Thread: finish for camphor laurel coffee table

Test Test Test!!! on a CL slab like that with those colours and that finish-- ya gotta test the finish on something else first.

Have you got any scraps of the CL? Oils will darken it. If you want clear, then my personal recommendation (being a CL freak myself) is uBeaut's Shellac.

Any chance of some photos


Cheers
Wendy

I'm with Wendy...
I normally make boxes from CL rather than furniture and I find that any 'coating' finish such as scandinavian oil or (heaven forbid) polyurethane stops that beautiful scent and makes the timber look like it's been wrapped in glad wrap. My recommendation is shellac (and Ubeaut's shellac is ..... u beaut!) followed by wax (yup... you guessed it, Ubeaut's traditional wax),
fletty

The smell from camphor is only passing, no matter what you do it will not last more than a month or 2 unless you regularly sand it, mind you, cannot smell camphor anymore as working it most days has left me immune.

Building finishes are best for high (ab)use table tops and a proper coating of a satin polyu will give you most durable and long lasting finish without the overblown finish that a full gloss would bring.

Wax and oil finishes for table tops are not as durable and require renewing quite often.

Pre-cat lacquers are what we use the most for CL, not quite as durable as Polyu, none the less quite durable.

I made a camphor laurel table using 60% gloss spray-on polyurethane a couple of years ago for my mate. Under the table was only given two coats for sealing purposes while I used many more on top, and his living room still smells of it every time you go in. The smell of camphor is so strong it could use a good masking! The colours turned out very well while not taking away from the "vibe" IMHO. I have photos of it in my albums if you want to see how it might look.
Dane