Finish inside of project - how far?

[knight82]

I am just about finished building the NYW Mission desk, and was contemplating the finish. I am planning on doing a Stickley finish as described on the Homestead Finishing website - I've done them before and they look pretty good. Then I started to debate with myself on how much to finish inside the project, namely the inner regions inside the drawer cavities, enclosed side panels under the top, the bottom of the top, etc.

I usually finish every surface I can get to, inside and out. Is it general practice to finish all surfaces by removing the top, or just what surfaces are seen? I usually finish everything for protective purposes, but I've never seen an explanation of it. Is there a reason NOT to finish the inside surfaces? Thanks

[jteneyck]

I don't go out of my way to finish things that can't be seen without removing something, beyond giving it a coat of shellac.  The old guys never finished things that couldn't be seen, never finished the backs, bottoms, etc. of anything. 

The underside of a top?  Yes, if you can see it I finish it.  The inside of a cabinet that has drawers?  No, if you can't see it when the drawers are open.  The inside of drawers themselves?  Depends, but never with an oil based finish, only shellac or WB. 

John

[fredhargis]

Pretty much what John said: if you can see, it apply a finish. On most furniture I'll finish the drawer boxes (no oil based here), and that becomes a little more important for things that may hold delicate clothing (like nylons, trust me on this). As for reasons not to: well, finishes are expensive...so cost might be one. If you finish the unnecessary areas you risk drips and so on on the show parts. It will increase the length of time you spend doing the finish. But the real reason to me is why go to the trouble? One exception to tat might be is I have a large flat sawn part that I want to do whatever I can to reduce warp....sometimes finishing the entire piece will help stabilize that movement, sometimes not.

[knight82]

I was mainly concerned with warp of pieces due to finish only one side. For this, I can see the advantage of doing both sides of the top. This will be easy since the top is secured with the figure-8 fasteners. It looks like I will probably do most everything except inside the drawer cavities, probably seal them with a quick shellac coating.

[Ed in NC]

I don't finish interior parts , especially drawers, unless it is with shellac. Oil based finishes will offgass for a long time, and that is undesirable for me.

Ed

[Alan S]

Just to clarify, "offgas" in this context means "stink".

[giradman]

I was mainly concerned with warp of pieces due to finish only one side. For this, I can see the advantage of doing both sides of the top. This will be easy since the top is secured with the figure-8 fasteners. It looks like I will probably do most everything except inside the drawer cavities, probably seal them with a quick shellac coating.

I'm reading Bob Flexner's book on my iPad (have had the hard cover edition for years) and the concept of 'finishing both sides' to prevent warpage is debunked (by him yet again) - although in an older article, he states the same in Finishing both sides is warped thinking.  So, I'm in the camp w/ the others, i.e. if 'unseen' then leave unfinished although I'll occasionally put a single coat of shellac sealer on the underside of some projects - why?  Dave

[Cooler]

I used to brush lacquer inside drawers, but later changed to shellac because of the fumes.  I liked both for the fast drying.  If it needs to be coated and I can get away using shellac I will.  It drys in 30 minutes in my basement.

I used to feel guilty about not finishing hidden parts of my projects.  I still don't finish the hidden parts, I just don't feel guilty anymore.