How to repair drawer runners

[barryvabeach]

I have a fairly old dresser which is made out of mahogany, very well made,  in pretty good condition, except that the drawer runners are fairly worn . As a result, the drawers tip on the way out, and hit the face frame on the way in. The runners look like they have ruts from the drawers opening and closing.  The bottom of the drawer sides are in good condition. The only suggestions I have seen online are to take off the runners and flip them over and reinstall.  I don't see that as an option, because the runner frames have dust covers .    At this point,  one option would be to try to use a shoulder plane to plane out the grooves, then glue think pieces of wood.  I see some problems because the shoulder plane won't reach the very bad of the dresser.   Any other suggestions?

[Lynden]

Would tack-in glides fix the problem?

http://www.rockler.com/tack-in-drawer-glides

[shoottmx]

barry,
I did exactly what you are suggesting on 2 old dressers. Planed the runners with a Stanley 90 bull nose rabbet, cleaned up the end of the runners with a chisel and glued on oak strips to make up the lost material. Worked out very well.

g

[MstrCarpenter]

Not exactly the fine furniture you're working with, but when I first started on my own I did a stint with Kitchen Magic doing re-facing. I applied strips of plastic laminate to the runners (and kickers) of old built-in cabinets. Usually the bottom of the drawer sides had to be straightened too. A little wax on them made them work smoother than most of the metal drawer slides available at the time. I also built furniture for Ethan Allen, and many of the drawers utilized nylon tabs to guide and position the drawers in the opening. Most of them used a center wood slide in the opening with a nylon guide on the back of the drawer. At School I was taught how to make sliding dovetail runners and used two per drawer. They were tough to align perfectly, but boy do they work great. That night stand I built in high school is still in my parents bedroom and it still works great. It looks and feels like the drawers are floating in and out of the opening.

Regardless of the method you use; the wood needs to be waxed.

[Willyou]

Without seeing the problem it is hard to make a good recommendation. However, I might try filling in the "ruts" with something like Bondo, sand it smooth, and then apply some of that thin slick plastic tape that is sold for the purpose. You might want to seal the sanded Bondo with a couple of coats of shellac or similar. In my experience, the slick tape will stick better to a smooth surface.

It is surprising that the bottoms of the drawer sides are in good condition. You might want to double check this.

If the drawers are tipping too much, it might be that the kickers are missing or broken (if it ever had some). Repair, replace, or installation of new kickers might fix the problem.

[barryvabeach]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Willyou, yes the drawers are in quite good condition, the sides are of mahogany, as well as solid wood bottoms of mahogany as well.  I had thought about bondo, but wasn't sure if that would be too abrasive on the drawer sides over time.

Lynden, the tack in drawer glides would only work if I installed a bunch of them on each runner - the grooves go the full depth of the dresser, and are actually deeper in the rear.

I may try the shoulder plane idea first on a lower drawer that isn't used as much to see how much work that entails.

[jteneyck]

I did exactly as Willyou suggested on an old piece.  




Bondo in the worn out runners, then sanded them smooth and applied a couple of coats of SealCoat shellac.  Then I applied a layer of the peel and stick UHMW drawer runner tape, and waxed the bottom of the drawer sides.  The drawers slide like new again.  

I wouldn't do this on a high value piece, but figured it was an acceptable solution for the piece I was rehabbing.  That was 4 years ago and, as far as I know, the drawers are still working fine.  

John

[Dan Moening]

Two things that come to my mind:

- As this is an old dresser i.e. heirloom(?) ... use hide glue so any repair you make may be easily undone if necessary.

- make the replacement runners out of a material less dense than the drawer sides. Thus the runners will wear more quickly than the drawer sides; replacing runners is easier than rebuilding a drawer.

[Gary G™]

MstrCarpenter
I would like to see a picture of the sliding dovetail runners.
Could you please do this?
Thank you.

[Willyou]

Willyou, yes the drawers are in quite good condition, the sides are of mahogany, as well as solid wood bottoms of mahogany as well.  I had thought about bondo, but wasn't sure if that would be too abrasive on the drawer sides over time.

You are correct that the Bondo alone would probably not work well. jteneyck and I are suggesting that you use the Bondo as only a leveler and then use the stick-on UHMW as a wearing surface. This is a fairly easy and effective solution. To Dan's point, this would also be reversIble if it should ever be necessary.

I think that you will find planing the surface smooth will be labor intensive and it will be difficult to create a truly level surface in preparation for applying a new wearing surface.