Clear Coloured Finish Recommendations

[Dr.Al]

I generally use Mike's Magic Mix for almost everything with the only exceptions being Mineral Oil for food-related stuff (e.g. tea caddies) & Chestnut Hard Wax Oil if I'm in a rush (4 hours between coats).

I'm currently making something quite small out of Sycamore & for this project I'd like to keep the light colour rather than enriching it with the Tung Oil in MMM. Mineral Oil would probably work but presumably wouldn't be especially hard wearing.

Any recommendations? I'd wondered about trying a simple 1:1 mix of satin varnish & white spirit (i.e. Mike's Magic Mix without the Tung Oil) as it has the big advantage of not needing to buy anything for what might be the only time I use it. However I'd welcome alternative suggestions.

 

[SteveMP]

Well, its kind of a can of worms isn't it. I try to use natural finishes when I can due to allergic reactions i have developed as I have gotten older. Used to be able to use all kinds of solvents etc with no problems when i was younger. But now if i use most commercial finishes, if i get it on my skin, my skin gets dry and cracky/bleeding, get headaches, nausea etc. Some of the wax like Bison, Fiddes etc will give me an instant migraine whatver it is they use ( think toluene?). So I have been experimenting with making and purchasing various natural finishes.

You say the Mikes Magic mix, which is new to me, but looking it up, it contains commercial finish. So I guess it depends on what you are going for and how much protection you need. A lot of the true natural finishes don't hold up well to certain things.

Now 100% pure Tung oil doesn't darken as much as BLO does, so those are kind of ruled out. Which if you want to preserve the color of a light wood, my go to is mixing my own platina or super-blonde DEWAXED shellac, putting on a couple of coats of that and then you can top coat it with whatever you need for protection, if anything. This is what I do for white oak when I want to preserve the light color and not have any oil affect it.

 

[Dr.Al]

Well, its kind of a can of worms isn't it. I try to use natural finishes when I can due to allergic reactions i have developed as I have gotten older. Used to be able to use all kinds of solvents etc with no problems when i was younger. But now if i use most commercial finishes, if i get it on my skin, my skin gets dry and cracky/bleeding, get headaches, nausea etc. Some of the wax like Bison, Fiddes etc will give me an instant migraine whatver it is they use ( think toluene?). So I have been experimenting with making and purchasing various natural finishes.

You say the Mikes Magic mix, which is new to me, but looking it up, it contains commercial finish. So I guess it depends on what you are going for and how much protection you need. A lot of the true natural finishes don't hold up well to certain things.

Now 100% pure Tung oil doesn't darken as much as BLO does, so those are kind of ruled out. Which if you want to preserve the color of a light wood, my go to is mixing my own platina or super-blonde DEWAXED shellac, putting on a couple of coats of that and then you can top coat it with whatever you need for protection, if anything. This is what I do for white oak when I want to preserve the light color and not have any oil affect it.

When I said natural, I meant natural in the colour sense rather than in the material sense. I probably should have made that clearer.

Mike's Magic Mix is equal parts spirit varnish (I use Ronseal Satincoat), white spirit and an oil (I use Pure Tung Oil). I like it as it's extremely easy and idiot proof to apply (slop it on, leave it for a bit, wipe it off - no worrying about excess, drips, brush marks, etc etc). It also seems to be pretty bullet-proof (or at least red wine / coffee spillage proof).

I've tried shellac in the past and found it to be a bit of a pain in the backside by comparison to MMM.

 

[Malc2098]

I use nitrocellulose lacquer on my instruments. Their photos on this forum show they are finished 95+% clear. I spray to 12 coats over a week os so period and the leave them for three weeks or more to fully cure. But they are denibbed in between and finished with all the big number abrasives. I can provide you with a supplier who can supply 400ml aerosols. You can buy cellulose thinners in many places.

Alternatively you could use something like the fishing epoxy I use for pore filling. That comes out almost clear, too, and can be polished. That comes in small quantities.

 

[SteveMP]

When I said natural, I meant natural in the colour sense rather than in the material sense. I probably should have made that clearer.

Mike's Magic Mix is equal parts spirit varnish (I use Ronseal Satincoat), white spirit and an oil (I use Pure Tung Oil). I like it as it's extremely easy and idiot proof to apply (slop it on, leave it for a bit, wipe it off - no worrying about excess, drips, brush marks, etc etc). It also seems to be pretty bullet-proof (or at least red wine / coffee spillage proof).

I've tried shellac in the past and found it to be a bit of a pain in the backside by comparison to MMM.

Gotcha, makes sense. Yeah so shellac can be a bit fidgety. If you buy the premixed stuff its usually pretty thick like 2 lb cut, you can thin with 50/50 dentatured alcohol to get it to 1 lb cut which is a heck of a lot easier to work with. Don't even worry about brush marks etc, just get 3 coats or so on then sand it smooth, then apply your MMM topcoat as usual. Only problem is the premixed stuff is normally "amber" which will yellow and darken your wood a good amount AND it has waxes that won't allow other finishes to adhere. Platina or super-blonde DEWAXED flakes will not. Some water based topcoats with whiteners will also keep the natural color of wood but look kind of lackluster/dull. Shellac still allows it to have chatoyance and depth like oil does.

There are also some hardwax oils that are made to keep lighter tones light, and work to varying degrees. Like Osmo Polyx "Raw" or "Natural", i forget the numbers but some have whiteners.

 

[NickM]

I finished my sycamore table with Osmo Matt. I'd say it looks pretty natural.

One of the problems with sycamore is that it does yellow with age, especially from exposure to sunlight. I'm not sure that any finish will stop that happening. Fortunately my table doesn't get any direct sun and the colour is holding up pretty well so far.

 

[PAC1]

For small stuff I keep a can of spray such as https://www.axminstertools.com/ches...8017?queryID=9af97967c5cfd790ca10e1eb6ef1fb5a
It is quick and easy to use and can be recoated reasonably quickly.

 

[Dr.Al]

What are the spray finishes like to apply? I detest spray painting & was really hoping for some sort of daub on / wipe off thing is it seems much more idiot proof.

 

[PAC1]

As you say wipe on wipe off 3 part mixes are bullet proof. A few weeks ago I opened some I mixed 30+ years ago and it worked brilliantly. I had made it with real turpentine, wow the smell.
The problem is the sycamore. You have to be really careful. Oil would probably discolour the sycamore so it is either shellac, or varnish.
The spray is ok and reasonably easy to apply. I have both gloss and satin. I am not going to tell you it is great but it does the job. The box below was with the gloss.
General Finishes do some good clear water based varnishes which I use a lot but it is not cheap.

 

[SteveMP]

As you say wipe on wipe off 3 part mixes are bullet proof. A few weeks ago I opened some I mixed 30+ years ago and it worked brilliantly. I had made it with real turpentine, wow the smell.
The problem is the sycamore. You have to be really careful. Oil would probably discolour the sycamore so it is either shellac, or varnish.
The spray is ok and reasonably easy to apply. I have both gloss and satin. I am not going to tell you it is great but it does the job. The box below was with the gloss.
General Finishes do some good clear water based varnishes which I use a lot but it is not cheap.
View attachment 58950

I was going to mention General Finishes but I wasn't sure if you could get it easily in UK. I have used a lot of their products. Love Arm-r-seal but it does darken stuff. The "High Performance Topcoat" is great to keep light woods light, have had good results on white oak, but does lose some of the chatoyance of oil finishes or shellac. I hear Enduro is good, but I don't have spray equipment or the skill to spray so never used it. The cans of lacquer I have tried always get runs, but again that probably a skill issue.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Alternatively you could use something like the fishing epoxy I use for pore filling. That comes out almost clear, too, and can be polished. That comes in small quantities.

Hi Malc,
Do you mean finishing epoxy? If so, can you post a link please? I need to plan what I'm going to finish my new blade handle with. The only epoxies I used in the past are tubes of Araldite and its clones, and West System. The latter is excellent but a tad on the pricey side for just one knife handle!

S

 

[PAC1]

I was going to mention General Finishes but I wasn't sure if you could get it easily in UK. I have used a lot of their products. Love Arm-r-seal but it does darken stuff. The "High Performance Topcoat" is great to keep light woods light, have had good results on white oak, but does lose some of the chatoyance of oil finishes or shellac. I hear Enduro is good, but I don't have spray equipment or the skill to spray so never used it. The cans of lacquer I have tried always get runs, but again that probably a skill issue.

You can get General Finishes at https://bruach.com/shop/

 

[Malc2098]

Hi Malc,
Do you mean finishing epoxy? If so, can you post a link please? I need to plan what I'm going to finish my new blade handle with. The only epoxies I used in the past are tubes of Araldite and its clones, and West System. The latter is excellent but a tad on the pricey side for just one knife handle!

S

Zap Z-epoxy 4 oz Finishing Resin PT-41​

It can be found on model shop websites and if you look around it can be as low as about £14.

 

[AndyP]

Al do you remember the clock you helped me design? That was sycamore finished with an acrylic matt spray varnish from Edding . Apart from the awful smell I felt it was a doddle to apply.

edding 5200 permanent spray clear lacquer

edding 5200 permanent spray clear lacquer

www.edding.com

 

[AndyT]

A while back when I was making our bed (from ash) I was trying to decide on a non yellowing easy to use finish. I treated a batch of scraps with everything I had and left them in a sunny window for several months.

The first tests are on page 1 of the long rambling build thread and the results on page 7.

Thread 'Ash bed WIP - Finished!' https://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/threads/ash-bed-wip-finished.6588/

There's been no change in the colour since as far as I can tell. I decided on a water based polyurethane varnish from Polyvine. It goes on really easily - brush marks disappear naturally - dries quickly and has no odour. I expect it would be good on sycamore too. Another advantage is that it lasts well - I recently used some that was left over from that project and it was still fine.

 

[Tinman]

For pale woods where I dont want to darken or yellow I use Chestnuts acrylic laquer. Can be sprayed, brushed or wiped on. Also comes in small spray cans

Acrylic Lacquer | Chestnut Products - First for Finishes

Water based and hard wearing gloss lacquer.

chestnutproducts.co.uk

 

[Woodbloke]

As @AndyT found out, a water based Acrylic varnish from Polyvine is one very good alternative and Malc's ukulele finish is another. This is a three quarter length shot of 'Britta's Cabinet' or more correctly, SWIMBO's cabinet:



...which I made a few years ago and finished with Polyvine acrylic. There's no sign of 'yellowing' and it's retained it's original colouring - Rob