Replies

1. 
   Howard_Acheson | Mar 14, 2002 05:59pm | #1

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   First, shellac is not the best choice for a tabletop that will get much use. It is easily damaged by water and cleaning chemicals.

   Now, Minwax Tung Oil Finish is an oil/varnish product that contains little or no real tung oil. Its primary oil component is linseed oil. The varnish part may contain some tung oil in the recipe but once it is made into varnish, it is no longer tung oil.

   You can certainly use it and it will "pop" the grain and work as a colorant. However, plain old boiled linseed oil will work as well. Just wipe some on, let is sit for a couple of minutes and wipe it as dry as you can. Let it fully dry until it no longer emits an odor.

   Now you can overcoat it with whatever varnish or poly varnish you want. Any oil varnish will be fully compatable with either the "Tung Oil Finish" or the BLO.

1. 
   Jim_Markle | Mar 18, 2002 05:10pm | #2

   *Scott, Built a shaker taper leg cherry dinning table for my dinning room. I finished it tung oil, appling many coats and allowing to dry. It held up ok, until one day when I used it as a saw horse for door I was hanging nearby. Had some cardboard on top of the table for protection, but one of the jamb screws poked through the cardboard, and I bumped the door, creating a deep long scratch across the grain of the table top. After many days of swearing, I resanded the whole top, only this time I finished it with poly. That was three years ago and the poly is holding up very well, and I like it better than the tung oil finish. The patina of the cherry came back after about a year, and it looks great.

2. 
   jeffn7 | Mar 20, 2002 06:28pm | #3

   this is going in a different direction, but I recently finished a cherry piece with the Maloof oil/poly finish and the results were outstanding. It's easy to apply, is warm to the touch, and most importantly with cherry, I didn't get any blotching. Topped it off with a coat of briwax.