Stopped blaming the wood for expansion, turns out it was my finish schedule

For two years I cursed white oak every time a panel swelled in July. Then a guy at a shop tour in Lancaster showed me his moisture meter readings before and after his finish coats. He sealed both faces of every panel with shellac before assembly, and his seasonal movement basically stopped. I tried it on my last three jobs, including a big buffet with 22 inch wide drawer fronts, and zero binding issues so far. The problem was never the wood, it was me leaving back faces bare. Anyone else do the shellac trick or do you use something else for sealing drawer fronts?

1 comments

1 Comment

terryk106d ago

Thirty years in the trade and I never once thought to seal the back of a panel. Two summers ago I had a client's desk top split right down the middle, blamed the supplier for bad stock. Turned out the back was bare while I had finished the front with three coats. That Lancaster guy is onto something. I have since started using a thin coat of sanding sealer on both faces of any wide panel before I even cut the joinery. My last six jobs, not one call back. Feels kind of dumb to admit it took me this long, but I am glad it was just my process and not the wood.