Finishing Drawer Insides

topknot11 | Posted in Finishing on March 6, 2021 08:53am

I am close to completing a cherry Shaker chest of drawers and need some advice on finishing the inside of the case, specifically the inside of the drawers. My plan for the outside was to follow Chris Becksvoort’s cherry finish recipe (Danish oil followed by a tung oil/spar varnish mix. My concern is how to finish the drawer insides without creating a finish smell when the drawers are opened. Drawer faces are solid cherry with poplar sides and back. I was planning to line the bottom drawers with aromatic cedar and I don’t want the finish residue smell to overpower the cedar.
Would a couple of coats of shellac be the way to go, should I leave the drawer insides unfinished or is there something else that might be recommended? Thanks for any suggestions!

Replies

_mj_ | Mar 06, 2021 09:07am | #1
Yes, shellac. Water based will raise grain and have you sanding so your socks won't snag and anything oil based will reek for a longass time.
bilyo | Mar 06, 2021 09:11am | #2
Most anything that drys fast and leaves little or no smell. I like lacquer, shellac, or water based poly.
Rob_Sp | Mar 06, 2021 09:22am | #3
Shellac will work fine on the drawers. It will work even better on the entire piece. Orange shellac will compliment the natural color of the cherry. It is easy to apply, plenty durable, and extremely easy to touch or spritz up. It's look and feel is unmatched in my opinion. Mix flakes fresh, dewaxed is a bit more durable than the waxy stuff. The pics are natural cherry finished with orange shellac.
elmaduro | Mar 06, 2021 11:31am | #4
Going against the grain here.. I’ve finished drawer insides with Tried and True oil and the odor has been long-term pleasing.
john_c2 | Mar 06, 2021 12:30pm | #5
I use shellac on drawers. If it's high use, like a kitchen drawer that will get hard wear, I'll do a coat of shellac and 1 or 2 of water based poly. I don't like water based directly on bare wood.

For clothes and such, you can just leave them unfinished. All the olden ones were.
Dawidkin | Mar 06, 2021 12:35pm | #6
I finished the inside of my Stickley nightstand in the same fashion as the outside - natural Danish oil followed by water-based matte poly. No problems with smell, and it’s a look and feel I really like.

I love a shellac finish as well, the only issue being, IMHO, it spots to easily to be considered durable in its own right.
lat_axe | Mar 06, 2021 01:24pm | #7
Nothing - unless you want to give some sort of shine to the wood, in which case just a good bee & carnauba furniture wax. To go with the cedar smell, you could use Alfie-shine, which has other nice smells included such as frankincense myrrh, cinnamon and cloves.

http://www.alfieshine.com/Welcome.html

Many oil-based finishes can linger - sometimes for years. Not good with clothes. What would be the purpose of finishing the inside of a drawer with oil, lacquer, shellac or any other such protective finishing coat, anyway?

Lataxe
topknot11 | Mar 07, 2021 01:15pm | #8
Thanks Folks! I appreciate your feedback. I'm thinking I will try the unwaxed shellac option. I would like to at least seal the wood so whatever seasonal expansion/contraction would be somewhat balanced with the outside of the case. Again, thank you!
ral3wood | Mar 07, 2021 02:21pm | #9
All previous suggestions seem reasonable, was just going to add that I am now in the habit of applying whatever finish I want to the interiors of the drawers (usually both sides of bottoms and inside drawer faces) before I do joinery. Just saves a lot of time later on - don't have to get down into all the nooks and crannies of interior drawer spaces. Know that doesn't help with this project, but just a thought for the future.

(For that matter I now try to design almost any project where I can prefinish nearly the entire piece before glue-up! Think I have heard Philip Morley talk a lot about doing that as well.)