Sagging Case Goods

I have been looking at and buying used furniture for a number of years. I love the looks of traditional style furniture, especially in Mahogany. My favorite is Kindel and my Updyke desk. I also have Henkel Harris and Stickley. I was looking for a Councill desk. I like the looks of their open style desk with legs versus the drawers that go down to the floor. However, What I have noticed is the older the desk, the more the center sags. One seller called it the classic swag. I noticed this in the Councill dressers as well. I do not see this in my Stickley long dresser. Is this a design issue, material choice or was too much weight placed on top of the case goods? Can this be prevented or reversed?

No properly made piece should sag, especially higher end units. If they do, then its poor design with too much unsupported load-bearing areas. Putting wedges in the middle from chest to floor would stop the sag, but it might not look very good.

Eldred Wheeler used to make this Sideboard that is notorious for sagging, I sold a lot of these back in the day and over time every one sagged so I stopped selling them - too much span for too little support:

Attachment 11175

Then I got together with one of my own cabinetmakers to refine that design since the size was popular and we went to a 6-leg unit, and the sag was gone because we had two more legs to distribute the weight across. Once we began doing this, several firms started making this design (including Eldred Wheeler). Far better piece - and I have one in my house now that is over twenty years old, no sag at all.

Attachment 11176