more finishing help please

I am making a live edge coffee table and am approaching the finishing stage with my usual confusion:? and not knowing which way to go.
I am looking at 3 finishes.

1. Shellac, tried and true and have done a few times before.

2. Feast Watson WOP, sounds like a good finish and not to hard to apply.

3. Organoil HBO, sounds like a very nice finish if i could do it right.

Have read many posts on all these finishes and think have reasonably idea on how to do each. Have enough offcuts to try a few experiments but the big question is would the Organoil go onto a live edge ok? I see a lot of difficulty trying to wet sand and burnish the finish evenly.

Also the shelf has a large worm hole in it. Can sort of see it in the photo, left side goes right through to bottom. I have cleaned it out as best as I could but is still a little rough. would you just flood this the best you can with finish and hope for the best.
Attachment 319940

Thanks
Shane

What's the timber Shane? Part of it looks like Q.Maple.

I was hard burnishing with Organoil Danish for a while (cut 50% with Gum Turps for penetration), but found that it "nibbed" up on Blackwood quite disturbingly after a few weeks. Since then I've switched to Rustin's Danish which appears to be a different kettle of oil altogether. It's thicker, and doesn't have so much of an Orange tint (or smell), and feels nice to the touch.

Rather than burnishing it in I've been applying it with a cloth (but I've only used it on small jobs). Much less time recommended between coats with Rustins too (4-8 hours).

It might be worthwhile burnishing a couple of cut coats in, and then cloth finishing a top coat.

On my workbench I also did the final finish with a liquid wax called....hang on.....Gemini Floor Sealer Finish which is available from Bunnings. I like this product very much - very tough, and a nice semi-gloss finish. When the oil (Danish or otherwise) first goes on the timber has a great "wet" look which goes away to some extent as the oil dries. The Gemini restores that wet look and largely keeps it.

Rustynail (Ken) put me onto the Gemini. There's a bit of a learning curve with it but not too bad. Dries in about ten minutes depending on conditions. You have to cloth it on, and do one full length stroke to avoid join marks - I was glad that it was a workbench that I learnt on.

You can't use just Gemini as it won't feed the timber - just protect the surface. So, oil first for a few coats and then Gemini once the oil has dried and polymerised - maybe 4 days or so depending on the oil.



Waiting to be howled down now with subtle put downs :D

Realised after I finished that I forgot to say that it is Qld Maple.

Thanks for the advice Brett and also Rob for the message.

Another thing I forgot to say is that there is some epoxy in the top to fill in some voids. Any special things to know about finishing this?

Thanks
Shane
Attachment 319943Attachment 319942

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

What's the timber Shane? Part of it looks like Q.Maple.

I was hard burnishing with Organoil Danish for a while (cut 50% with Gum Turps for penetration), but found that it "nibbed" up on Blackwood quite disturbingly after a few weeks. Since then I've switched to Rustin's Danish which appears to be a different kettle of oil altogether. It's thicker, and doesn't have so much of an Orange tint (or smell), and feels nice to the touch.

Rather than burnishing it in I've been applying it with a cloth (but I've only used it on small jobs). Much less time recommended between coats with Rustins too (4-8 hours).

It might be worthwhile burnishing a couple of cut coats in, and then cloth finishing a top coat.

On my workbench I also did the final finish with a liquid wax called....hang on.....Gemini Floor Sealer Finish which is available from Bunnings. I like this product very much - very tough, and a nice semi-gloss finish. When the oil (Danish or otherwise) first goes on the timber has a great "wet" look which goes away to some extent as the oil dries. The Gemini restores that wet look and largely keeps it.

Rustynail (Ken) put me onto the Gemini. There's a bit of a learning curve with it but not too bad. Dries in about ten minutes depending on conditions. You have to cloth it on, and do one full length stroke to avoid join marks - I was glad that it was a workbench that I learnt on.

You can't use just Gemini as it won't feed the timber - just protect the surface. So, oil first for a few coats and then Gemini once the oil has dried and polymerised - maybe 4 days or so depending on the oil.



Waiting to be howled down now with subtle put downs :D

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Well Brett, I suppose you were expecting something critical from me. But it's not going to happen. I'm sorry that your attempts at Hard Burnishing didn't work and there's probably a number of things I could say about your approach. But it's just not worth it. I've lost interest in you and your performances.

Regards,

Rob

Hi Shane,
That Maple looks like it has some nice grain and figure in it. Thought I'd show you some Hard Burnished QLD Maple that I've done. Some is a couple of years old now and some is about 5 weeks or so. Hope you like it.

Regards,

Rob

Table looks good Shane, well upside down and as much as we can see anyway. I haven't tried hard burnishing but I might have to read up a bit and look into it further.
I used a home made WOP on a natural edge desk and am really happy with how it came up. I'm still impressed with how tough it is. Seems to be impervious to scratches and dings with normal use which I think would be advantageous for a coffee table.
How does hard burnishing stand up to the sort of use a coffee table will cop?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NCArcher

I used a home made WOP on a natural edge desk and am really happy with how it came up. I'm still impressed with how tough it is. Seems to be impervious to scratches and dings with normal use which I think would be advantageous for a coffee table.
How does hard burnishing stand up to the sort of use a coffee table will cop?

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Mr Archer, sir,
I have a Red Gum coffee table which I made and finished with HBO 8 years ago. All I've had to do is wipe it down with a coat of oil once in that 8 years. I have a Kitchen bench which is finished with HBO and it daily handles spills, steaming pot lids, hot liquids and it still looks like it did when it was done 10 years ago.
I have a dining table (Tassie Blackwood) which has been hard burnished (using Wattyl Scandinavian oil). No marks at all. Again just a wipe with HBO every once in a while and it's perfect
If you look at this page, you will see an evaluation of several oils used as per Hard Burnishing instructions and subjected to controlled conditions, with the results posted as well.

Regards,

Rob

Another quick question. Gets quite cold in the shed. Would I be better of waiting till it warms up a bit.

Nc: I will take some more pics soon. Have just finished sanding up to 320.

Rob: If my finish turns out half as good as those I will be happy.


Here is a link to the link of the WIP
https://www.woodworkforums.com/183922-coffee-table-2-a/

Has been a long and slow project.

Sorry one more question. I am a little worried about using my festool ROS for the friction sealing process. Should I get a different base if I was going to go this way, and use it solely for this purpose and keep one dry for normal sanding?

cheers

Thanks for all the finishing advice.

I tried both the Minwax WOP and LGS's Scandinavian Oil Technique. Although I did like the idea of the oil I just couldn't get the finish I was after. I will definitely being trying that one out some more though, thanks Rob.

So here it is finished with 5 coats of Minwax WOP.
Attachment 322163Attachment 322164

That looks great Shane - good job!

The finish looks great :2tsup: What did you sand to?

Sanded to 320. Then used 400 between first few coats then 2000 before last coat.

That's come up quite well.

I would have gone the WOP path as well. Good thing to try different finishes and techniques, which gives you a wider arsenal at your disposal.