Thread: Newbie here! Non- shiny finish to use on an antique kauri tabletop?

Originally Posted by LGS

TailsNZ,
You are obviously unaware of the process of hard burnishing. This method provides excellent protection against radiant heat and liquid spills. Because the oil is absorbed into the timber, light scratches are easily handled with a quick rub down with some more oil.
Have a look here, it'll explain it to you and show you evidence of the protection offered by hard burnishing.

Regards,

Rob

surprisingly enough, yes I am aware of hand burnishing. I guess the fact that I don't prescribe to set ideologies may be upsetting to some.

Apologies Rob - I had a dose of SOL yesterday (Shyte on the Liver) .

I've used so many different finishes that customers wanted over the years, and spray polished full solid timber kitchens too numerous to count, over 20 years, and used so many 20 liter buckets of various Mirotone single and catalytic 2 pack varnishes etc - that Finishing for me is a chore more than a passion.

When i do stuff for my own satisfaction (which was rare when your trying to make a living at it) I preferred the dull finish of the Orange Oil and bees wax because it's natural...and different to the high build, high gloss, shiny spray polishes, that I used every day of the week - and the Orange Oil doesn't irritate my lungs the way most other finishes now do. After 20 years at it - it got so bad, I'd cough so hard of a morning when I first got to the factory, that I'd throw up outside on the ground every morning before I even got in the door to start work, just from the fumes of drying pieces sprayed the day before and left to dry overnight!.

I still cough in the mornings on occasion (after now 7 years away from the timber game) to the point of the occasional blackout from lack of O2, and can't say whether it's from all the various timber dusts, spray polishes, or formaldehyde (taxidermists lung?) used in the glue that holds chipboard and MDF together. I've had every x/ray and CT / scan of my lungs and test known to the states top lung specialist/asbestosis mesothelioma doctor Bill Musk at Charlie Gardener Hospital, who can't say what's wrong - I just know it's not asbestosis according to him.

I'm super sensitive in the lung department to MANY solvents etc, and I know that the orange oil is one of the few things doesn't trigger a coughing fit for me. I've had all the allergen tests under the sun and seem not to be allergic to anything specific that the specialist can pin down... if they could just tell me what I AM allergic too - then I could avoid it and this bloody cough might go away (never smoked a fag in my life - but i have the cough of a 200 a day bloke).

If I stay away from solvents etc, I can now go 6 weeks to 6 months sometimes without a coughing fit now - but it's taken 7 years of abstinence to get to this point.

I've had this maybe 15 years or more now in total... its getting old fast!

I did a lot of SCUBA as a kid - don't know if maybe that's responsible... also my old man was a master builder and i spent a LOT of my youth on building sites while asbestos was being used, including standing alongside the old man while he would dry friction saw whole fence lines of corrugated asbestos sheeting - for YEARS, without any breathing apparatus!

I just know that to me, my health is more important, that what shine, grain differentiation, or brand, or make of finish/oil I use - including ALL of the oils.

Using the wrong one these days could literally put me in a pine box the same day.

35+ years of abusing my lungs without the right breathing respirators (or any in the early days), spray painting cars with metallic flake acrylic paints...(the old Candy Apple paint jobs).

These days If i want to continue making sawdust - I can't go back to being a spray polisher on everything I make and do acreage of it, like I did when knocking out a kitchen a week for all those years.



My lungs just won't take it. I cough up stuff of a morning I likely breathed in, back in high school, and even blood on occasion.

I really don't care what other people use.

I know what I like and what works / worked for me.

I seem to recall using a pour on polyurethane once on a Jarrah Burl Coffee table 4 feet across in diameter, and if you know how many pin holes there are in Jarrah burl and how many bubbles come up thru that stuff as it seeps down into the voids of 1000's of little holes - and how you have to blow CO^2 thru a drinking straw to draw the bubbles out before it kicks off...for hours and hours and hours before it sets.

There are just a LOT of finishes I won't use these days for many varied reasons... like health and bad experiences with it in the past like the pour on polyurethane etc.

What others do is fine by me, I don't see with my experience why I should expect to be criticized for just stating my opinion - it wasn't made as a challenge to anyone else including yourself - it was for the OP to consider in her deliberations was all, is how I saw it and your involvement in challenging my opinion, and wanting to debate it wasn't welcomed is all.

I've nothing against you stating your opinion and experience about products your familiar with, in your posts - all I ask is you afford me the same courtesy, is all.

Lastly - forums are POOR forms of communicating with people for a host of reasons - I'd wager we would get on fine face to face in a talk / discussion situation.

Cheers.

Hi again folks,

It's been a while but I'm finally making some more progress on my table. I got sick of waiting for the sun to come out, so I got myself a can of Organoil hard burnishing oil from Masters and I have been following the instructions on the bottle for the matte finish. Just waiting for the first coat to dry now before wiping off.

Just for the record, I quite like the smell