Quote Originally Posted by joe webb View Post
* Plywood quality. Visiting HD and local lumber yards, excluding baltic birch, the remaining are of so-so quality. They all have void in the core. Some have large void. Both side are rather different in quality. They are about $60 a sheet. Baltic birch is unfortunately out of my budget at $110 per 4x8 sheet.
* Is your wipe-on finish the wipe-on polyurethane? Someone suggested Shellac, and I tried it on a sample. After 3 coats, I got a darker color, but I didn't see much of protective layer. I know many people dislike the look of polyurethane, but I am fine with it. I am looking for the quickest finish (combined number of coats and dry time).
* I plan to do edge banding and have no experience w/ it yet. I saw may people reporting it is rather time consuming.
* Yesterday I did the lock rabbet on a sample and I was able to get a very tight fit. I don't think screws would pull them any closer.
Cheaper plywoods can be made to work; you just might end up with some mini-projects mid-project.

My first closet project used general finishes wipe-on gel urethane. You don't need many coats (I might have done 2 or 3). The biggest question with oil-based varnishes is clearing the ambient dust before applying, and letting it harden enough before a light scuff sanding. I didn't use any stain.

I did a second project with a danish oil finish. This was even easier to apply, but took much longer to settle down to a state where I'd put clothes anywhere near them.

Your joints look good.
I'd recommend keeping the joint in clamps until the glue sets up. Few things as lousy as finding a joint slightly opened up and you now have a trapezoid you're trying to use with drawer slides...

Edge banding took some work to get trimmed nicely. It is probably faster than solid edging, but I just didn't like the process as much (not as confident working with the glued edges compared to solid wood)

Sounds like this will be a great project!

Matt