I have a dilemma. I am building a tower chest of drawers for a customer and the upper half will have 5 drawers. The middle drawer will be 6″ high and the upper two drawers will be 5 1/2″ and 5″. The lower two drawers will be 6 1/2″ and 7″. The customer insists on having the runners on the sides of the drawers and I feel they should under the drawers. they tell me it is for clothes and such. The rails on the side are 5/8″ x 3/4″ dadoed into the side 1/4″ deep so the rail will stick out 3/8″. Drawer sizes is 20 3/4″ wide x 16 1/2″ deep. To me the rails should be on the bottom.
Rails on the side or bottom?
Replies
Well, Dave,
The customer is always right. About all you can do is point out that the weight of the drawers will be concentrated on a smaller area with the side runners, accelerating wear. Bottom runners will spread the wear over the entire thickness of the drawer sides, instead of 3/8" of its thickness.
That said, if you talk them into something they don't want, any future drawer problems will be all your fault, whether they have anything to do with side runners or not. If you do it their way, you may get the satisfaction of saying "I tried to warn you", and the opportunity to build them another chest...
Truth to tell, a 20 " long 7" deep drawer won't be that heavy unless they keep their barbells inside it. Use hard wood for the sides.
Ray
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