Replies

1. 
   nboucher | Mar 03, 2010 11:14am | #1

   If what you're trying to do is stain the oak pins without staining the maple, I have a couple of small artist brushes that I use to carefully stain them. Get them at a decent supply store. It requires a steady hand, and I use one of those magnifiers that fits around your head, but if you're reasonably careful it's not that difficult. This article should help:

   https://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=27830

2. 
   SteveSchoene | Mar 03, 2010 02:40pm | #2

   The stain--though not the clear top coat--may be applied to the front before final assembly, though after test fitting and making sure of the final fit of the drawer.  Just be sure that you get no stain into the joint itself since it will inhibit the glue performance.   

3. 
   Eef | Mar 03, 2010 02:45pm | #3

   wes,

   seems to me this subject came up a while back and i think it was steve who suggested the use of very small brushes.  one question; why?  is it traditional or something? i am curious.

   i have seen posted pics here of drawer side dovetails that appear to have been finished by masking with tape. when i think about it, antique pieces do not have finished drawer sides.  i guess shellac being the only choice, back when, and, no doubt, it not being cheap, a cabinetmaker would not want to waste it on mere drawer sides.

   ray pine ya wanna chime in here?  were drawer fides traditionally NOT finifhed? would thif not be a fhellac faving fyftem?

   eef

1. 
   garyowen | Mar 03, 2010 03:17pm | #4

   Hi Eef, I to have seen the sides not finished and also many backs. I also thought of the cost of stains, pos. not being readily available, as well as the shellac. I would think this is the answer, can’t help on the dovetails as I haven’t gotten there yet, that day to shall come!. garyowen

2. 
   nboucher | Mar 03, 2010 03:54pm | #5

   Good question, and I don't have the chops about traditional furniture to reply. I suspect, though, that showing off pins by staining them a contrasting color is a modern affectation and that traditional furnituremakers could have cared less how their dovetails looked and worried more about getting them functional and done. But, as I say, this is sheer speculation on my part.

   As far as staining the pins before assembling the drawer, as Steve suggested, it probably depends on how confident you are about your joinery. Mine are still crude enough to require some smoothing and sanding to get everything flush after assembly, enough so that I'm reluctant to keep assemblng and disassemling the drawer front and risk breaking the thin pins I prefer. So it's become my habit to dry fit once, do the glue up and then the staining. I have no doubt Steve could make quick work of all this, though.

3. 
   joinerswork | Mar 04, 2010 09:17am | #6

   Eef,

   Drawer interiors were not typically finished, unless the drawer was fitted out as a desk, or dressing table, with partitions, pigeonholes etc.

   While often there is an attractive contrast between the primary wood (front) and secondary wood(sides, back and bottom), this is simply coincidence, and not a choice consciously made for aesthetics, in my opinion.  Secondary wood choice in period pieces are a means of determining the area of their manufacture, as each region used what was commonly available in large sizes, cheap, relatively stable, and easily worked. Pine, white or yellow, linden (bass), poplar, cedar, cypress.  The dovetails were the standard joinery procedure, not a means of the craftsman showing his abilities.  The joint was not thought of as anything special.  Indeed much British casework was built in such a way that the joinery was hidden.  Regardless, the finishing generally stops at the end of the drawer's lip, or just around the corner of the front if a flush drawer.  The top of a flush drawer's front is usually coated with finish, but if there is finish on the ends of the front, it generally stops at the end of the drawer's side, or the edge of the cockbeading, it it has an applied cockbead.

   As to why this was standard procedure, I cannot say.  Certainly it is less costly both in finish and labor.  Maybe it was just considered unnecessary- out of sight, out of mind. Most inside and underside surfaces were left unfinished not just drawers, but case interiors, chests, cupboards, presses, table tops and drop leaves.  China presses' interiors were occasionally finished, more often painted, but mostly unfinished from my observation.

   Ray

1. 
   Eef | Mar 04, 2010 10:39am | #7

   ray,

   thanks again.

   eef