Finish for huon pine.

[Vortex_Optimum]

I recently made a box out of Huon Pine and Jarrah and I love the smell of the pine. Are there any finishes that won't ruin it?

[Robson Valley]

I don't think that there's an effective finish, porous enough, for the odor of the wood to escape. Even raw western red cedar and yellow cedar seem to lose their smells in between carving sessions.

However, if ruination means discoloration, I suggest that you abandon conventional wood finishes and use select artists' grade acrylic paint transparent gloss finish. Two coats is about as water wet-looking and durable as you might need (washable). Also, there is a matte medium acrylic paint extender which is a very good, transparent, satin finish.
Windsor& Newton, Stevenson, Grumbacher, daVinci, etc., they all have them in their acrylic paints products lines.

Thin coats (or else heavy brush lines can go milky.) Good brush, prewetted 10 mins to keep the medium out of the ferrules and don't foam it up by working it too much. Hand soap & warm water clean-up.

[AlexS]

I have boxes made more than ten years ago, finished with white shellac and Kunos oil, that still have the huon pine scent. The Kunos oil smell will fade fairly quickly, the huon will stay forever.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

I have an antique Huon Pine kitchen dresser, circa 1840, finished with brown button shellac and wax. It still has that lovely Huon Pine smell. Having said that, the smell is mostly inside, from the unfinished surfaces I think. However, a fully French Polished Huon sewing table from the 1840's (silk lined inside) has very little of the Huon smell.

Whatever you do, do not use any of the contemporary plastic finishes/sealers or you will almost certainly lose the smell. Otherwise, oiled and waxed surfaces do show more patina (a good thing, I think) but also allow the Huon Pine smell out. In Tasmania I have even seen Huon Pine oil for sale - imagine oiling the box with that!

[62woollybugger]

A couple of years ago I asked one of the guys selling HP at the Sydney woodwork show about this & he suggested using rice bran oil. I haven't got around to trying it yet, so not sure how well it works.