Replies

1. 
   Kell | May 20, 2003 09:07pm | #1

   paulkay,

   I've seen maple, oak, mahogany and cherry drawers with pine sides and no sign of splitting so I don't think it's an issue.  Unless the drawers are several feet deep and then the two might have problems with each other.  With only a few inches involved the difference in shrinkage, assuming some exists, should be negligible

   Someone with the shrinkulator url might weigh in to offer it up to you.

   Kell

2. 
   jonsherryl | May 20, 2003 09:50pm | #2

   Paul, pine is relatively stable compared to the hardwoods you mention. However, ash would be slightly more stable than the maple. As Kell mentioned, if the drawer isn't too deep, it shouldn't be a problem anyway. Unless you're a real pro at dovetails, there'll be some slop in the joint to absorb a little of the stress.

   If you're really concerned, though, you can do a little "adjusting" in terms of stock selection. If the pine fronts are flatsawn, you can use quartersawn or rift sawn ash. Eastern white pine's tangential shrinkage, green to ovendry, is 6.1%, while white ash has a radial shrinkage of only 4.9%...so, by paying some attention to grain direction you can compensate for any serious shrinkage differentials. 

1. 
   davamoore | May 22, 2003 02:23am | #5

   Unless you're a real pro at dovetails, there'll be some slop in the joint to absorb a little of the stress.

   Jon, thank you, thank you, thank you.  Gold star for you.  You've just provided me with my best excuse ever for a gap in my dovetails.  Bless you. <grin>

   David ("What, that?  That's just to absorb wood movement.  Part of the design, y'know.")"The world that was not made is not won by what is done" -- Mundaka Upanishad

1. 
   jonsherryl | May 22, 2003 05:13am | #6

   Yup, Dave. It's called the Silver Dollar fit. If you can drop a silver dollar in the crack between the pins and tails...then there's no sense worrying about shrinkage stress.

   ...You'll have more important things to worry about.

1. 
   AlanTurner | May 22, 2003 05:21pm | #7

   Have dovetails hit a new low with this discussion(LOL)?

3. 
   forestgirl | May 21, 2003 01:25am | #3

   Ahhhhh, the Shrinkulator:

   http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/shrinkulator.htm

   You can also get a similar program to **download** onto your computer at the  new magazine "Just Woodworking"

   http://justwoodworking.com/links/wood_move.php

    

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

4. 
   HowardAcheson | May 21, 2003 06:02am | #4

   If you are interested in tradition, make the whole drawer and slides from pine. It will be a hundred years before the drawers show much wear if you periodically put some paraffin on the sliding parts.

   I have a set pine drawers with pine side slides in my shop as a pedestal for a work surface. I have one drawer loaded with three power drills and another loaded with some other heavy stuff. The unit is about 15 years old and there is no appreciable wear. The slides have been coated with paraffin and the drawers slide like there were on metal slides.

1. 
   eddiefromaustralia | May 23, 2003 05:09am | #8

   Howie,

   I was going to say the same as you.

   Might be better to make both the drawer runner and drawer side out of the same timber. That way, wear is uniform, and not concentrated on one part or the other, causing quicker drawer failure. (although it would take a number of years to be noticed).

   Cheers,

   eddie