Old guy in Knoxville taught me a trick for drawer slides

Viola Gibson · 2026-07-06T16:50:05.93251+00:00

Ran into a retired cabinetmaker at a salvage yard near Knoxville last month. He showed me how he pre-drills his drawer slide screw holes with a slightly oversized bit to avoid splitting the wood, even on cheap ply. I tried it on my last 12 drawer job and had zero failures for the first time. Anybody else got weird old-timer tips that actually work?

charles8362mo ago

My granddad used beeswax on his drawer slides. Worked like a charm.

5

grantw412mo ago

Hang on, is splitting wood on drawer slide screws REALLY that common? I've been doing property maintenance for years and maybe once I've had a screw split a piece of cheap ply. Seems like a lot of extra steps for a problem that barely exists. I just use a regular bit and don't crank the screw down like a gorilla and it's fine.

3

jessem592mo ago

Beeswax on slides beats my old trick of swearing at them until they cooperate.

1