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My workbench has drawers. I keep just about everything I use, except hand saws and large planes, that I use often, and the band saw, drill press, grinder and lathe; that I don't use much.

The drawers always open up when I'm working. I got the bench itself to stop wandering on the floor by putting folded over sandpaper under the legs, but the drawers still open by themselves. They are just drawers, no hardware. Yes. They do slide nice.

Any ideas?

Yes, I know. Get them to not slide so nice? But how?

They all have chips in them.

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Why be normal?

How about cabinet door magnets.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Tilt the cabinet back a couple of degrees.

Some mobile bases are immobilized by short legs that kick up and raise a couple of the castors off the floor when the tool is pushed backwards slightly. This could also tilt the cabinet back slightly and help the drawers stay closed. Win -win!

This is the 3rd shop I have set up. The first two were commercial buildings I was renting so I didn't want to invest money into the building so I had drawers.

Those first 2 shops taught me one thing... I HATE DRAWERS

So when I built this shop (attached to my house) I decided the only thing that would go into drawers were things I didn't use more than once a year or so. Anything I use on a regular basis got hung on the wall behind my workbench. I do have my "regular" tools i.e wrenches, sockets and screwdrivers and such in my roll around double stacked toolbox but all of my woodworking tools are on the wall where I can see them. I can tell at a glance what is missing

So I solved my "drawer" issues by eliminating them...


As for keeping your drawers closed (wait... that didn't sound right...) I think tilting them back would be the simple solution.
You could also replace all the slides with those self closing ones. But that would be pretty expensive.

I say simple is better... So get rid of all those drawers and put your stuff on the wall. That is as simple as it gets.

Cheers,
Bob

Hot hide glue and an overnight clamping should do…

You don't need that much force Ed. I glued a couple 4 piece backs earlier this week, clamping one outer set for about 20 minutes, moving them to another table, glueing another outer set, and then moving them back to the other table, glueing an outer set of the other 4 piece, and then gluing the first 4 piece set together. It worked fine. 20 minutes clamping, and moving gently to set another 20 minutes or so. Then glueing again, and moving to set unclamped after that.

Bob. I don't have much wall space. I have a cabinet with mostly varnish stuff on the wall. It has a shelf with books, and all the larger planes. The bench under it has a glass top that plans can fit under. If I keep it clean it WOULD work nice for finishing, and gluing. That's the plan anyway. I have boxes underneath with instrument "kits" in them. Some violas mostly, and the 5 string. One box has 5 guitar kits in it.

I like the boxes. They do get dust in them, but they are mainly for storage. Once the neck is on a guitar, or a viola it won't fit in the box anymore. Then they can go on the shelf under the workbench, or just on the workbench.

The wall on the other side of it has pegboard, mainly holding violins and violas. I need to get rid of them! Not really a fan of pegboard, it works, but never feels real sturdy.

I don't really have that much stuff. The Jet air filter takes up the space of the Shop-Mate folding bench. The 10" bandsaw is pretty compact. The minilathe is on a small old dresser, with the the grinder and the drill press. That's it. Oh, the adjustable height table/go-bar deck

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Why be normal?

Well. I've always had to put a shim under the NE corner (back right) to keep the bench from rocking. Not much, 1/8 or so. I checked the level, and it is way low on the front. Go figure. I put shims of stock, a little over 3/8" on the front and now it is pretty close to level but slightly high in the front.

We will see.

Who ever thinks to see if a table is level?

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Why be normal?

I like drawers, for me the key is shallow drawers so tools don’t get thrown on top of one another.
I made this hanging cabinet for that very reason. Mostly shallow drawers with a purpose in mind.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com