Wax for Drawers

[Greg Cuetara]

I have seen many people discuss waxing drawers instead of providing a finish on them. I do have one coat of dewaxed shellac on some drawers but would like to wax them so that they will work more easily. Should I wax the whole drawers, inside and out, eventhough I have a coat of shellac or should i just stick with the shellac inside and then wax the outside? Is there a special type of wax that I should be using so that the drawers slide easier in and out? The drawers are hard maple and the dust frames are also hard maple but I would like something for the wood on wood interaction. I have seen the minwax paste wax at the Borg and not sure if this will be acceptable or if I should go to the rockler store and buy something more suitable.

Thanks,
Greg

[glenn bradley]

I would not wax the interior of the drawer but I guess you could. As far as ease of movement there are products specifically for wood to wood contact. For heavy drawers (in the shop or deep dresser drawers) I use paraffin like folks use to seal jars of preserves.

Paraffin can become stiff and 'grabby' in colder weather and I don't find it good for lighter drawers (lingerie chests or jewelry chests for example). For those I just use Johnson's Paste Wax. But, here's an example of a commercial product (haven't tried it):

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...lter=lubricant

[Greg Muller]

I was taught an idea from an old cabinetmaker a while back that is what he used for low cost and it's a long lasting solution.
On the front of the dustrail and the back bottom of the drawer he tapped in a couple of thumbtacks on each side. The old fashioned metal kind, not the plastic push pins.
This leaves the drawer riding on those two surfaces alone, reducing drag and lasting almost forever. I've used this on a couple applications where aesthetics weren't important, but cost and ease of use were.
Talk about easy and cheap!!!

[Greg Cuetara]

Great suggestion Greg...the only problem is that I don't have enough room right now to put in a thumbtack...I will definately remember that for the future though.

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Greg,
I just built a table with wood slides. The "slip-it" product above worked great. And, based on how much I used for the table slides and how much is left in the can, I will probably have the same can for quite a while.

[John Timberlake]

I put a coat of 1 pound blond shellac on the drawer sides and front. Then I wax them on all sides with paste wax including the drawer runner. After three years, I have not needed to rewax. They move almost as well as good quality drawer slides.

[Greg Cuetara]

Thanks for the advice here. I found some paraffin wax in my kitchen and used that. The drawers work like a charm right now. I posted some pix of the final table in the general forum under baby furniture finally finished. Not sure how to link to that just yet.