Stuck drawers

[SimonWJ]

Hi all,

I have a cabinet (see pic) with two stuck drawers. They were always tight, but have since swollen while in storage.

Beyond drilling holes in the back and using a drift to push them out, I have no idea how to get them free. There is no gap around the drawers to slip anything in between.

Any advice/tips would be great.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

If you can be patient, and that little unit is now sitting inside a warm and relatively dry atmosphere the drawer sides and front should eventually shrink enough that they'll simply slide out. It's most probable that the storage conditions were somewhat on the damp side causing the drawers to swell making them too tight to simply pull out.

After you are able to free them might be the time to make the drawers a little looser in their opening, i.e., plane a bit off the top edge of the sides and possibly the fronts. Slainte.

 

[Rorschach]

That doesn't look too big so you can do this. Buy a dehumidifier pack from the poundshop, put the cabinet in a big plastic bag with the dehumidifier, tie it up. Put it somewhere warm but out of the way.

Should do the trick nicely.

 

[Orraloon]

As the others have said the storage location had more humidity than your home. Just let them dry out a bit and they should be fine in a week or so. Then perhaps a rub of candle wax on the drawer runners.
Regards
John

 

[Jacob]

Knock the chassis back and the drawers might come forward. You'd have to do this very carefully with a tidy length of timber between the frame and your hammer, to spread the load and avoid marks, and I wouldn't try to hard!

 

[MikeG.]

There are few problems which can't be fixed with a few ounces of well-place explosive.

I've just recently taken some furniture out of long term storage, and suffered similar problems. Two weeks later, everything works fine, with no input from me at all. Patience, grasshopper!

 

[k4wils]

I fitted an elm whisky cabinet in an alcove in a clients house. The drawers fitted beautifully, I was called back a few weeks later when the client could no longer open the drawers. It was an old house and I suspect a little damp round the chimney breast. I put a dehumidifier in the room and a couple of days later the drawers could be removed and refitted.