finishing inside furniture?

Hi all,

Am I "supposed" to finish inside a cabinet with anything?

I am building a TV/video cabinet out of recycled Blackbutt. It will have three drawers made of plywood with false fronts.

Until now with restoration projects I've never bothered doing much to any of the bits that aren't visible from the outside. But I figure that all of them have been finished "properly" at some stage in the past.

This is the first time I'm building something from scratch.

The outside will be two coats of Danish Oil and some carnauba wax.

Steph

Hi Steph,

There is a thread that includes a good discussion on this somewhere, I'll have to and search for it.

But from memory, it was suggested to finish the inside of the piece before it's put together. To stop finish getting on the to-be-glued areas, one suggestion was to use masking tape.

If you do get glue on the finished area inside, it should be much easier to clean off, than if the timber were unfinished.

Cheers
Wendy

I was always taught that what you do to one side of the wood you should do to the other where possible. Wood sealed on one side allows moisture in unevenly and could cause warping. As with all things, rules are made for the guidance of wise men and the observance of fools.

jerryc

You're a bit of a philosopher, aren't you Jerry?

"No one man has all the answers"

"Rules are made for the guidance of wise men and the observance of fools"

I think it's wise to finish both the inside and the outside of your cabinets and foolish to leave it up to fate.

Ok thanks that makes sense I will oil the inside of the carcase. Not sure if I will do it before glueing up on this project given that I only get 3h of machine/glueup time a week (at class) and the next one is tonite.

But what about plywood drawers? Worth sealing them?

Steph

Silent ???? c. With 89452 messages to your credit, surely you are too modest.

jerryc

Quote:

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89452

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Hmm, stronger on philosophy than maths I see :)

:bowdown: Stop fighting my children.

We are not fighting, Mr Wong. I am merely commenting on Jerry's penchant for philosophical musings and he is commenting on my ironic user name, although you are actually one of the very few people on here who has ever actually heard me :wink:

yes seal all the insides and under tops etc, or it will likely warp or twist...:)

All the old stuff you see was never finished on the inside and it survived, some of quite well too.

Al :)

Sorry Silent sir. Not a maths problem, merely a typo.

Thought as much but you don't think I got to 8000 plus posts by letting things like that pass by uncommented on, do you :U

Al's way ahead of me though :-

Err... did anyone tell me whether to seal the plywood drawers yet or are you all too busy arguing amongst yourselves :q?

I didn't answer because I'm undecided. Plywood isn't really subject to the same problems as solid timber. I think if you finish one side of it, you should finish the other, but beyond that, I don't really know if it is necessary or not.

For me, it's an appearance thing. I think a cabinet should look as good inside as it does out. If that means finishing everything in sight, then by all means. I think panels should definitely be finished both sides. Frame members you might get away with.

I tried to find something on it in the books I've got here but drew a blank.