Preferred Wood for Drawer Sides

Maple or Oak

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I agree with Dennis, Maple is the right choice….

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

I heard someone say at one point in time that you should never use the same species for the drawer and the drawer slide. That the same wood species don’t work well together.

No experience on it though.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Maple it is then, now the 64k dollar question. What is the difference between soft maple and hard maple? Is soft maple considerably softer and would it suffice for drawers?

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Here – I’ll throw a wrench in the mix: you could use poplar, alder, white pine, birch…but maple sounds like a good choice too!

On the soft maple vs hard front, I found this and this.

Looks like soft maple is about the same hardness as cherry, twice as hard as poplar, and only 25% softer than hard maple…

Sounds like it would be a-okay for drawer sides and backs!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Another vote for maple.

-- Express creativity with wood, Dewayne. Vacaville CA.

I believe that the soft maple would work just fine for the drawer sides. I also believe that you will find it to be less expensive. At least it is here in my market..

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Dorje, thanks for the links and to everyone else for the comments. I found the local shop that I buy from has soft maple for $3.50 bf. They also have poplar and red oak which I usually use. I think that I am going to use soft maple for the drawer sides. Now, I need to investigate what Karson has heard about the same type of wood rubbing together causing problems, I guess it would be like galling of metals. Has anyone any experience with this?

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

With the contents of the drawers as you described above, I wouldn’t worry too much about galling-type problems. It doesn’t sound like these drawers will be that loaded to cause much problem. You might want to run some beeswax on the drawer runners to minimize the friction and that should take care of any sticking problems that you might have. Good luck!

-- Pat Mulry, Dallas, Texas || www.lonestarpokertables.com

I have always used oak for drawer sides and runners. But that’s just me.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I guess it depends on what type of slide or support you are going to build, and how tight the tolerances will be. I would think using the same woods would be ok, if there is enough space to allow for the wood movement. It seems a lot of people use poplar in these situations, since it will save money and not be seen. They save the maple for the drawer front, table, etc.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

The Jimster prefers 1/2” baltic (russian) birch plywood. It is a nine-ply, extremely stable and warp-free material that is perfectly suitable for drawer sides.

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Jimster, I have a full sheet of Baltic birch sitting in the workshop (garage) but was having second thoughts because I want to try my new Porter Cable dovetail jig out and from what I have read it splinters quit a bit. Any one have any experience with it? I was also thinking about backing it for machining with quarter inch hardboard to see if it would keep the plywood from splintering.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!