Summer's Sticky Drawers

Yesterday I got a call from a woman who had just recently moved to Ithaca from Colorado and was wondering why the drawers on her night stands were stuck shut. Her dad made these and several other pieces so they have strong sentimental value. The short explanation is something that we all know intuitively on some level but perhaps don't understand the specifics of: wood moves.

A ten-inch wide board may be that dimension in the fall, 10 ¼" wide in the summer, but 9 ⅞" or so in the winter. What's happening is that as the humidity of the air changes, so does the moisture content of the wood. The humid summers here are what cause doors to stick and drawer sides to grow to the point at which they no longer open. The remedy is to make the overall width of the wood narrow enough to accommodate the opening in the summer and accept the fact that it will be slightly loose in the winter. The better approach, though, is to design the piece so as to minimize the effects of this movement. 

Different species move in different amounts, and the method of sawing the wood from the log also affects this so, for example, a flat-sawn piece of yellow birch would make a terrible choice for a drawer side because of its high rate of expansion, whereas a nice piece of quartersawn sugar maple would tend to move less and therefore give a better fit throughout the year. 

I went to bed last night reading Eric Sloane's book, "A Reverence for Wood." He gives an example of wood movement that I'd never heard of, which is the way that old shingle roofs can 'breathe out their nails.' What happens is that, with the daily changes in moisture and atmospheric pressure, the shingles will all expand and contract a tiny amount, slowly working the thousands of nails outward and producing a porcupine effect. (He goes on to talk about the benefits of having those nails hold the insulating layer of snow on the roof all winter as well, but that's another issue.) 

One of the advantages of custom furniture is that it's more likely to be made with these considerations in mind. In a factory setting, there is often a utility grade wood that's used for all the hidden parts and isn't necessarily the best choice. Another plus is that, if the drawers do stick a bit, most custom furniture makers will be happy to stop over with a plane and true up the edges of the doors or of the drawer sides as needed. It's a simple procedure and every maker I know would much rather spend a few minutes doing this than have one of their pieces out there in the world functioning imperfectly. I know I would.