I’m building some cabinets for my kitchen and I’m curious what the best finish to apply to the plywood is. I’m looking for a simple to apply finish that will protect the ply wood and have as little maintenance going forward.
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Also, should I finish the outside (non-showing faces) as well as the insides of the carcasses to help with wood movement or is this unnecessary with plywood?
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Thanks, Mischa
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Replies
water based poly will work great and easy touchup when worn. Extra layers in the sink base, because of what goes in there.
paint is the least maintinace thing to put on wood.. everything else has issues.
If it's work I'm proud of I shellac it because with shellac you get several things.
First if you over thin it it goes on so easy it's impossible to screw up.
Second the first coat dries in 15 minutes.
Third shellac is safe, you've been eating it on candy and pills all of your life.
Fourth any damage or scratches on shellac can be invisably repaired without any sanding.
Fifth the finest antiques and other wood work are finished in shellac because it brings out the real beauty of wood without looking like plastic.
Do you finish before or after putting the case together?
BigMish
I can do either way, if I scratch shellac it fixes so easy that I don't worry.. but my overthinned approach prevents runs that would disfigure surfaces painted with another finish..
Well It doesn't prevent the runs, actaully it runs like crazy but because the coats are so thin they don't show up and since the second coat melts the first any run is removed with the second and third coat..
Others have commented about water and certain household cleaners..
It's absolutely true that if you put water on shellac and leave it for an extended period of time it will turn the shellac white..
I've had water on my shellaced floors for hours with no damage but if something should happen just wipe off the old shellac with a rag soaked in denatured alcohol (NO SANDING NEEDED) and reapply the finish.. new shellac melts old shellac and the repair becomes invisable..
Second it's true you can't use ammonia based household cleaners..
But you can't use battery acid or other items on any finish.. it's not that difficult to use non-ammonia based cleaners.. If you look the grocery store sells them, even advertizes them.
A mistake can be treated the same way.. wipe up the damaged finish and reapply. Nosanding no great care or effort required.
First of all, they do make a prefinished cabinet plywood for the interior and the backs. It is a great finish and the cost is reasonable.
If you do not have spray equipment, then I suggest polyurethane. It is very durable but does take hours to dry. I use it on stairs and cabinets. Most of the time I spray lacquer. Polyurethane is brushable (use a natural bristle brush) and looks great. Just think, when it is put on stair treads the treads are walked on every day and the finish holds up.
James
I'd brush on a finish after it is assembled. I'd brush the side that is at the bottom of all of the cabinets and then rotate them to the next side so you can get good coverage and not get any runs.
You could try brushing up the sides and see how it goes. It could go just fine.
Edited 10/5/2008 11:05 pm ET by popawheelie
I don't have spray equipment so I went the polyurethane route on mine. I have followed Frenchy's advice and put a thinned coat or two of shellac on nearly everything I build these days. It is super-easy to work with, and gives great tone to the wood. But, I don't think it is a great choice for the final coat on hard-working surfaces like the kitchen. You can only use certain cleaners with it, and water can cause stains. It is certainly true that you can get these stains out with another thinned coat of shellac, but I don't want to maintain these surfaces. I want to finish them and be done. And when someone spills something and it runs down the face of the cabinets (and into the drawers, doors, etc) I want to be able to grab some 409 and clean it up without worrying about damaging the finish.I did two coats of water-based poly, and was happy with the outcome. Get one of those 3"x5" rectangular pads in the paint dept and apply it with that. It will go really quick and come out looking great.I chose water-based poly over oil-based because of drying time. I don't have a separate finishing space, so getting all the dust cleaned up before finishing is not possible. I have a hard time getting slow-drying finishes to look good in these circumstances.As to whether to finish the outside, I wouldn't bother. I debated it as well, but decided it would take forever, and I doubted there would be any benefit. This might not be the case for you depending on the style of cabs you are building. Mine were Euro-style boxes, not face frames, so the sides make full contact with the cab next to it. Once they are screwed together, I didn't see any benefit in having two finished sufaces pressed together.Final thought: I applied face frames once the boxes were installed and finished them differently from the cabs. The look of this wood was more important to me. 2 coats of thinned shellac, followed by 2 coats of water-based poly. If you want to do this you MUST use dewaxed shellac. Regular shellac off the shelf will not accept another finish on top of it. For dewaxed shellac look for Zinnser's SealCoat ( http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=72 ). Most hardware stores have it.-Rich
I've used oil based polyurethane on kitchen cabinetry. I've never used water based. A few coats give a real tough finish. Not real easy to work with. Takes a while to dry. Goes on easiest on horizontal surfaces where it will self level. Water will bead right up on the surface and it stands up to pot dings. The wipe on stuff will flow well but will require more coats then the regular brush on stuff.