I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

"G.E.R.R.Y." wrote in message
...
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

A Bombay (sp?) chest ?

Jim

That seems to be what people are saying but, if you look around at a lot
of antiques, you will find a lot of insides not finished. In any case, if
you let the finish dry, it won't stink up anything. Most finishes are
odorless once dry. The old standby, shellac is great for inside drawers and
it is completely odorless when dry.
"G.E.R.R.Y." wrote in message
...
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

In article t, CW
wrote:

The old standby, shellac is great for inside drawers and
it is completely odorless when dry.

Thanks to one and all for the responses. The consensus seems to be
unfinished or shellac would be equally acceptable. However, will it
create problems in a few years if the inside is shellac and the outside
is a totally different finish? If going with shellac, would it be
better to use shellac on the outside as well?

Gerry

"G.E.R.R.Y." wrote in
:

In article t, CW
wrote:

The old standby, shellac is great for inside drawers and
it is completely odorless when dry.

Thanks to one and all for the responses. The consensus seems to be
unfinished or shellac would be equally acceptable. However, will it
create problems in a few years if the inside is shellac and the
outside is a totally different finish? If going with shellac, would it
be better to use shellac on the outside as well?

Gerry

Shellac is the preferred finish by shellac snobs world wide. Why would
you want to use anything else? ;-)

I've used shellac all around, just on the outside, or not at all. Just
don't varnish the inside of an aromatic cedar chest. It will stay
sticky longer than I can wait.

Patriarch

G.E.R.R.Y. wrote:
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

You are wise to consider this ahead of time. I finished a pine chest
about 3 or 4 months ago using polyurethane varnish. It's been airing
out ever since, and it still smells really strong. I should have used
something that cures more quickly (like lacquer or water-base poly).
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably leave the inside unfinished.

Josh

G.E.R.R.Y. wrote:
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Stink?

Was unaware that shellac had any smell when it dries.

I'm using shellac right now on the interior of a chest of drawers.

Lew

In article ,
G.E.R.R.Y. wrote:
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

Shellac won't leave any odor. Old furniture is often unfinished on the
inside (talking about stuff in the 50-75+ year old range) and while it
seems to hold up fine as far as warping goes, very often the surface
of the wood inside drawers becomes somewhat soft and creates dust. I
find that wiping on a thin coat of shellac will help seal such items
and reduce the dust. In fact, if the piece has a musty odor
inside, shellac will often take care of that as well.
--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland

Hi Gerry,
I asked that question of Jeff Jewit of Homestead Finishing. He said if the
piece has little or no support than the "finishing dictum" holds otherwise
don't worry about it. Cheers, JG

"G.E.R.R.Y." wrote in message
...
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

In article , JGS
wrote:

I asked that question of Jeff Jewit of Homestead Finishing. He said if the
piece has little or no support than the "finishing dictum" holds otherwise
don't worry about it. Cheers, JG

Thanks. I guess that is what I was hoping to hear. I'm going to leave
it unfinished on the inside. I don't imagine this will be any great
work of art anyway. ;-)

Gerry

G.E.R.R.Y. wrote:

I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping.

For thin wood, then maybe. However "thin" usually means drawers rather
than chests, and the outside of these is usually unfinished too (except
the front).

goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,

Use shellac - no smell at all, just a couple of days after finishing.

You can also use various specialist oils for this. I was once fool
enough to use some "lemon oil", sold specially for finishing the inside
of chests. It stank so badly that even after 2 weeks of sitting open in
high summer I still had to pack the chest with a couple of handfuls of
lavender before delivering it.

I was at a high-end (_very_ high-end!) furniture show in Cheltenham at
the weekend. You could play the old Japanese "perfume game" by opening
the drawers and sniffing for which brand of finishing product they'd
used 8-) The best piece in the show, the £40,000 chest of drawers,
used Renaissance microcrystalline wax and had no smell at all.

Show's still on for a week. _Well_ worth the visit.
http://www.celebrationofcraftsmanshi...exhibition.htm

In article om,
wrote:

The best piece in the show, the £40,000 chest of drawers,
used Renaissance microcrystalline wax and had no smell at all.

Wasn't there a film called "The Smell Of Money"? That's what I'd want a
£40 000 chest to smell like. ;-)

Gerry

"G.E.R.R.Y." wrote in message
...
I know that conventional wisdom says that both sides of wood should be
finished the same to prevent warping. However, what if the "other side"
happens to be the inside of a chest that will hold clothes or other
goods that you don't want "stinking" of stains, varnishes, shellacs,
or, in fact, any type of finish? Can the inside be left unfinished?
What would be the consequences of leaving it unfinished?

Gerry

As with others, I finish the inside of chests and drawers with shellac - one
light coat.
Most old antiques are done the same way but after 50+ years you can barely
tell there was any finish on the inside. Most will tell you that they were
un-finished, but they did have a light coat of shellac or wax when they were
made.

Dave



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