I am building a desk and I am at the point of sizing and building the drawers. My workshop is my garage (no air conditioning) and it is very hot and humid here in the southeast.
Question is this: Should I place the wood for the drawer fronts and sides in the house for a couple of days so when I size them there shouldn’t be much movement when the desk is complete and placed inside the house? It seems to make sense to me but perhaps I’m missing something.
Thanks
Replies
Do your build and make the fit of the drawer on the snug side. When you bring it inside the gaps will "perfect" themselves.
Use quartersawn stock for drawer sides whenever you can. It will move less than flatsawn. Quartersawn white pine in widths for drawer sides will show almost no movement.
In conventional drawer construction, the wood grain of the front is lengthwise so changes in moisture will not affect the width. Drawer sides are always lower than the opening in the furniture so they won’t affect the fit either. Use as is and at best, they will dry a little and glide better once in the house.
Personally I like drawers made in the NK style as there's far less risk of moisture changes causing a jam or too much slop.
There's a good article about NK drawer design in FWW:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2001/08/01/a-better-way-to-build-drawers
There are other advantages, such as less wear on the drawer-hole floor from the drawer runners going in and out; and the opportunity to make the drawer front a closer fit without risking jamming of the drawer. They're also less likely to fall apart over time from vigorous use (the slamming and tugging many traditional drawers are subject to over the decades).
Lataxe
That is always a good approach if your shop is very humid. I'm also in the SE and deal with the same humidity issues. Air dried lumber here runs from 12-16% MC. I am fortunate to have the space to build an air conditioned room I store my project lumber and do my builds in there.
If the drawer is less than 6" wide, and the wood acclimated to your garage for example, 14% MC, you still won't get that much shrinkage going in side.
As the drawer gets wider the issue becomes more significant.
You might consider air conditioning the garage in the future. It will also help your tools rusting.
Thanks very much for all the input. While the NK design sounds interesting the drawers are on the smaller side so I will try NK another time.
Really do appreciate all the help; good forum
Thanks
If the drawers are small, look at traditional drawer slips. Much better than grooving the sides on small drawers.
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