Inside Drawer finish .... Shellac or Wax

[Greg Cuetara]

I am finishing up a dresser which will hold clothes. 1/2" hard maple sides, front and back with 3/4" cherry fronts and 1/2" plywood bottoms. I made another dresser 4 or 5 years ago and I finished the drawers with spray shellac. I have finished the rest of the dresser with 4-5 coats of spray shellac sanding 320 in between coats. I was going to sand out the last coat and buff some paste wax on the piece.

I was thinking maybe I should just rub in paste wax on the drawer insides and outsides rather than go the shellac route....party because I have wax and I am almost out of shellac and have 7 drawers to do.

Should I just go out and buy some more shellac for the drawers, two coats then a top coat of wax for the sides and bottom for them to run smoothly or just go with wax and be done with it....

Thank you,
Greg

[David B. Morris]

One of the masters of drawer making, Alan Peters, used nothing but wax. If you think you need more protection I would shellac the outside sides, and top and bottom edges, then wax, then for the interior wax only. The crucial thing is to keep the contents of the drawers free of any finish/solvent odors, which argues for just wax (including the inside of the carcass). But all this depends somewhat on the type of wood you're using for your sides and backs. A close grained wood like quartersawn oak takes to wax well while not needing an extra finish to preserve its stability. I just did this on a piece and it turned out well and nice/neutral smelling.

ETA overlooked that you're using hard maple--that would take wax well I think.

[Jim Becker]

The wax will work just fine with the Maple. But you could also "burnish" it up with increasingly finer grits and leave it bare. Or just leave it bare. The maple has a nice surface in general and is fine for clothing.

[Greg Cuetara]

thanks for the advice or confirmation that what I am did will work. I went ahead and just put a coat of paste wax on the drawers. Still working on the drawer fronts right now and then have to assemble the whole thing....hopefully the drawers will fit.

thanks,
Greg