I figured I'd just start a new thread on this ...

The following comment was made by Tim Sproul in another thread:

Quote Originally Posted by Tim Sproul
If you employ traditional building techniques like slide-less drawer boxes...you want the drawer sides to be made of a relatively soft wood. Drawers are easier to repair/replace when the sides where out than to replace the runners the drawer sides were sliding on.
Offline Tim sent me this comment.

Quote Originally Posted by Tim Sproul
I said something along the lines of 'relatively soft.' Relative to the drawer runners. If you make the drawer runners out of cherry, I'd use poplar or if you can, basswood for the drawer sides. If you want maple drawer sides, I'd use jatoba runners. The Jatoba will be a similar color to oiled and aged cherry and won't 'stand out' when the drawer is removed. Jatoba is relatively inexpensive and is more dense/hard than hard maple.

Wax the runners and bottoms of the drawer sides to keep them working well and extend the life of the piece. The waxing/lubricating is probably more important than the choice of woods....less friction leads to less wear.
What if I just screw the runners to the aprons with no glue? That would make it a simple task to replace the runners and much easier than building new drawers. Just flip the table upside down, unscrew the old runners and screw on new ones. I could use maple for both the drawer sides and runners and the only time you'd see the runners is when the drawer was pulled out.

I agree that wax is an important part of extending the drawer side bottom/runner life as well as making for a smoother drawer action.

Comments anyone?

Rob