After sanding the dresser to the point where it was about ready to begin the stain and finish I decided to take a detour from the refinishing and started to repair the dresser so that it was a decent piece of furniture again. This was an unplanned step when I first began, but the more I worked with the dresser, the more I found things that compromised the integrity of the piece as a working piece of furniture.
A typical dovetail joint on a drawer. These can loosen over long periods of time.
Fixing Dovetail Joints
The first thing I did was inspect the dovetail joints of all the drawers. Some of them had been nailed together with finishing nails (clearly not original handiwork) and some of the joints were simply falling apart. I used some professional wood glue that was made for pressure points on the loose joints, putting in just enough glue to form a strong bond but not so much that it would ooze out all over the place.
Once the glue was applied to the dovetail joints I had to apply constant pressure for several hours so ensure that they would not loosen again. I did this by positioning the drawers on their side and then using bricks wrapped in old towels to keep a constant weight on the drawers while the glue dried overnight.
Repairing Old Drawer Hardware
While working on the dresser I also noticed that the drawers didn’t slide very straight and when they did slide straight they would fall right out of the dresser. This dresser was going to be in a baby’s room and the last thing I wanted was a toddler yanking drawers all the way out.
The dresser with new drawer stops (silver screws) and new drawer guides.
Replacing Drawer Stops
Stopping the drawers from coming out was a relatively easy fix. Most of the metal stops had been flattened years ago. At first I tried to find metal drawer stops like the originals, but after several weeks of visiting hardware stores and furniture sites I finally gave up. (Update: see comments below! We finally found vintage drawer stops online!)
I settled on putting in some heavy duty screws instead, making sure the heads stuck up enough to stop the drawers from sliding out. I also put a thin strip of wood along the back of each of the drawers to serve as an extra stop when the back of lip of the drawer hit the screws. After putting in the screws and the extra piece of wood beneath the drawers even I had a hard time pulling the drawer all the way out once it got to the end.
Repairing Drawer Slides
The drawers were not coming out straight because some of the thin wooden drawer guides were split and chipped and one was even “repaired” at a slight angle. A few of the drawer guides were beyond repair, so found a thin strip of wood of equal thickness and width and just cut out little edges on both side so that they would fit in the dresser and replace the drawer guides. I essentially made my own drawer guides with just a few cuts. All I needed to do was drill a little screw hole and secure them with a little glue and a wood screw.
Older furniture will usually have a pretty simple drawer glide system like this dresser. It was just a piece of wood with a notch in it. Newer or more ornate furniture may require a trip to the hardware store to pick up some newer or drawer slides. Most mega-hardware stores like The Home Depot or Lowe’s will have a limited selection of cabinet and drawer hardware, almost all of it metal. Fortunately, you can now find a lot of vintage replacement drawer slides online at Amazon.com
Repairing Wood Splits and Dings
The rest of the cabinet was in pretty good condition. There were one or two tiny splits down around the feet of the dresser, but they were mostly cosmetic and pretty easy to fix.
Because they weren’t structural splits I was able to take some wood filler paste and push it into the splits, filling them up. I then wiped down the face of the wood several times, smoothing over the little hump of filler that was along the crack.
I had to wait 24 hours for the wood filler to dry and then I took some sandpaper (220 grit) and gently sanded away the little bit of excess wood filler that had swelled out of the crack.
I was finally coming down the home stretch of this dresser refinishing project! I now just had to test all my dresser repairs and then it would be ready for finishing. I put all the drawers back in and tested each drawer several times, making sure it slid in and out easily. I also made sure each drawer came to a full stop when it reached the end and that none of them would fall out very easily.
Finally, the dresser was ready to start staining!
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I had the same problem regarding the drawer stops with a garage sale find I wanted to refinish for my daughter, looked all over but could not find stops like the original. What a great idea to use the screws, now I can finish the project. Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad I could help! Send some photos of your project and I’ll post it here if you like. Do you have any other tips or tricks for others who are going through a dresser refinishing?
-Tom
This has been an incredibly helpful blog! Thank you! I just bought a “vintage” dresser, painted white, this afternoon, and now I know there is no way I will attempt the refinishing on it!! Thanks for saving me hours of frustration!
And congratulations on the beautiful result of your hard work. Be sure to keep this blog for your kiddos! I think they should read it just before every Father’s Day! :-)
Wow, thank you so much for this information. I, too, started sanding a vintage dresser, that I actually got FREE sitting on the lawn of some people’s yard, who had posted this sign “FREE TO A GOOD HOME”. It was amazing as the dresser was so similar to one I had had during my childhood years. It had stickers all over it and the people that were giving it away said this was why they were giving it away. Their son had put stickers on it and used a black marker pen and wrote on the top, in several places. It has a dark stain on it, but almost looked like shoe polish, was easy to sand off. I was delighted to have it and gave it the “tender loving care” it needed to look “fresh” and “restored” and be usable once again.
Someone had also used the idea presented here of the screw and washer to serve where two vintage stops were missing on one of the large drawers. I tried to find these vintage metal stops, that someone said were called “rivets” but I, like you, could NOT find these little pieces. I even checked our local hardware store, Woods Ace as I live in Ellensburg, Washington. This is a vintage hardware store and has been in our community since the 1920′s or prior, and locally owned. One of the original owners worked there till 3 years ago, she was 88 then and just recently turned 91, totally awesome lady. It is my favorite store in town and still they could not figure out what the part was called. They suggested I bring in the little part but I didn’t want to have to remove the part as I had already used it when I found it floating loose in back of one of the drawers.
Wow, can you believe it was still in the dresser? My favorite store clerk, Loretta, recommended a Woods Ace stain/sealer with polyurethane, a one-coat application and I purchased one quart. The directions indicated a second coat could be applied after a reasonable drying time. Of course, I re-sanded the entire dresser, after sealing it all with the first coat, interior and exterior, inside the drawers and inside the dresser too. I knew that sealing inside wasn’t essential but after all the hours I put into it, wanted to cover some crazy yellowish colored paint or spray that was speckled on the interior walls. I couldn’t imagine that someone had at one time perhaps painted this dresser that color, almost a fluorescent greenish, lime yellow.
So, the dark walnut stain covered this yucky color. I had sanded it repeatedly but could NOT get the last residue of this off. Someone had spilled some strong smelling perfume in one of the smaller drawers and by staining and sealing the interior of the drawers, it eliminated that odor. I used the 600 weight wet/dry sandpaper for my final sanding, making it all so smooth and velvety feeling. It looked lovely with just one coat of stain/sealer but even more lovely when I added the second coat, just to the exterior, wow! I also found out that putting the stain/sealer on when the weather was cooler, in fact, around 55ยบ and I was working outdoors on my covered back porch/deck area, as for good ventilation, well those temps were conducive to the stain/sealer going on much more smoothly.
As I said, it turned out totally lovely, and I feel like the dresser just “shines” in gratitude for the love and effort I put into restoring it. I am sure you can tell here, from my long and elaborate post, that I am the “perfectionist” type and a “detail” person. I have re-finished lots of furniture and painted the interior and exterior of my old farmhouse, vintage too, like 130 years vintage. When we restored this ole farmhouse, I used an oil base Benjamin Moore paint on all the woodwork, applied a primer, then two coats of paint, sanding finely between coats. It has lasted 25 years.
I have always found that the finished product is in direct relationship to all the “prep” work as well as using quality paint, stain, etc., and nice brushes. One of my favorite sayings being, “You are only as good as your equipment.” Then, my sister added, and “Your equipment is only as good as the operator.” A little funny ha ha and LOL here.
I also used up nearly the entire quart of stain/sealer for my dresser, with just enough remaining for any “touch-ups” I may need to do in the future. In doing all my research, here on the Internet, I found a post that suggested using a candle (for the wax) to coat the bottom of the drawers for easy gliding of them, being that they are vintage. A candle or paraffin wax was recommended versus soap. I have yet to do this. In addition, I appreciated the info on using the metal strips for the central support of the drawers, if missing. the wood supports on my dresser were in good shape. Then, I don’t know if anyone will receive or read this post but I am truly thankful for the information I found here and thanking whomever posted it, even if it was a February 25, 2007 posting.
Bless you for sharing your insights, expertise, and photos, whomever you are, wherever you live. What a great way to “connect” to others who love restoring of furniture as I do. I have amazing “before” and “after” photos, of course, but did not see a means to post here. I have given my eMail if anyone wants to view these photos or ask me questions. Thank YOU, again, for the information posted here.
Very Sincerely,
Sarah in Ellensburg, Washington
Single Point Drawer Stop
by Restoration Center
Buy new: $3.25 for a dozen.
(Tom: Sarah, thank you so much! I grabbed the photo and made your link to the single point drawer stop active! Great find!)
Sarah,
WOW! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful find and all the steps you had to take! I’m blown away by your attention to detail!
My vintage dresser ended up going into my toddler’s room, so for the moment I actually WANT the drawers to be hard to open :-) When he’s a little older I might try using the paraffin wax as a lubricant for the drawers.
My dresser actually came with wooden knobs and I was tempted to use wood again, but all the other pieces of furniture in the room used metal, so I decided it go with the cheap and easy route and have them all match. I did keep the original wood knobs, though, thinking that they might still be cleaned up at some point.
And, really, great find on the drawer stop! Those little single point drawer stops are EXACTLY what I have/had in my dresser… I did make the links active and included a photo of them. I may just have to order a dozen at some point and put them in! I’m sure they’d work much better than my screw solution!
Thanks again! It’s such a pleasure hearing that my post was able to help someone (as does all your wonderful info!)… Do you have a before and after photo? I’d love to post it with your comments!
Have a great day!
Sarah, you are a life saver! I was looking for a flat drawer stop similar to that to finish fixing up an old desk for my son, but only found new things that aren’t anything like that. I tried making my own from some metal sheet, but the metal was a tad too thin and I really didn’t look forward to sawing out 5 of them! When I saw your reference to the “single point” one, with that picture, available on Amazon I went there to find what I assumed might be called a “double point” drawer stop. Bingo! Thanks!