Finishing a dresser

[davejones]

I am working on a low dresser on which I am getting close to the assembly stage. Thinking about finishing I understand that most people recommend not finishing the inside of a cabinet or drawer and this makes sense to me. What I am trying to understand is how to approach this in practice.

Do I need to mask off the inside edges of the dresser before I do any finishing? What tips/tricks are there to get good results on this?

How do you handle the drawer face vs. sides for HB dovetail drawers when the face is flush with the side (no overhang)? Do you finish the sides of the drawer at all, or just the face? What about the top edge of the drawer front? I am just wondering if this will look strange if it is unfinished and the front face is finished. :dontknow:



TIA,
Dave

 

[Canuck]

Hi there Dave.

I generally assemble the drawer, then brush on a coat of clear shellac on everything but the drawer face. (ie drawer box sides, front and backs, bottom and underneath the drawer.)

I then use blue painters tape and mask off the drawer face from the box and apply the final dresser finish.

You will find that finishing the drawer box with shellac will dry quickly and not gas off an odor after it is dry.

HTH

Wayne

 

[davejones]

Thanks Wayne!

I haven't used shellac before, so it sounds like I may get another first on this project.

 

[mshel]

If you don't want to bother brushing the shellac, get some spray shellac in a rattle can and before putting the drawer bottom in, spray the inside of the front, sides, back, bottom. Then go ahead and finish the fronts. If you are going to stain, then mask off the fronts but if not, do the fronts with your final finish. When all is dry, you can put the bottoms in and secure by your choice of methods. The shellac will not interfere with your final finish so don't worry about that.

Either way, good luck and be sure to post some pics when done.



Mike

 

[Guy in Paradise]

As usual it depends on many considerations

Most professional work or on high quality work you will see the inside and out sides of a drawer finished with some sort of finish or sealer. Of course, the most attention is to the outside, or observable portion of the finish, but it is nice to observe good craftsmanship and quality when actually using the furniture. I feel that giving a coating to all of the surfaces gives that extra degee of quality and a more stable product over time. Perhaps not what the woodworking purist wants to hear, but want the client wants to see.

Good luck.

 

[Jeff]

I've read that the interior parts are usually finished, but not with the usual oil based finishes so that they don't end up with that refinery odor for months on end. Dewaxed shellac seems to be the method of choice. It also prevents off-gassing odors if some of your interior components are plywood (urea/formaldehyde, etc.).

I wonder if you could use a few drops of an alcohol based dye in some Zinsser SealCoat if you want a finished interior look? I have no personal experience with this, just a thought. :dontknow:

Shellac flakes (100% dewaxed, from Germany) are also available in 3 color variations: I've used a 2 lb cut of garnet recently-pretty neat stuff.

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=393794e8

Whatever you decide you should experiment with scrap off-cuts (both interior and exterior) to make sure that your finishing schedule is complimentary before committing to your final piece. You've come too far and have a lot of time invested thus far to end up rushing to the finish!

I'm a big fan of prefinishing as much as possible before assembly. It's more time consuming, but well worth the extra effort at the end of the day. Taping off a bunch of glue joints is a pain, but you have everything to gain. It's just my personal preference (2 cents worth). :roll:

 

[davejones]

Thanks all for the replies.

I am going to give Zinsser Seal-Coat a try, and hope to test out some scrap this weekend to see how it goes.