What finish for baltic birch plywood drawers?

[EdK]

Hi,
What finish would you recommend for baltic plywood?

I have some drawers made of baltic ply and was considering using some of the finishes I have at home or buying something new.

So far I've tried some blonde dewaxed liberon shellac but it seems to soak in like crazy. I was thinking of buying a large tin of something like zinsser seal coat and putting on 2 or 3 coats (just doing insides of drawers and outer sides).

I also have osmo polyx at home and a ronseal diamond varnish (water based).

These drawers are in bedrooms but I also have kitchen drawers to do later.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[custard]

I finish the inside of drawers with a very thin coat of shellac, it also helps deal with glue any squeeze in the corners. You're not looking for a finish as such, just a very thin, almost invisible coating to keep dirt out of the grain.

Zinnser Seal Coat is a convenient solution for a quick, work-a-day job (if it was your master piece with flush drawer slips and a Cedar of Lebanon drawer bottom I'd suggest something a bit better, but for a birch ply drawer it's fine). However, ZSC is an ultra heavy cut, I forget the exact formulation but I'd thin it down significantly, maybe one part ZSC to two or three parts meths and then apply it with a lint free rag. Liberon is also a good solution, probably a bit better in fact.

Steer clear of anything with oil, the smell will linger for ages!

 

[EdK]

Cool - thanks Custard - I went to have a look this afternoon but a litre of Zinsser SealCoat was about £24 and looked muddy!

I got a bottle of meths a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶n̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ and will mix it with the rest of the Liberon dewaxed blonde shellac that I have.

The flakes are about 3 years old and have been opened but I'm hoping that they are not 'off'.

If they are 'off' what is the result? Just longer to dry? Or a tacky undrying finish?

Will try a test piece once they have disolved.

The original batch I mixed up was with iso. alcohol and looked like a whiskey colour...has shellac gone up in price? Might finish the drawers with a Laphroig Quarter Cask instead...

 

[EddyCurrent]

A nice finish is 50/50 Polyurethane Varnish and Danish Oil applied in several thin coats with a brush or cloth. It's resistant to most things when dry and looks natural.

 

[custard]

Cool - thanks Custard - I went to have a look this afternoon but a litre of Zinsser SealCoat was about £24 and looked muddy!

I got a bottle of meths a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶n̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ and will mix it with the rest of the Liberon dewaxed blonde shellac that I have.

The flakes are about 3 years old and have been opened but I'm hoping that they are not 'off'.

If they are 'off' what is the result? Just longer to dry? Or a tacky undrying finish?

Will try a test piece once they have disolved.

The original batch I mixed up was with iso. alcohol and looked like a whiskey colour...has shellac gone up in price? Might finish the drawers with a Laphroig Quarter Cask instead...

You'll be okay, you only need a few very, very thin coats. Remember, most people don't finish the inside of their drawers at all so it's really no big deal.

But whatever you do, never ever use any oil based finish on the inside of a drawer or cabinet because the smell will turn your stomach for months!

 

[davin]

The last Birch ply drawers I made I used water based varnish. From screwfix of all places
no nonsense range, £10 a tin. Was very impressed, dries very quickly and didn't yellow the ply, sanded to a very fine natural finish. Will use again on pale timbers.

 

[scholar]

Hi

I recently made a bunch of birch ply drawers and finished them with cellulose based sanding sealer.

I sand lightly to about 180 or 240, quick coat of sanding sealer that dries quickly, quick denib with 320 or 400 - leaves a lovely smooth almost waxy finish.

I do the internal faces before glue up (masking off the glue lines) and that helps to keep from glue stains.

I use the sanding sealer for various things like workshop jigs also as it makes the surfaces slicker and keep them clean.

Cheers