Some of you know that I am building a tool chest. I live in Virginia and winter is fast approach it. We are getting nights in the mid thirties to low 40s now. I would like to finish and by that I mean put a finish on this chest when I'm completed with it. That's going to be another couple weeks at the most. I had planned to use polyurethane. It is pretty much my go-to finish for anything other than musical instruments. But I have a three-fold problem. First of all it's going to take a bit of extra curing time in cooler weather for the polyurethane to dry. Second of all I'm going to have to store it in my shed. No temperature control. So it's a dovetail box held together with Tite Bond. Made from pine. Can that box withstand low 30s temperatures for a couple of weeks? I know that polyurethane only really takes about 3 to 5 days to fully cure, but my wife has a very sensitive repeat that very very sensitive nose. She also has cerebral palsy and it's not just about a dislike of smell, but sometimes really hard pungent or heavy or chemical type smells will throw her into seizures. Even things like the little car freshener Christmas treats things like that. And so I have to leave that in the shed until it is dry and completely cured. My other option is not to finish it at all and wait until winter is over. But I will be carrying it in and out of the house to the back yard where I do woodworking in the meantime. It's going to get dirty and nasty because I'll be working out of it. I would rather not do that. But I work in the wintertime out back on my bench as long as the snow and everything else allows me to do it, even in cooler temperatures. So I need a solution. I need to know if the box will withstand possibly freezing temperatures, I need to know if I can go ahead and use the polyurethane and give it that time or if I need to go to something else. I was considering shellac because you can pretty much throw it under any kind of finish, and I could shellac the box and it would be semi-protected at least until springtime rolls back around. But I do not know how long it takes for shellac to dry so that it has very little smell. It might be the same situation. Any type of advice that you can give me is more than appreciated. Thank you

 

I'm sure @kmealy can provide detailed information. Have you considered water based poly? Dries fast, low odor. I think they use it on hardwood floors so it has to be pretty tough.

Shellac will dry really fast, you're just waiting for the alcohol to evaporate. So even on temperate days it will dry in less than a couple of hours. As for the varnish, I'm not sure about your weather in N. Va., but around here it's going to be in the 70s for the next 10 days or so (if they got it right). That would be enough time for the varnish to cure to the point that it should be OK through the winter. If the glue has cured properly it should be unaffected by the winter temps, unless they get Antarctica cold.

Just a quick note before I have to run.

 

Shellac, and lacquer, "cure" by evaporation of the solvent.  Lacquer can "blush" in low temps.

 

Oil-based varnishes, including poly, cure by chemical reaction.  The solids combine with oxygen in the air and polymerize.  The full process can take 3 weeks, even in optimal conditions.  If the temperature drops 18 degrees, it will take roughly twice as long.  And another 18, 4x as long.

 

Water-borne finishes cure by bonding of large molecules with each other.  Most, again, take about 3 weeks and don't do well  when temps are lower than 60 degrees.

 

I think your idea of applying (dewaxed!) shellac  now, then using a varnish when the weather warms is a good idea.  Several coats to seal it well.

 

gotta run

Have you considered wipe on poly?  I've used that and it dries pretty fast.  You can make your own from a recipe here on TPW.   IDK how temperature variations would affect it though.

 

Just my opinion, but oil based seems to bring out the grain better.  Having said that, I've been using the water based on several projects recently and SWMBO is happy..

 

@kmealy, what is the significance of the shellac being dewaxed. I am not sure that that would be something easy for me to find locally. From my research to spray can zinsser cells wax-free but the can that you use with a brush is not. And that is probably the only thing I can find is either one of those. I do not want to spray shellac on it, I would much rather use a brush. Will the waxed shellac interfere with other finishes going over top of it. I suspect it would and that is why the caution to use dewaxed shellac. But I would love to know.

Finishes don't stick well to waxed shellac, but they do  wonderfully to de-waxed.  Zinsser's SealCoat is a dewaxed shellac, their canned Bullseye versions are not, but the aerosol versions are. (though I just noticed they stuck Bulls Eye on the Seal Coat can, just to confuse things)

 

vs. 

Many thanks, all of you.

 

Check out shellac.net  . They have a good selection of finishes, especially shellacs. They have dewaxed shellac flakes, which you mix to your quantity and strengths with denatured alcohol.  A lot of information on  their web site.

Another vote for shellac, and it'll fit your period look tool chest much better, shellac was used dominantly in up through the 19th century. And, it's great for folks who are sensitive to more harsh chemicals in finishes.

I get my flakes at Shellac Shack. Best price I could find, By the way keep the flakes in the frig or preferably freezer.

Moved from Finishing Tips to Finishing Forum, by the way, excellent tagging of this topic!