Oak drawer problems

[cherilton]

I have had problems with an oak chest I made about 8 months ago, with the customer saying that the drawers had become very tight. Upon inspection I could see that they had expanded quiet a lot .I was surprised that they had done so and so much. They where fine all through the summer months and now the weather is cooling I presume they are drawing in the humidity! Is this correct? The drawers are danish oiled on the front and down the sides but not on the inside's and I am thinking that maybe I should have done the inside! Would it make a great deal of difference to the expansion problems ? The wood is american oak,18mm thick, not sure of the water content. Would the drawers have shrunk back again once the customer put his central heating on?

Cheers
Graham

 

[Jorden]

Yes Graham this does sound like a humidity problem, and will most likely go away when the customer turns on the central heating. Don't put Danish Oil on the inside of the drawers, it's best to leave them as plain timber as there is a good chance of the finish discolouring the drawer contents. In the meantime you could could ease the tightness in the drawers with a little sanding, but remember that the drawers will shrink to their correct dimensions - minus whatever you sand off, when the humidity drops. Another trick to try is rubbing a little candle wax on the faces that are binding.

Dennis

 

[garywayne]

Hi Graham.

This is not an answer to the currant situation, but it may help in the future.

Some of you may be interested in this design, some of you may already know of it.

The "Nordiska Kompaniet" drawer. (NK drawer, pronounced enco drawer). A drawer developed in the 1900s by the Swedish manufacturer Nordiska Kompaniet.

The standard drawer is a box in a hole where when the humidity rises tends to bind.

The NK drawer sides are set in slightly, so when the humidity rises, and the sides swell, they don't bind. Also, the drawer front remains a good fit.

Here is a drawing of the drawer without the front.

I will include a drawing with the draw front shortly.

I hope this is of some help to someone.

As promised.

 

[pidgeonpost]

As Dennis says, sounds like a humidity problem. When the heating goes on this may well influence things, so it may be worth leaving things as they are until the heating has been on for a while to give everything time to stabilise.
The candle-wax idea works well, and if you can get access to apply it to the chest rather than the drawer, and then operate the drawer a few times you may be able to see shiny spots on the drawer where the wax has rubbed. These can then be eased a shade. Some books recommend quarter-sawn timber for drawer sides - perhaps easier said than done nowadays!

 

[Chris Knight]

Graham,
It sounds like a humidity thing. However, bear in mind that summer i often more humid than winter. A cheap RH meter (B&Q do them for about £3) is a useful thing to leave in the room to check this. Check it when you install it and then again when problems are evident.

Use quartersawn timber for drawer sides to minimise the problem.

You imply you used 18mm wood for the drawer sides - this seems excessive in the extreme. I use 8mm for even large drawers and it is plenty strong enough and generally looks a lot nicer than thick sided drawers.

 

[cherilton]

Nice drawers garywayne they should sort the kind of problem,s I have had.
As regarding the thickness of the sides yes they are very thick but thats because I was being lazy. The company that supplies my pine laminate panels also do oak laminate panels that finish at 18mm so I just used one panel to make the complete chest. Makes the drawers bomb proof but maybe eggagerate,s the expansion probs.
I have today found a problem with another oak chest I have had in workshop for 8 months. When fitting the drawers originally I attached the drawer stop blocks to the sides of the chest( at the back ) this I always do with my pine stuff with no problems. When checking the chest over today before trying to sell it I couldn't quiet understand why the drawers went too far in to the front frame( originally they sat flush ) I did soon realise what the problem was and thought what a wally I must be.
Guess you guys may know what my problem was. The sides had expanded. So moving the blocks with it about 4mm.Yes the dreaded moisture again, so knocked the blocks off and fitted some new ones onto the front frame.

Cheers Graham :roll:

 

[garywayne]

Graham.

I tried to find some instruction on the NK drawer on the Internet but found only references to "Fine woodworking", which you have to be a member.

If you are interested in the NK drawer, I found it in a book called, "The new best of fine woodworking designing and building cabinets". Printed by "The Taunton press". ISBN 1-56158-732-X

I hope this is of some help.