Three Reliable Finishes
Get good results with oil-varnish, shellac or water-based polyurethane
Synopsis: Furniture makers Garrett Hack, Phil Lowe, and Dolly Spragins demonstrate their favorite finishing methods a home-brewed wipe-on technique, traditional applications of shellac, and sprayed-on water-based finishes, respectively. Each expert explains how to mix and apply the finish for a professional look. Each method offers multiple options, which are detailed here, depending on how glossy you prefer your furniture to look.
If the furniture of Garrett Hack, Phil Lowe and Dolly Spragins are contrasts in styles, then so are their approaches to finishing. Hack relies on a home-brewed wipe-on mixture; Lowe’s method is as traditional as the period pieces he builds; and Spragins favors cutting-edge spray equipment and water-based finishes. What they have in common is a method of finishing that favors their style of furniture and at the same time is easy to apply.
None of these woodworkers would describe finishing as their favorite job, but all three know exactly how they want each finished piece to look. By experimenting with different finishes and methods of application, they all found a finish flexible enough to yield a range of looks to suit their furniture.
Garrett Hack: Oil-varnish is easy to make, apply and repair
Anyone who studies furniture knows that furniture makers are creatures of habit. They sometimes try new things, but when it comes to finishes, makers rely on what they know. Hack is no different. He has a favorite finish that he has been using for years, a simple mixture of equal parts varnish, tung or linseed oil and turpentine. It combines all the virtues of a good finish: It is forgiving in the proportions of ingredients and how they are mixed. It can be tinted, it is easy to apply, and it is durable and renewable. Hack has used it for everything from elegant inlaid tables to kitchen cabinets to hoe handles.
The recipe is pretty simple—A finish chemist could tell you about long and short oil varnishes and the nitty-gritty of this mixture. Hack’s nonscientific view is to think of it as a thinned-out wiping varnish. It combines some of the durability of varnish with the workability and appeal of an oil finish. Mix it heavy with a hard varnish like urethane, which has lots of tough synthetic resins, and you can build up a very protective and glossy finish suitable for a dining-room table. For a long time Hack used spar varnish, a flexible varnish applied to wooden boats, that is high in natural resins. Since his local hardware store stopped carrying it, he has tried other varnishes, all with good results.
Hack uses linseed or tung oil. Boiled linseed oil tends to have a richer color than tung oil and is somewhat less expensive.
From Fine Woodworking #150
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