Shop Cabinets Finishing Schedule

[Ken Baker]

I'm practicing on my Shop cabinets before moving into the nicer ones that the LOML wants for the living room.

They are Birch shop ply - litter nicer than the borg stuff.

I have an Accuspray 12S from Homestead and I wanna spray everything.

What schedule do you all recommend, and products to use? I want them stained and sealed, either clear or white on the interior, and probably cherry for the outside, since I will be doing cherry inside the house and I want the practice.

Thanks.

[Brian Kent]

I'm watching for any responses to your question.

I am making my garage cabinets right now out of baltic birch. I am planning on not staining mine because I want them a light and natural color. My questions are about sealing the wood first with dewaxed shellac (should I?) and whether to use water based or oil based poly. Unlike you I do not have a sprayer so I will be brushing.

Brian

[Steve Schoene]

For the shop cabinets without stain, there is no particular reason, other than the somewhat different color provided by a darker shellac, to put shellac under a brushed on varnish.

But, if the cabinets are stained first, with oil based stain, or even with a water soluble powdered dye, a coat of shellac before applying a waterborne topcoat such as Target USL, can help prevent some possible compatibility issues. Yes, if an oil based stain has cured sufficiently, the waterborne will likely adhere just fine, but even small risk can be avoided. If the dye were used, spraying a shellac coat before the waterborne would reduce the amount to dye "lilfting" into the top coat. But making the first coat of USL very dry could go a long way toward stopping the lifting.

We aware that Baltic Birch isn't terribly well designed for staining. Birch tends to be blotchy, particularly with oil based stains that have both pigment and dye, and the patches and glue lines that sometimes occur may not take stain well. But for shop cabs it's structural advantages would outway that.