Desk Drawer tolerances

[Puckdropper]

I'm thinking of building a desk out of oak, and was wondering what kind of clearance around the drawer I need. The opening measures 5"x12 3/4".

Puckdropper

[dadiOH]

Flush, I presume? 1/16 total for both sides (ends), 1/8 total for top & bottom. You can use less if you slope the drawer front sides and ends inward slightly.

[WW]

Assuming no drawer slides dadiOH has a good idea. WW

[Lew Hodgett]

----------------------------------- Did a chest in hard maple.

The above worked for me.

Lew

[Leon]

Personally I would only allow 1/16 TOTAL in width and height if it is floating, any more than that and you end up with a drawer that gets pushed to one side and a big gap.

Using slides, go for a perfect fit in width.

[Martin Eastburn]

I have an oak desk at the lodge. The drawers just have some room around the edges. When the moisture increases in the office the drawers start to stick and jam.

One issue is the bottom of the drawer drags the horizontal bar. Have bottom runners if you can - inset the bottom.

Also consider having guides. Remember oak weighs plenty!

My old Everlast brand steel desk - WW-II vintage for the main shed office. I found it in a salvage shop. It has ball bearing guides and it is fantastic 65 or 70 years old.

Mart> I'm thinking of building a desk out of oak, and was wondering what kind of

[Puckdropper]

"dadiOH" wrote in news:iuai2r$ju1$ [e-mail]:

Thank you, that sounds reasonable.

Puckdropper

[Zz Yzx]

I think Hoadley has an involved discussion of this kind of wood shrinkage/expansion.

-Zz

[Swingman]

Bingo ...

Until you use these on a job or two, you really don't appreciate just how big a 1/16" gap really is:

[upscale]

it was lining up drawers until I started using these spacers and eliminated the irritation.

[Steve Turner]

I saw those in the latest Lee Valley catalog the other day and I almost made a bee-line straight to the computer to put a set on order. 'cept I CAN'T just order those and nothing else, and I can't start an order without going completely overboard, so I forced myself to think about big ugly fat chicks instead and the darkness passed.

(Was unable to post this from news.eternal-september.org for some reason; switched to astraweb instead...)

[<upscale]

I believe they're available at other stores besides Lee Valley. Of course, maybe you can hold this spacer order in reserve for that time when you need something to put you over the top when making another Lee Valley order.

[Leon]

Actually you can buy direct. Lee Valley seems to maybe have a unique packaging and or style shim as the manufacturer does not offer the same style shims.

[Swingman]

[Leon]

Unless you want a larger quantity of the same sized shim. LV only offers assortments of different sizes.