How would you fix this?

[Bob DiGiacomo]

I made this desk about 4 years ago and the problem is that I did not leave enough room for the inset walnut drawer faces to expand and contract. Now the faces of the drawers scrape a little bit on the frame. My question is how can I fix this without messing up the finish of the drawer face. I am thinking about running a block plane around all the sides, but I don't want to chip out the end grain. I thought about using a belt sander but I don't want to make the drawer uneven. There has to be an easy way. Right? Please help.

[Jude Kingery]

Bob, not sure if this will help, but I'd try an easy fix first, something like wax on your runners, see if this will allow an easier slide and fit even with expansion/contraction. Hopefully you'll have lots of good suggestions better than mine, but couldn't hurt to try it maybe. Best wishes. Jude

[Bob DiGiacomo]

The good news is the the drawer slides operate really smoothly, so I could try some wax on the face edges, but I know that it won't work for all of them. Anyone know how much space I should have left between the drawer face and the face plate for clearance? Maybe 1/8" all the way around? But that seems like a big gap.

[Matt Bickford]

Due to wood expansion, you probably don't need to worry about blowout becuase you will only need to plane the long grain (top/bottom or the face). But if you do need to plane all four edges, attack the endgrain first (there won't be a problem with blowout while planing the long grain). To prevent possible blowouts on the corners while planing the endgrain, clamp scrap flush to the edge you will finish your stroke on. This should prevent blowout. If you're still concerned, start your stroke on the top of the drawer and finish on the bottom. You will have to refinish these edges, of course.

[Bob DiGiacomo]

Matt,
Do you think with a block plane, portable electric plane, or jointer? Remember I have 8 drawers to do?

[David Duke]

Bob you didn't say, are the drawers dragging on all sides or just the top and or bottoms? I wouldn't think that they would expand to much length wise (with the grain), if they are are only hitting on the top or bottom just remove stock from the bottom and adjust the drawer to the opening. Of course this depends on how the drawer face is attached and what kind of slide/runners you used.

[Mike McCann]

Not sure if this will work but instead of sanding the draw panels and have to worry about the endd grain just sand the face frame.

[Al Killian]

If it where me, I would cover the faces with something and sand the edges on my belt sander. This way you wont have a problem with chip out and you can off in tmall amounts.

[glenn bradley]

The good news is the the drawer slides operate really smoothly, so I could try some wax on the face edges, but I know that it won't work for all of them. Anyone know how much space I should have left between the drawer face and the face plate for clearance? Maybe 1/8" all the way around? But that seems like a big gap.

I leave 1/16th and that has been adequate for wood movement here in SoCal. For shop cabinets I leave a bit more as drawers tend to get overloaded and abused. For rolling cabinets in the shop I leave about an 1/8th as garage floors aren't flat and I need some shift room.

To correct I would not use power equipment as it could get too aggressive too fast to notice. A plane, sandpaper or if appropriate, a cabinet scraper could all do the job if we are talking about drawers that used to close but now don't simply due to wood movement. There shouldn't have been noticable movement down the length of the grain so your end grain edges probably do not require any work(?).

[Bob DiGiacomo]

After looking again I can see that most of the problem is coming from the bottoms and tops of the drawers. At this point, I am probably going to just use hand planes and sandpaper, and just take my time fitting one drawer at a time. Thanks for the advice, I will keep an eye to see if there are any other suggestions. Thanks Bob

[Ron Dunn]

Is one column of drawers worse than the other? I notice that you've got the desk right in front of a ducted heating outlet. That can't be good.

[Matt Bickford]

I would use a block plane. No question. This is absolutely NOT a job for a belt sander or jointer if you have a block plane in the shop. It would be hard to screw up and would probably not take too long at all. You will get better and quicker results with a plane and without the possibility of causing severe damage due to a shakey hand or overly aggressive setup.

[Bert Johansen]

I like inset drawer fronts, and have made lots of them. My trick, taught by a mentor who was in his eighties when I met him, was to use a pair of dimes (one on each side) to set the gap. I've never had a problem with wood movement using this "tool," even with large drawers.

[Bill Wyko]

Maby you could find someone with a jointer that has a shelix blade. I don't think you'll have a problem using a system like that. BTW That's one heck of a beautiful desk you have there.

[Bob DiGiacomo]

Well a lot of good advise so far and thanks.

There is no real difference created by the heat vent by the left side.

I like the dime trick, in fact I remember using thin strips of sheet metal rather than dimes when I put the drawer fronts on. Next time I will use dimes.

It looks like I will be trying the hand block plane to take it down about 1/16" on the top and bottom.

If the sides (end-grain) needs some tweeking, will use the block plane working in towards the middle and then touch up with a sanding block.