Thread: Huon Pine Coffee Table

Hi Sandy .
The thing with Huon is it oxidizes to a orange Brown colour as time passes. less sunlight may help but it'll still do it under any finish . What you had to sand through after stripping is the oxidized part of course. Oil finishes will make it worse . Orange and Button shellac wont help with the colour either. They both have a strong Amber colour to them . What you need has got to stay clear and be durable and have the shine your after .

This is not the most durable but I'd seal it with a sanding sealer and finish with a blonde shellac. Thin the sanding sealer and give two coats with a light cut back in between and a harder cut back after the second coat . Then french polish with the blonde . The ubeaut Hard shellac is good . You want to keep the FP part as thin as possible as well . Then wax at the end .
The FP and wax will give you any shine you like if you know how to use it . The sanding sealer , SS , speeds up the bodying of the finish . Houn doesn't take much to get a shine because of its no open grain , being a pine . So cut the SS back hard .
My current Blackwood coffee table is finished this way . Stands up to anything we give it . Finishing with FP means a light re polish to freshen it up once in a while if you want to get back the showroom shine . Its an easy thing to do .

A very durable way is to use two pack . I do stuff with Wattyl 7008 . Its goes as yellow as all get out though . Yellowing can be lessened by keeping that part thin . If done thin enough its hardly noticeable . Two coats of thinned two pack , cut back and then very thinly french polished works . I did a kitchen set of solid bench tops this way and an extension table or two . The FP kept so thin and waxed that water damage didn't show up . Thick FP gives the damage plenty to show . Thin doesn't . The problem with that way is the two pack is awful poisonous stuff to work with . A horrible thing to cut back . Its so tough it almost wins over the sand paper. It does work though . I lived with the kitchen top for about 10 years . It lasted and stood up to everything . When I moved house I gave it a re shine for the auction . Looked great. House sold and new owners ripped it all out .


Rob

Thanks Rob. Can you give me some brand names for the sanding sealer and the wax. I’ll get the ubeaut blonde shellac

Ill put the three down Sandy .

Wattyl Craftsman Sanding Sealer

HARD SHELLAC - New improved formula finish.

U-Beaut Polishes - TRADITIONAL WAX Polish

I haven't used the Ubeaut wax but it'll be good .
I make my own wax which lasts me years at a time . I bought a wood working machine from QLD and had it trucked down to Vic . The seller turned out to be a big time Bee Keeper with plenty of Beeswax . So I paid extra for the wax and had a lot shipped as well . About a fully loaded wheel barrow full packed into the machine . Should keep me waxing into my Eightys .

Just remember to thin the SS down with mineral turps . 2/3 SS to 1/3 turps should be good .

When I wax such things a good way is to use 0000 steel wool , a mix of oil and turps and wax .

You splash a bit of the O&T over the top and dab a number of small dobs of wax on spread out . You then evenly wipe the top with a pad of the 0000 wool straight and even covering the top with straight lines 10 times . Its cutting and waxing at the same time . Rub it straight with a dry clean cloth and buff it dry . It gives a good dull wax shine every time . Smooth as a only a wax finish can do .

Rob

Thanks Rob.

You’ve been a great help. Much appreciated.

Cheers Sandy