Apply poly to drawer slides?

I've built a chest of drawers, and am almost to the finishing stages. The drawer sides are also the points at which the drawers slide, and I was wondering if I should apply polyurethane to the sides and then a coat of wax. The top part of the drawer side may be exposed, but the bottom part would not.

Is it worth my time to apply poly to the sides, or would just plain paste wax be fine?

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper
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I'd go with just wax.

Reply to
dadiOH

I vote just wax, also. I use Tre-Wax for that type of raw wood application.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

On 23 Apr 2010 09:13:32 GMT, the infamous Puckdropper scrawled the following:

I prefer to wax the outside of drawer sides. If the slides are wooden built-ins, I also use paraffin wax as a lube.

------------------------------------------- Stain and Poly are their own punishment

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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Have you considered?

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I recently also built a chest of drawers.

Sealed ALL interior surfaces with a coat of 1/2 lb shellac.

YMMV.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in news:4bd1ac32$0$13643 $ snipped-for-privacy@news.astraweb.com:

I had not considered anything like that. I'd probably need at least two rolls of it, if not 3. Kinda expensive compared to just paste wax. The drawers are intended mainly for storage and not frequent opening and closing.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

FWIW, shellac wouldn't work well here. The drawers will go under a model railroad where alcohol is used for cleaning and as a wetting agent.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Waxing the outside of drawer sides is an excellent idea. They'll wind up being a bearing surface as much as the bottom.

Just wait until you get to paints. Some of them are worse than polyurethane ever thought of being!

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Sonny wrote in news:8894734c-aa05-413e-af42- snipped-for-privacy@c21g2000yqk.googlegroups.com:

Looks like I'll be going with just wax. I've had good results with just wax in smaller drawers (they only support up to a pound), but was wondering if poly+wax would make a definite quality difference. I've got to do the rest of the piece, so the additional cost is fairly low.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Not sure I fully understand but a common rule of film finishes is to cover all surfaces equally so moisture absorbtion and experation are equal at all sides to avoid cupping.

So if the insides of the drawers have a poly finish, then the outside should also.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

Wax is a waste of time as a protectant. If you are going to wax, just brush it off and be done.

BINGO!! The bells are ringing!! We have a winner, folks.

That couldn't be more spot on.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

While it's a common rule, it's also not strictly necessary. If you look at old chests of drawers it's very common to see only the show surfaces actually finished. The interior of the chest and the drawers themselves were often left unfinished.

Since normally a chest of drawers has the drawers closed, you won't get a lot of air movement over the unfinished surfaces, so the amount of imbalance is much less than the bottom of a table top. (And even there I've seen unfinished bottoms.)

Finally, it's generally not a good idea to use an oil-based finish of any kind (BLO/tung/danish oil/varnish) inside a case piece. It takes forever to cure to the point that it stops offgassing. While you can leave the wood bare, I prefer to use shellac or lacquer on the inside of drawers because they dry quickly and are easily sanded smooth so that clothes don't "catch" on the wood.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

...

Yep, had the same thought and was just speaking theory. For my own work I take the extra time to finish all sides just for consistency and a finer finish. I love wood but bare wood is closer to lumber than furniture in my estimation and can stain, pickup body oils, and be prone to problems if some water based accident occurs.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

On 23 Apr 2010 15:08:56 GMT, the infamous Puckdropper scrawled the following:

Yeah, how many people do you know who push exactly on the center of a drawer to close it?

Uh, please 'splain this to me.

-- ...in order that a man may be happy, it is necessary that he should not only be capable of his work, but a good judge of his work. -- John Ruskin

Reply to
Larry Jaques

On 23 Apr 2010 15:12:43 GMT, the infamous Puckdropper scrawled the following:

Polyurinestain is not a lube.

Waxes are.

Waxes will soak into the pores of the wood (only if -not- choked with poly) and provide continued slickness even after the original coating is rubbed off.

Any questions?

-- ...in order that a man may be happy, it is necessary that he should not only be capable of his work, but a good judge of his work. -- John Ruskin

Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:30:58 -0700 (PDT), the infamous " snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" scrawled the following:

I thought he was wanting a lube.

Ah, but that's only half the battle.

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.

Wax on the outside is not a film finish and does work as a lube. Ask any wooddorker for the past 400 years. ;)

Did I ever tell you about my trip to an Etherized Allen showroom ca

2000? I saw a nice little $2,850 (um, what was that thing?) Federal highboy. When I opened the center drawer, it no only stuck, it chattered loudly enough that every eye in the place, both store workers and browsers, was on me. I laughed, shook my head in disgust, and closed it with nearly the same noise. Several of the drawers were like that. A little bit of paraffin would have sold that thing to the few interested people, but since they hadn't bothered, it chattered loudly. Before going into that store, I had admired the name. Now I know better. In other pieces, drawers had half an inch of side slop. Dovies were all machine cut. I suspect now that the pieces I saw were early ChiwanIndPakiese imports. You'd have to ask M. Farooq Kathwari, the CEO, about that. ;)

P.S: The EA store didn't impress me after all.

-- ...in order that a man may be happy, it is necessary that he should not only be capable of his work, but a good judge of his work. -- John Ruskin

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

*trim and snip*

I got some Rustoleum external door paint. That stuff is nasty. The smell is horrid, and the off gassing chemicals gave me a headache. That's after using it in a reasonably well ventilated area (garshop with the windows open) and only applying a little bit.

The poly doesn't smell too bad, and can stand being applied in the garage with the windows open. Some of the smell can be killed by lighting a candle (but not too close to the work area!)

I'll open and use the poly again, but not the paint.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

I've always thought a reasonable quality of secondary wood, for drawer sides, back & bottoms, is not going to warp or check because of exposure over a long period of time. If the wood is of poor grade, then the individual pieces, that small (dimensions), may develope problems for drawer function.

I've always thought the simplest, easiest, least expensive, essentially universal, time tested, best fix for lubricating wood-on- wood is wax. To me, to ponder the issue, for another fix, is an exercise in an attempt at overkill, which probably won't work as efficiently as wax, anyway. What I have considered is 'what is the best wax to use'.

I don't recommend using a melted, scented candle wax that has re- solidified. For some reason, it seems to be different than the original chemistry and results in a chalk type application, rather than a smooth, waxy application. Maybe it's the scent ingredient that makes for this chalk effect.

Additional to the lubrication issue: I don't use paint or poly on the insides of drawers, but I do spray lacquer.... quick, easy, cures fast and basically its only function is to give the inside a "finished", esthetically pleasing surface, rather than remaining raw wood.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

On 24 Apr 2010 03:06:06 GMT, the infamous Puckdropper scrawled the following:

When I was painting the interior of the back house my client and I are fixing up, he was painting the trim with Rustoleum. Talk about solvent fumes! That stuff really is nasty. The tenants moved in 6 weeks later and the place still reeked of the Rustoleum.

Right. Can you say ? I knew you could. 'Course, a candle next to the Rustoleum might do it some good. Burn out the odor, wot?

Gotcha, but why use either? (rhetorical question)

-- ...in order that a man may be happy, it is necessary that he should not only be capable of his work, but a good judge of his work. -- John Ruskin

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I like lacquer on wooden drawer slides. It drys fast and fills the pores just fine, better than wax. Spray or paint on some lacquer and sand it off with a fine grit paper. The pores will be filled and the wood smooth and slick. Lacquer is far more durable than wax, but you can wax over it if you feel the need.

Reply to
Jack Stein

"Larry Jaques" wrote

Aw, Larry, you've destroyed a favorite myth of mine. I had been using:

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que? It's fast drying, durable and virtually odor free. I like it especially for drawers because of it's ease of use and fast drying and odor free properties. It's also durable.

Max

Reply to
Max

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