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Every once in a while I get reminded of why I do the things I do. Specifically, why I choose to not finish the insides of my drawer boxes. What reminds me of this technique that I feel so passionate about? Don’t laugh , it’s my handkerchief.
I change my hankie daily and occasionally, maybe because the temperature is just right or the moon has a particular gravitational pull, I get the biggest whiff of pine from that 12″-square of cloth. The pine aroma soaks into the material as it’s stored in the unfinished drawer. It’s pure unadulterated eastern white pine or Pinus strobus.
But I have to admit that’s not the reason I choose to not finish my drawers; it’s just a pleasant by-product of the action. The real reason I don’t add stain and finish to my drawer boxes is three-fold.
First, I watch the PBS series “Antiques Road Show.” I like the Keno brothers and had the opportunity to meet Leigh Keno at the Philadelphia Antiques Show. There’s no kindred relationship. He wouldn’t know me if I stumbled into his highboy. But, I like their views on furniture and how it should look in order to be classified as an authentic antique.
One of the areas that they emphasize is natural patination on the case back and especially on the drawer boxes and drawer bottoms. These areas are great clues to the authenticity of a period piece. It can sometimes mean a huge difference in value , possibly tens of thousands of dollars. I decided at that time I would not finish my drawers. I don’t want to deprive my customers of that money sometime in the future. Yeah, right!
While the Keno message does enter into my thought process, there is another reason. In the early stages of my quest into building furniture I did finish the drawer boxes. I also felt I was doing a service by making the drawers out of a solid 3/4″-thick material (I actually used that as a sales pitch.) However, that never came back to haunt me as did the finished drawers.
We had a great show in Boston. We sold a boatload of furniture. In that mega-batch was a custom-built piece, a Shaker-style cupboard. Delivered to the customer’s home and set in place, the piece seemed perfect. I hadn’t noticed at the time (October) that my customer didn’t have air conditioning. But, in a short six months, when the windows were open, she discovered that whatever was in the lower two drawers was to stay there until winter had reared its ugly head. Oops! My drawer fit was a bit on the tight side.
By the time I was back in the area to fix the drawers, not only were they stuck in place, the lacquer that I used as the finish had melded the drawer sides to the case interior like a two-part epoxy. I had to hammer the drawers to free them from the grip of the case sides, take them outside the house, then scrape and sand them to remove the lacquer. “Ah Ha” moment two had just said hello.
Finally (I did say there were three reasons), I took two identical drawers and began the finishing process, keeping time with a stopwatch. Pretty sad, huh? The additional time spent to finish the interior of a drawer was unbelievable. I saved more than a half hour on one drawer alone. Well, I was in business to make money. Time was money. No more finishing of the drawer boxes for me.
I had more than enough information to convince me to leave the drawers plain. Not only that, I had a response when potential customers asked why (and they always did). Best of all, I have a sweet smell in my handkerchief. Now, even the occasional head cold isn’t so bad.
