To all,

I’ve been commissioned to make some ecclesiastical pieces and was fortunate to score some locally sourced air-dried walnut. During the design process the current style of “live edge” horizontal surfaces was chosen. My question is about finish for this material. I’ve not been fortunate to work with air-dried material before and have always needed to warm-up kiln dried. I’ve decided to use super blond shellac as my top coat, since I don’t want to interfere with the color and the surfaces will not be subjected to abuse like most horizontal surfaces. The question is whether or not I should use a light under coat of boiled linseed oil to enhance the chatoyance of this beautiful wood. I’m concerned it may shift the “live edge” too much toward yellower spectrum. What do the finish masters say?

T.J.