Half Blind DT Drawers

[Brent Leonard]

I am preparing to finish a set of nightstands. Each stand has three drawers with flush faces. I constructed them with maple fronts with 1/4 sawn white oak sides & rear, half blind dovetails front and full dovetails in the rear. The bottoms are slide in panels.
I plan to finish the maple with boiled linseed oil topped with a 2 lb cut of shellac. No BLO on the oak drawers, just a very light cut of shellac, rubbed with johnsons wax. Very simple.

question is:

The drawer front edges, where the half blind DT's show, how should I finish that area?

My first thought is to mask the oak, just behind the tails of the DT's, finish the pins and tails with the BLO & shelac. Remove the tape when dry and complete the finish of the oak drawer sides with the light shelac/wax.

Any thoughts & suggestions?
I would even welcome comments on the BLO/shelac on maple as a semi-natural finish. I have really liked the results of Watco Oil (golden oak color) rubbed with paste wax on my other maple projects.

[Scott Holmes]

I'd mask the entire edge and finish it as you would the sides. BLO will cause the endgrain of the maple to get much darker than the face. Shellac on the sides will keep the endgrain about the same as the face w/BLO.

I would finish the sides first. That way BLO can't get to the endgrain.

[Brent Leonard]

I'd mask the entire edge and finish it as you would the sides. BLO will cause the endgrain of the maple to get much darker than the face. Shellac on the sides will keep the endgrain about the same as the face w/BLO.

I would finish the sides first. That way BLO can't get to the endgrain.

I like that idea.