Assembly and finishing raised panel cherry

[Jeff Monson]

I'm getting ready to start assembly on my kitchen island, cherry wood and the front and sides are raised panels, my finishing choice will be BLO followed by amber shellac. So what should my assembly procedure be?

Put the blo on the edges of the raised panel before assembly or should I assemble and then blo the entire project? Any other assembly tips are apprectiated, thanks.

[Steve Schoene]

It won't hurt to prefinish the panels, but BLO will pretty easily work its way into the groove around the panel.

The shellac will look very good on the cherry, but as much as I like shellac, I question its use on a kitchen island. It's plenty resistant to water, and even more to water vapor, but the thing that could easily get to it is common kitchen cleaners that contain an alkali such as ammonia. Ammonia dissolves shellac--is even recommended for cleaning shellac from brushes or out of spray guns.

I'd think about a varnish product of some sort--perhaps a wipe on such as Waterlox. Waterlox sells its Original/Sealer which is a mellow gloss, a Satin, and a Gloss version. Good protection, easy application, and a nice amber color that is attractive on cherry, in my opinion.

[Jim Becker]

Steve is correct...use the BLO and shellac for your color/grain, but put on a protective finish. You can use a wipe on oil-based product like Steve recommended or if you have spray capability, consider something like Target Coatings USL. (I used the latter for my entire kitchen) You don't want the shellac as a top coat in a kitchen environment for the reasons Steve stated.

[Jeff Monson]

Jim and Steve, thanks for the great response, I have question though, I was using the amber shellac to give it a deeper tone, so is the Waterlox available as a tinted topcoat or is this a clear topcoat that I should apply over the shellac?

[Jerry Olexa]

Agree w Jim and Steve but strongly reco you finish edges or all of your panels before assembly to prevent possible expansion/contraction exposed naked edge later. Also, tho I too love shellac, you'll need a more durable protective topcoat (prob vanish). The clear topcoat should not affect the amber darker shellac underneath. You could also tint the final coat to act as a glaze.

[Steve Schoene]

Waterlox is a moderately dark, amber finish so you can experiment with what the combination of shellac and waterlox gets the coloration you want.