Box finish

[Stuart]

My go to finish for nearly all my boxes is shellac and wax. The one I’m currently working on is likely to receive more handling than many (which are mostly ornamental).

It has quite a bit of wenge highlights/details and being quite coarse grain I’d like to try and ‘fill’ it a bit first. The joy of shellac is many coats each followed by a light sanding can have a useful grain filling effect (not completely of course but enough to reduce the impact).

I’m starting to think of osmo as the final, robust (ish) finish but I don’t think it will work over a sanding sealer.

Any suggestions for a finish that is reasonably robust without being thick in appearance? My preference is for satin of low sheen finishes.

Thanks

 

[RogerS]

How about one of the Ronseal products ? They seem to have a good rep.

 

[Malc2098]

The popular choice for instrument makers is pore filling using a 30 minute epoxy squeegeed across the grain to fill the pores, then sanded back to top of wood. It may need a couple of coats, or more for a more open grain. It provides quite a robust base for the finish.

The rationale is that resin pore filler is cheaper and quicker than pore filling with just the finish lacquer.

 

[Woodbloke]

How about one of the Ronseal products ? They seem to have a good rep.

If you mix Ronseal polyurethane (not water based), Osmo PolyX and white spirit in equal proportions you end up with MMM (Mike's Magic Mixture :lol: ) Use mat versions of varnish and Osmo and it ought to come out low sheen and go for satin if you need something a bit shinier - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

Long time ago now I filled the grain on a pair of Oak doors with putty, recommended in a 1950’s woodworker mag, it worked but was time consuming, then French Polish. Still looking good after 20 years.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Peacock Oil may be worth considering.

https://www.skeltonsaws.co.uk/peacock-oil

Being similar to the oils used on gun stocks it is quite hardwearing.

 

[NickM]

TruOil might be worth looking at. It’s made for rifle stocks, it is also used by luthiers.

 

[Stuart]

Thanks for the suggestions, think I’ll try the mix as I happen to have the ingredients (well, osmo door oil but I’ll see how it goes on a trial piece first).

I can see the benefit of epoxy Malcolm but I can only imagine the mess that I’ll get into with that (smallish parts as well).

I’ll keep the other oils ‘on the list’ for future reference thanks.

 

[Mike G]

How about one of the Ronseal products ? They seem to have a good rep.

If you mix Ronseal polyurethane (not water based), Osmo PolyX and white spirit in equal proportions you end up with MMM (Mike's Magic Mixture :lol: ) Use mat versions of varnish and Osmo and it ought to come out low sheen and go for satin if you need something a bit shinier - Rob

My rough rule of thumb with this mixture is that the wiping-off part of the process reduces the sheen by 1 notch. By that I mean if you use egg shell/ satin varnish, you end up with an almost matt finish. If you use gloss you end up with a satin finish. This isn't foolproof, but it's my experience.

 

[thetyreman]

what about a spray finish? you could still use shellac but for the final coat 2k lacquer from a spray can, that will certainly make it durable.

 

[Stuart]

what about a spray finish? you could still use shellac but for the final coat 2k lacquer from a spray can, that will certainly make it durable.

That’s a good idea, thanks Ben.

Currently experimenting with some of the ‘mix’ when seems to give a nice finish. Time is on my side (for once!) so I can afford some playtime with different finishes and seeing what build up can be achieved and how rubbing back works.