Few things can be more annoying than stuck drawers; however, I find sloppy-fitting drawers quite annoying, too. As a result, this desk gets hefty drawer guides, to keep the drawers moving straight and without much sideways slop. This is accomplished with drawer guides attached to the dust cover.
For each drawer I size the guide a bit at a time, using a hand plane:
Tweaking the width with a hand plane.
To prevent binding at the drawer opening, some hand work is required to taper the guide near the entry point:
A smooth taper is essential.
Installed, the guide allow lateral movement of only a few thousands of an inch. As the drawer bottoms are oriented such that long grains runs the width of the drawer, this tight fit should be good – if not, a few thin shavings from the sides of the drawer will fine-tune the fit quickly:
One guide screwed firmly in place.
Up close and personal, this is the drawer’s view of the guide in place. The taper is key to allow easy drawer entry into the space:
View from the opening.
Sometimes the spacing between drawers is narrow; in this instance, the two drawers share one guide:
One guide shared by two drawers.
With the guides in place, it is possible to continue to place the drawer stops; only then can the final fit of the drawer fronts be done, to ensure good appearance on the front apron. While this appears tedious, it is actually rewarding work; the details do count!
— Al Navas
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