What lubricant do you recommend I use between wood and plastic?
Question:I'm working on fixing an armoire in my bedroom, and the drawer seems to be sticking more than I'd like it to. I narrowed it down to friction between the drawer and rail. The drawer is particle board, and the rail is some kind of plastic. I don't have white lithium grease; do you recommend I get some? I do, however, have at my immediate disposal olive oil, canola oil, moly-fortified synthetic grease (the red stuff), SAE40 Valvoline motor oil, SAE 5W30 AMSOIL motor oil, PB Blaster, WD40, and paint thinner (which leaves a thin grease when it dries). My maternal grandfather once taught me that you can use candle wax to lubricate wood, but he was always a less-than-reliable source on everything. I've never lubricated anything made of wood before, so any advice from your personal experiences would be helpful. I have a feeling I'm going to be fighting the porosity the whole time. I'm not worried at all about the plastic.
Answers:
use a bar of soap. it works
I always use a water-based lubricant for my woodie.
Candle wax would work if you're into that sort of thing.
Seriously, all jokes aside, wax would work.
I have had no problems with drawers after rubbing the wood runners with a block of wax.
The wax is sold in markets for canning fruit in jars. It is available everywhere.
They do call the wax paraffin and I just get the runner of the wood drawer rubbed really well . I never need to wax both runner and tray. The friction is in the wood so that is what the wax does. It removes the wood friction.
First off, dont use any type of vegetable oil, as it will go rancid after awhile, be it olive oil, canola oil and any type of oil from living plants.
Motor oil is not a good thing as it will absorb into the wood and swell it, as well as any type of oil... Particle board is famous for absorbing water or any type of "wet".
I would recommend wax. A good candle wax will work, but, if you have constant trouble, you may want to "sand down" the area that is being a problem first. Use a light 300 grit sand paper, so that it will be smooth and you dont have to "take it down" very much, just a wee bit...
Then seal the edge with the wax and the plastic rail with wax also.
(You dont have a very good "quality" piece of merchandise if it has particle board for drawers, so, dont expect miracles).
I wish you well...
Jesse
beeswax
Don't forget your grandfather was reliable this time, you have several good answers. You can also check out the Rockler site and you should find some plastic type tapes that are for this purpose, they appear to be nylon.
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