On Apr 23, 8:54 pm, Larry Jaques wrote:
Note: as you see, Puckman wasn't looking for drawer slide lube, but a
wood protectant. BUT.... reading the heading about applying poly to a
drawer slide, it could easily be seen how to misinterpret. You did
better than I did, I was thinking he was going to shoot metal slides
with poly to prevent rust!
Robert, you forgot to tell him that finishing the inside of drawers is
NOT standard practice and is usually a bad idea due to the finish's
horrible odors and invariable stickiness.
I always shoot something in the drawers. One mil of finish no matter
what it is that is properly cured will have outgassed all it can. The
key is to use hotter finishes and get away from the slow dry polys,
varnishes, long oils, BLO, shellac, and on and on.
Get a hot finish, spray a dust coat, let it dry. Remember, I refinish
in people's houses while they are in the house. I use the hottest
finishes I can get, and almost all the odor is gone in a day. If not,
certainly in two. People smell too much solvent because the rooms
(kitchen for example) isn't properly sealed off before spraying and
the gasses get out into the house, are picked up by the A/C, and
distributed throughout the home.
I don't turn over raw wood to my clients. I like to provide them with
cleanable (as in the inside of a drawer, not necessarily durable)
finish that has a finished look to it. They really aren't interested
in any kind of "authenticity", or making sure that I follow any
traditions they may have heard of. They know it isn't as durable as
the faces and doors, but still a bit more cleanable than raw wood.
Personally, with the **** poor quality of materials we have been
seeing and using for the last 10 years, I consider not just a question
of a better finished product, but self defense. Since we don't know
what is in the core of the plywoods we use these days, we don't know
how it was stored, we don't know them moisture content of the wood
when it was used, and we don't the actual glues or woods used in
plywoods, it is cheap insurance. Finsihing the drawers in the inside
with a dust coat takes minutes, much more than fixing a wracked
drawer.
Additionally, with the advent of prefinished plywood, folks are now
used to going to the home stores, cabinet showrooms, etc., and they
see that the insides are finished and expect the same from me. Once
again, they aren't interested in a lesson on traditional finishes and
woodworking. They want what everyone else has.
To finish or not to finish on a home project is different, and I tend
to think of questions as they reflect on my work, not as someone's
hobby. Although I would still seal both sides, if nothing more than
with a dust coat or "wash" coat of hot finish, I think raw wood or wax
is a personal preference.
Wax on the outside is not a film finish and does work as a lube. Ask
any wooddorker for the past 400 years. 
Now that depends on the wax, eh? Some of the finishing waxes are not
that slick, and most are kind of brittle. Most have silicones (NEVER
on wood... NEVER!) synthetic waxes, all manner of petroleum carriers,
with a little of carnauba thrown in for authenticity.
I don't consider wax a finish. It isn't water resistant, humidity
resistant, heat resistant, abrasion resistant, isn't very cleanable,
and after a while it breaks down all by itself.
(So do other finishes, but not nearly as rapidly.)
Now for the guy that says "hey, it's easily repaired, and I don't mind
renewing the finish every couple of years on the weekend" it might
just fit the bill. Once the carriers leave, you are only left with
the thinnest coat of estherized manufactured resins, some silicone
residue, and maybe some carnauba, maybe some beeswax. You know, stuff
that easily carves with your fingernail.
Not for me. The only thing I see good about wax is that it is easy to
apply.
Before anyone gets upset, remember, it's just my opinion, so take it
for what you paid for it.
Did I ever tell you about my trip to an Etherized Allen showroom ca
2000?
*SNIP* of a sad experience
P.S: The EA store didn't impress me after all.
Me neither. Here's my EA story. I was doing some work at a house
where they had a whole house of EA furniture. After all, they give
you free decorating advice after a certain amount of money is spent.
They had an EA lamp table they had spent something like $900 on, and
they wanted to change the color of the top only.
Well, says Motormouth (read: Robert) that shouldn't be a problem. It
had a fairly complex diamond pattern of different kinds of wood
underneath a heavy dark spray of stain, topped with -WAX!!- (just
kidding... it was some kind if thin lacquer).
Quoted them a price and off we went. I put some BIX on it and it went
through that finish like it wasn't there. ( Maybe it was wax
afterall.... ;^) )
It also went through the wood diamond pattern and raised it up. I was
horrified as I thought I had ruined the little wood inset. Nope.. not
at all. I had ruined the the "wood", actually paper, applique.
In a strange twist of fate, the clients weren't mad at me. They were
really ****ed off at EA since they had been told their furniture was
"solid wood". I was prepared to take a real beating, but they took a
different tact altogether and told me that they would have never asked
me to try to refinish the top if they had known it was only paper.
They were really mad at EA and wrote them some really nasty letters
but nothing came of it.
$900 for a lamp table made of a mishmash of hard(er) woods with a
paper decal on it. Man am I in the wrong business!
Robert
PS: Like that Ruskin quote a lot. Hadn't seen it in a long while, but
boy is it a keeper.