I’m looking for finishing advise for a small, round hall table. The legs and stretchers are cherry, the top quilted maple. Dimensions are ~30″ high, ~22 ” in diameter.
I’m not staining anything. I’d like a high gloss finish on the maple and a satin finish on the cherry. I’d like the cherry to naturally darken with age, (light).
Should I use a base coat of boiled linseed oil to “pop” the grain? What about several coats of thinned oil based poly on the top, finally rubbed out with an automotive finishing compound?
What about the cherry? Watco, poly, shellac…
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Replies
northouguy,
SHELLAC! It is a great finish to make maple and cherry look fantastic and it is also one of the best finishes to rub out to a gloss or satin. Very hard, so it scratches evenly when rubbing and you don't have to worry about witness lines because no matter how many coats you put on, you really only have one coat.
Use the BLO if you like. It also looks really nice on cherry and maple. Just be aware that it will darken the maple. I like BLO and garnet shellac. That combo will make your table look like it is already 50 years old and will not interfere with either woods natural aging process. Poly is not good for rubbing to a gloss. It is after all designed to be resistant to scratches, which is what you are trying to do when rubbing, so it is to soft to scratch as evenly as a harder varnish, or shellac, or lacquer.
Rob
Shellac is about the best thing you can use for figured maple. It's not usually durable enough for a table top though. You might get away with it for a hall table, but for a more impervious finish I've had good luck putting a few coats of Arm-R-Seal over shellac.
As always, test the entire finishing system you're going to use on scraps, including sanding, etc. before committing any finish to the final piece. There are many different shades of shellac so you can mix and match to suit. I try to use dewaxed shellac, but I've so far had no problems putting finish over shellac with wax. Your mileage may vary so test, test, test until you get to something that works and looks the way you want it.
Pete
I favor oiling both cherry and maple before finishing with shellac. You can wipe on, wipe off the oil (i.e., don't flood the surface with oil) and immediately finish with padded shellac. this was written up by Jeff Jewitt in a recent FWW and I've used it on several pieces since. Works great, pops the grain, but doesn't darken the maple too much.
If you want a more stain look for the cherry, rub it out with #0000.
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