Another silly question from a permanent newbie

[Larry Browning]

I have built an armoire for the bedroom for my wife which has 5 drawers. I have never built drawers before and I have a question about the finish. Most drawers I have seen do not seem to have any finish at all on the sides and backs. no stain or finish that I can tell. Is this the best way to do it? It seems to me that there should be some sort of finish on the sides and back. What kind of finish do you use?

Thanks,

[lou sansone]

I have used 1 very thin coat ( 1/2 lb cut = 1/2 lb of flakes per gallon of solvent ) of super blond shellac and then sanded the drawers lightly to remove any fuzz. It seemed to seal them from dirt and grime. You might be able to use a clear waterbase poly also. I would experiment first on some scrap.

[Peter Lyon]

Larry,

I don't typically finish the inside of drawers for my projects due to concern over lingering odors. However, in the rare circumstances where I have done so, I used shellac.

[Bart Leetch]

I'd go with shellac . Even the pre mixed will work well.

[Ian Barley]

The only draw part that I would finish is the face front. I don't like to finish the insides because of the potential to contaminate the future contents of the drawer and prefer to leave the outside the same way for balance (and laziness).

The only thing that I do is apply a little wax to help sliding if there is a wood/wood contact.

[Jerry Olexa]

Shellac is best for drawers in spite of what u use on the rest of the project..

[Alan Turner]

I always (nearly) finish the drawer insides, and the carcase insides, with shellac. One thin coat, sanded, and hten another thin coat, followed by wax.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Thanks for posting this! I was actually going to post the same question pretty quickly.

[Steve Clardy]

I use a pre-finished maple ply draw side. No finish on the bottoms.

[Steven Wilson]

shellac, not enough for a glossy build just enough to seal the wood; usually one or two coats.

[Keith Christopher]

I like to put a light coat of shellac or oil. then wax the runners