My cherry cabinet has a 2" face frame. I want to hang some draw slides and will need to put rather thick shims in to support them.
Pine would be an aweful lot cheaper than hardwood; what problems would result? How does the wood movement compare to cherry, with and against grain?
Thanks.
No, the pine would simply hold the drawer slides. The side of the cabinet is 1 1/4" away from the drawer, so I need to put a shim in to attach the drawer slide to.
Toller,
If you're thinking of using the "Borg" pine, even the best they have is typically about 12% mc and you'll probably pay more for #1 pine there than you would for some kiln-dried #2 poplar from a local mill or hardwood supplier.
Bob S.
No, you don't. Lee Valley has a set of extras that hold the slide in the back and another that screws into the face frame. You need 1/2" clearance between the FF and drawer sides. I don't know if they fit all slides, but they did fit the ones I used on my TV stand last week. Ed
I thnk pine would be too soft for drawer slides.
Len
Toller wrote:
As far as I know, such woods have been mixed since the masters created furniture. Pine and other woods have been used in secondary and hidden locations. Personally, I do not like to mix soft and hard woods within a project. It just doesn't seem right according to my way of doing things. I find the expansion rates too different, and screws and other fasteners designed for hardwoods do not hold as well in softwoods and vice-versa. However, I often use poplar or birch as a secondary wood along with other "good" hardwoods.
Screws and pine don't get along very well, and I'd expect you might have problems over the long haul with the slides wanting to work loose and pull out.
I guess if I were building something, I wouldn't want to go any softer than soft maple for holding screws. It's almost as cheap as poplar, but a lot less squishy.
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