Preferred finish for shop carts etc

[johnny means]

I don't bother. Waste of time and finish. No ROI whatsoever.

[John Hays]

I don't bother. Waste of time and finish. No ROI whatsoever.

Well I'd beg to differ if you live in a high risk area for floods (like I do). Makes them easier to clean once the water receds and they're less prone to mold and mildew when they start drying out.

[jay gill]

i used shellac on my bench top. seems to resist thing sticing to it, an if it needs a recoat it is dry in a couple hours and sands smooth easily.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

For bench tops and things that might get glue on them, I use a mix of 1 pint pure gum turpentine, 1 pound bees wax, and 1 pint boiled linseed oil. Shave the beeswax into the turpentine so it dissolves. (Putting it in the sun helps speed the dissolving.) Add linseed oil, stir, and apply. Don't melt the beeswax over a stove. It needs to dissolve in the turpentine. Add more turpentine if needed but it takes about 30 min to dissolve. I use a kitchen grater to grate the beeswax and it is dedicated for that purpose because there is no getting the wax off the grater.

Epoxy and yellow wood glue will not stick to this finish! I use it on my workbench. It also is not slippery. You can use raw linseed oil but it will be slow to dry. It leaves a very natural semi-gloss finish.

[Lornie McCullough]

I like to build shop cabinets with LOTS of drawers, so I like to paint the drawer fronts with chalkboard paint. I prefer the green (not the black) because it is a pleasant mellow color. Then I can label the contents on the drawer face with ordinary school-room chalk.

Lornie

[Tom Clark FL]

I use a coat or sometimes even two of satin poly on all shop cabinets, just because it looks great. I build all shop cabinets out of oak ply from the borgs. It doesn't cost much more than the cheaper plywood, is far more solid, and the poly really pops the grain and looks great. Cost and time is very minimal and you will enjoy the results for many years.

[Fred Floyd]

I installed an oak floor in the house and had a 2.5 gallon container of Waterbased Polyurethane. All my shop carts get that finish. Looks better than nothing and I'm using finish that otherwise would just be thrown away. After 10 years the tops of several of the carts have been scraped, sanded and refinished a few times, but it only takes a few minutes.

The workbench has oil based polyurethane. In 30 years, I have refinished twice. The shop walls got a light gray paint that I got at Lowes in a 5 gallon container and only spent a few dollars as it was a returned container that could not be re=sold.