Hi all- I have a walnut slab tabletop sanded to 220 grit and ready for finishing. It is constructed from three boards with two live edges and is approx 1″ thick, 5′ long and 3′ wide. My plan is to first apply a washcoat of 50% thinned oil-based polyurethane varnish. Then I’d like to fill the pores and was considering Old Masters oil-based woodgrain filler cut 50/50 with an oil-based walnut stain as directed. I am looking to color the grain darker than the wood for some depth effect, but not to change the color of the wood itself so I will remove all filler not packed into the pores with burlap and fine sandpaper. Then three topcoats wiped on of the same varnish used for washcoating, for which I am considering General Finishes Arm-R-Seal gloss polyurthethane. My main goals for the topcoat are durability, clarity, and slight amber coloring of the wood. Finally, I will level the finish with wet/dry sandpaper if needed and rub it to a semi-gloss sheen with steel wool. Hoping the finishing gurus out there might have suggestions for my methods or finishing products of choice. Thanks in advance.
Replies
Why go to all these steps, 4 coats of Enduro Var semi gloss will achieve the same or better.
Hi - I made a similar walnut table a few years ago and used just 1 product to finish it - a polymerized tung oil from Lee Valley (you start with 1 coat of sealer and then a mix of the sealer and the oil to achieve whatever gloss you’re looking for). It is easy wipe on finish, builds depth of color and is easy to touch up over the years as the table sees daily use.
It produces a result similar to what George Nakashima put on his furniture - he was the originator of the live edge furniture in the US and a remarkable man. I was lucky enough to visit the studio a few years ago and meet his daughter Mira. He used a varnish/tung oil blend but now we have this tung oil with dryers in it and it’s similar and very user friendly.
I’ve attached a picture of my table.
That top you have is gorgeous, please post once it’s done!
All the best, Layne
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Hey,
If you change your mind and want a high gloss finish, wet sand. Wet sanding with 1500 and 2000 wet/dry sandpaper removes dirt and shines the surface like a mirror, only deeper.
Mikaol
Please don't use vegetable oil on wood. It will never dry, and it will turn rancid. Linseed oil will take an extremely long time to cure, and you can't put a finish over it until it's dried.
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You sound like Chris Economaki calling balls and strike at a baseball game. You have a plan. Clearly did your homework. Execute it! Tell us how it turns out. Sounds like it will be beautiful. Arm seal is my go to as well, but for a dining room table....Its going to be very very shiny. Mate finish on beautiful wood as more gravitas. only my opinion.
Thanks for all of the responses. mbarnes, I appreciate the vote of confidence and am tempted to agree with you on the matte finish. In this case, is there a significant difference between using satin Arm seal vs gloss with rubbing? My impression is that the gloss should have better clarity (possibly negligible though) and allows me to adjust the sheen by rubbing until I'm happy. Of course, the drawback is lots of rubbing work on such a tough finish and possibly introducing noticeable inconsistencies.
Muskoka and the BLO/varnish proponent, I strongly considered these but ultimately decided against them due to durability issues. I have used BLO in the past with good results, but as John points out, they took forever to dry. Nonetheless I threw a coat of BLO on a scrap piece of the walnut to start drying and will then proceed with grain filling and polyurethane just to see what it adds. That tung-oiled table looks beautiful.
Gulfstar, you may be right about a semi-gloss PU being easier than gloss+rubbing, but most of the complicated steps involve filling the grain, which I am relatively set on.
Looking forward to getting this underway and updating with the results.
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Thanks for this thread, I have a question for you and anyone who cares to reply. I am also working on a walnut slab, I love the natural variation in the walnut including the bands of sap wood. I would like to fill the pores for a smoother finish, however, I wonder if the filler will significantly darken the sap wood? Should I apply a filler after a coat or two of top coat? I am also planning on using Arm R Seal but satin. Open to any advise!
There is not much to fill in walnut to get a smooth finish. There are open pores but they are fine, unlike red oak, and fill easily with a primer and topcoats. Attached are pictures of a Japanese bed I built a year ago and some cabinetry in the front entrance room built 5 years ago. For the bed I wanted to mainly keep a clear contrast between the walnut and hickory without amber tint and keep a little grain showing in the hickory. The recipie on both woods was General finishes seal coat and 4 coats of clear, semi gloss high performance. The key to filling the grain in walnut was to sand between each coat with 220 on a Random Orbital Sander, the hickory is almost void free and an additional coat or two would have sealed it completely. The walnut has no open grain after this treatment. Previous projects involved shellac as a primer and General Finishes as top coats, this gave a slight amber.
Mokko, that is the purpose of the "washcoat" mentioned in my original post, which is just a coat of whatever you will use for the topcoat thinned 50% with the recommended thinner (mineral spirits for oil-based varnish). The goal is a very thin seal that prevents the dye in the grain filler, and stain in my case, from penetrating the wood. If you want to color the pores, you could use the products described in my original post to make them darker than the heartwood. If you want a more natural look there are a variety of uncolored grain fillers available, or it is my understanding that you could skip the filler altogether and sand your first top coat while it is still wet to pack the pores with wood dust, though others can chime in on how well this works in practice. This link shows the results of a few different methods for walnut:
https://www.woodworkerssource.com/blog/woodworking-101/tips-tricks/heres-a-secret-to-a-better-wood-finish-on-walnut/
And yes, using a gloss finish rubbed down to a matte finish will have more clarity than using a matte/satin finish out of the can. At least according to Bob Flexner. The agents that reduce sheen are slightly opaque. (Just make sure you give the finish plenty of time to cure rock hard before rubbing out)
gulfstar- your work is amazing- I hope I can get to that level of mastery someday.
Thank you all for your replies, I'll post a pick when complete. I have two pieces, a small peice for a coffee table and a larger piece for a dining table. The coffee table is my practice piece.
I’m about 2 weeks behind you on a claro walnut table and trying to figure out my finishing strategy. I’ve come across two FWW articles specifically about finishing walnut that you might want to check out: “Finishing Walut” by Jeff Jewitt and “How to Conceal Sapwood” by Teri Masaschi.
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