How to Make Drawer Guides

Remove any old drawer guide hardware on the side or bottom of the drawer, if you are working on preexisting furniture. Remove the screws from plastic or metal guides with a screwdriver, pry wooden guides off of the drawer with a hammer and wood chisel.

Measure the bottom of the drawer from side to side at the back, front and in the center. Write down the widest dimension. This will indicate the width to install the L cleats. Measure the drawer opening in the furniture from front to back, starting where the lip under the drawer opening stops inside the opening. Measure from the lip of the drawer opening at each side, back to the side panel of the piece.

Cut a 3/4-inch thick piece of hardwood to fit between the bottom lip of the drawer opening and the back of the opening, as wide as the space between the outside panel of the furniture and the inside lip of the side of the drawer opening, plus 1/2-inch, plus the difference between the width of the drawer and the opening, divided by two. For example a drawer 18-inches wide, with an opening of 19 inches would require an additional 1/2-inch of width on each side.

Set up a 1/2-inch chamfer or rabbet bit, with a bearing, in your router. Loosen the two collet nuts by turning them opposite each other with a pair of wrenches, the outside nut turns counterclockwise while the inside nut turns clockwise to open the collet and the reverse to tighten it. Insert the bit and tighten snugly. Adjust the bit height so that the shoulder of the bit is 1/2-inch below the base plate of the router.

Cut one long edge of each drawer guide with the router bit, so that you end up with a notch 1/2-by-1/2-inch along the edge. Sand the entire guide smooth with 220-grit sandpaper.

Use a level to install the guides along the sides of the furniture with the routered rabbet on the top of the guide and inside the drawer opening. Set the uncut edge of the guide against the side panel of the furniture. Nail through the guide into the side panel of the cabinet every 3-inches using a pin nail gun. Do not glue the guide in place, as it may require adjustment for changes in humidity. Level the guide from front to back.

Set the drawer into the opening and slide it back in the guide. If the guide is tight, sand the vertical edge of the rabbet slightly to loosen it, with a square sanding block and 100-grit paper. If the guide feels loose, pry it out from the side slightly with the wood chisel and slip the tip of a wooden shim behind it, tapping the guide back into place with the hammer.

Rub wax along the rabbet of the guide and the bottom of the drawer for smoother action.