I love the smell of Shellac in the morning.

My wax arrived in the mail today, so I spent my lunch hour waxing the piece, and I also installed the tracks, and installed hardware. Tonight I will attach the top and put it to work.

Piece waxed, and hardware installed.



With the piece ready for final assembly, I took some playing cards and shimmed in the track that the drawers ride on. There was a little racking of the drawers during construction.

Adjusting the track.

After I got about 3 coats on, I used 320 grit sandpaper and sanded the piece back to get rid of any dust nibs, and to smooth the piece out.

Piece during sanding.



After I let the piece "gas out" for a few hours, I started to apply the shellac. I thinned it with lacquer thinner. Funny story here. It's been a while since I've used shellac, and the last time i thinned it down as well. I had two gallon steel cans in my possession, lacquer thinner, and mineral spirits. I knew that it wasn't mineral spirits, so I grabbed the lacquer thinner. It went on nicely, and between that and the fact it was a warm day, it dried very quickly. It wasn't until I got about 3 coats on that I started to wonder if I was using the right stuff. I wasn't. I was supposed to use denatured alcohol. However, the finish was dry, so I didn't worry about it. My final coats will be shellac thinned with alcohol.
Top after shellac.



I didn't get a shot of the top after fuming, but here it is. You can see a small streak of sapwood in the middle of the board. That was my comprimise between as big of a top as I could get, and grain matching.

Top after fuming.