Inbox Project: Finished

 

I have evolved a lot over the years when it comes to finishing wood projects and I continue to try and use new methods. I started out finishing a few of the drawers on one of the inbox units with rattle can spray shellac. I have never used shellac but have seen it used by others to great success. It indeed worked okay but it took a lot of time to get into all the nooks and crannies evenly without getting too much elsewhere. In fact, I left the nooks and crannies somewhat baren of finish after the first coat to avoid getting too much that could later run and ruin the finish. Also, my index finger got quite tired of pressing the nozzle down repeatedly. So I stopped.

The next day, I remembered some leftover Odie's Oil I had from a previous project. It is the consistency of peanut butter on the runnier side, more like Nutella if keeping with the spreadable food analogy. It is rubbed on and the wiped off so you don't have to worry about running drips. But I feel as if it doesn't penetrate the wood enough to be durable. So with a small amount of it in a jar, I poured some mineral spirits into it and mixed it well to a liquid consistency which I could then paint on. The wood absorbed it quite well and after 15 or 20 minutes, I wiped off any excess. This gave me an absorbed layer into the wood which I think will last a long time. 

For a top coat, I will apply some of the undiluted Odie's Oil (think Nutella consistency) and rub it in with a rag all over. After that cures, I think I will call it good. It is after all, a desktop "appliance" of sorts that won't see really heavy use or extremes such as spills, etc. 

Above is the finished project displayed for your gratification. I think they turned out quite well overall. Now that they are done, I just need to figure out what to do with them. I might try throwing a number on them and sell them online to see if anybody I know wants one. If nobody bites, I will probably just stick them in the storage room and gradually gift them out to people who might use them. 

Now that they are out of my garage, I can get a start on the altar project which has been given the green light though with the tariff wars going on, might get more expensive pretty quickly since most of my wood sources are probably Canadian in origin. I'll have to do some investigating on that. I may not have much choice for cabinet grade plywood but I do have a local mill that I can source the hardwood needed.

Update: I kept the worst one for myself and sold the better two of the three to a blogger that saw my posts.