The drawers in my father's farm shop (think combination machine, tractor repair, welding, and general fix-it shop) had a big bench along one wall with wooden drawers on wood slides. Come to think of it, the bench in the garage up by the house had similar, if less burly, drawers in it.
They worked. They survived three boys, and for all I know, might still be there now although I don't think my brother uses either building much (has a separate dedictate shop quonset). They carried heavy, heavy loads of dirty, greasy tools, parts, etc.
They also were darn near child-proof for some of my early years (probably a good thing) as I could barely open them. Even later in high school as a pretty good sized 6'4" 200# corn-fed young man... they were never 'easy' to open and close. I just got used to them, as thats just the way they were, and as long as they 'worked', Dad was never going to replace them - and the idea of using quality ball bearing drawer slides had frankly never even entered my mind - we weren't exactly poor as in 'homeless', but lets just say the only reason I ate well was because of the garden and Mom's canning.
I think in Tom's book he mentions a similar experience w/ wooden drawer slides - properly waxed (or w/ the use of UHMW strips) they can work pretty well with light loads. I believe one of his parts cabinets (the 18-drawer model) uses wood slides because it holds relatively small/light parts. I have a need for one of those, and will probably stick w/ the wood slides, or at least the euro slides for that use. For a drawer full of power tools... I think wood drawers are not the way to go. But, if its all you can afford... they do work.
They worked. They survived three boys, and for all I know, might still be there now although I don't think my brother uses either building much (has a separate dedictate shop quonset). They carried heavy, heavy loads of dirty, greasy tools, parts, etc.
They also were darn near child-proof for some of my early years (probably a good thing) as I could barely open them. Even later in high school as a pretty good sized 6'4" 200# corn-fed young man... they were never 'easy' to open and close. I just got used to them, as thats just the way they were, and as long as they 'worked', Dad was never going to replace them - and the idea of using quality ball bearing drawer slides had frankly never even entered my mind - we weren't exactly poor as in 'homeless', but lets just say the only reason I ate well was because of the garden and Mom's canning.
I think in Tom's book he mentions a similar experience w/ wooden drawer slides - properly waxed (or w/ the use of UHMW strips) they can work pretty well with light loads. I believe one of his parts cabinets (the 18-drawer model) uses wood slides because it holds relatively small/light parts. I have a need for one of those, and will probably stick w/ the wood slides, or at least the euro slides for that use. For a drawer full of power tools... I think wood drawers are not the way to go. But, if its all you can afford... they do work.
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