seen a few cabinets that used replaceable drawer runners in case they wore out, which shows some folks did think about longevity and ease of repair. But for the most part, no.

No one finished the inside (or backs) of cabinets and there's really no need to. For one, it would have cost money. And if they had painted them back then they would have had to use oil based paint, and it would have stunk up the inside of the cabinet for years. What didn't show didn't get finished; for the most part commercial furniture made today is the same. In my own work I sometimes spray the insides with a coat of Sealcoat shellac, but generally I don't do anything. Drawers, yes, I often finish them.

John

[Paul K. Murphy]

I can't add much to what jteneyck has said except this:
(It's really hard for me to say, or even imagine.)
Here, on a woodworking forum in particular, we care about woodworking. Nobody else does.
It doesn't make them idiots. It doesn't make them bad people. They have other things they care about.
People like you, me, and others on the forum, occupy our minds with whether or not to use quartersawn wood. "Should I use hand tools or machines?", many ask themselves. "The drawers to the XYZ cabinet will be strongest because..."
Most people couldn't care less. For a lot of people, even back when, making cabinets is/was a job.
We're nerds!
Let that sink in.