I started the master bath painting project. I am not going to bore you with a painting project, even though this one had me utilizing my terrible drywall mudding skills. I hate using joint compound. I digress …
I needed an old T-shirt for painting. As I tried to get it from my bottom dresser drawer, I struggled, as I always do, to pull open the drawer. I believe this drawer has not worked right for about 25 years. I just have been living with it. I fixed one of the drawer slides about 2 months ago when Efiwym, my wife, complained that she could not get any more clothes in that drawer because it would not close properly. The screws that hold the slide were stripped out. So instead of using larger diameter screws, I used bolts and nuts to secure the slide. Easy fix because I had access to the underside of the cabinet frame.
The slide for this drawer was not as easy. The screws were fine, but the slide was cracked and broken. I decided to make a new one. Heck, I have a table saw and left over red oak from my kitchen cabinet door project. I found a piece long enough and slightly larger in width and height. Nothing a table saw could handle. The slide was t-shaped and slid into the metal guide attached to the bottom of the drawer.
I ripped the piece of wood to create the rabbit I needed on both sides. The slide was slightly taller, so again, I ripped the slide to the proper height using the old slide as a reference. I cut the slide to the proper length and brought it upstairs to drill the screw holes. But first I grabbed 2 screws since the old ones were bent.
When I got upstairs, I discovered the screws were too short, so back to the basement to find larger screws. Once I was back in the bedroom, I tested the slide by running through the metal guide on the drawer. Wow! I impressed myself that it actually worked.
I lined up the back of the two slides and used the old slide as a guide to drill the back screw hole. The old slide was missing the front where the screw hole was. I needed to drill the hole for the front screw. To find out where I needed to drill the screw hole, I started by screwing in the slide in the back. I lined up the two slides so I could mark where the existing hole was on the cabinet frame. I marked the slide, removed it and drill the hole for the front screw. I installed the slide and gave it a test run. But first I went through my T-shirts to see which ones I should put in the Goodwill™ bag. Once I was done with that side project, I slid in the now nearly empty drawer. A couple more test slides and I was satisfied with this endeavor. I cleaned up my mess and went on to another thing on my “to-do” list, cutting the grass.
