tips required for redgum tabletop

g,day . having taken up "wood work" i embarked upon a project using some old redgum that had been used as the rails in a stockyard....hanging in the sun for the past 60 odd years. i have made a 2 x1.3 m table. the wood is now clean and taken to a 1200grit finish. i am now wanting to finish it. i have experimented with wax and also with oils..i have however almost decided to put a polyurethane finish on it. my principle reason for this being that after all the elbow grease i dont want the top stained with the first spill it receives! i would appreciate any tips or suggestions.
thanks for your time
diana

Hello Diana,

Since you've put all the effort of sanding to 1200 grit, my suggestion is to use Rustins danish oil, allowing the last coat to cure for at least 1 week and then apply 1 or 2 coats of Ubeaut traditional wax.
Rustins oil contains polyurethane making it a durable finsh but not as durable as straight poly. You can apply 4-5 coats to get a good build.
The wax is optional; it depends on what type of finish you prefer. This is the finish I always use on redgum and satisfied with the results.
Polyurethane is a durable and harder finish, but your table top will feel like plastic and the true features of the timber will not come out since poly is not absorbed into the timber like oil.
Oil finishes are very forgiving in that if marks or scratches appear, you can lightly rub out the defect gently with fine steel wool or fine grade paper and rub oil back in and it will blend with the rest of the finish.
Spills on tables are inevitable regardless of the finish and polyurethane is not always imperveous to staining. You can get white rings which require a lot of work to remove. Always use coasters and dish mats on tables to avoid marks.
Try out the danish oil and if you can, get a copy of Neil Ellis' A Polishes Handbook; it is a wealth of information.

Hope this helps and keep us posted on how things work out for you.
Cheers, Evan :D

I have used U-Beaut Hard Shellac with success on a blanket box made from recycled red gum

A hard burnishing oil is more durable than the plastic film of poly as would be dewaxed shellac. Both would take an accident with solvents whilst the poly would melt and need stripped. There are many more advantages to natural finishes. Their life, their protection of the wood rather than smothering, and their history.

thanks for your replies. i'm going to try the rustins oil and traditional wax approach. im wondering whether there are advantages to using 0000 steel wool over 1200 grit paper. does the wool cause any damage to the wood? i love the sheen that ive accomplished with the paper and am also keen not to darken the wood with any of the products that i use...i imagine some darkening is inevitable. thanks for the tip regarding polishing book..have put an order in for it this morning!
thanks again. diana

Hello Diana,

if you go down the Rustins danish oil path, let the first coat completely dry for 24 hours then very lightly go over the entire surface along the grain with the last grit size paper you used (in your case 1200) to denib the surface. This is to eliminate the grain raising to achieve a silky smooth finish for the remaining coats to be applied. You can use 0000 steel wool but it is more time consuming. You will know the coat is completely dry when the sanding dust is white like talc.
Never ever use steel wool on bare timber; the small broken down filings can remain in the timber and react with the natural chemicals of the timber staining the surface, especially timbers with a high tanin content. It will turn bitumen black.
Danish oil will darken redgum to a degree and to minimise this you can apply only 1 very thin (the consistancy of water) base coat of shellac as a sealer and denib as mentioned earlier, then apply your desired top coats.
Do not apply more than 1 coat of sealer because this will fill the pores resulting in poor oil absorption.
Instead of danish you can use Organoil hard burnishing oil as rrobor says for a matt finish and then apply Ubeauts traditional wax.
Whatever oil finish you decide to use, you must allow at least 1 week for the final coat to cure if you choose to apply wax as an option.

Cheers, Evan :D

Like Evan I'm a fan of Rustin's DO. But haven't found it all that durable. A better option which produces a somewhat glossier finish is Feast Watson Scandinavian Oil. And some folk use Feast Watson Floor Seal.

Also, like Chesand, have had good results with Hard Shellac on functional items like salad bowls, but it doesn't 'pop' the grain like an oil-based finish.

Any oil finish is going to darken the grain and the various products out there vary a bit in how much. From memory Organoil DO is one of the lighter coloured finishes but it dries quite flat and takes more time than the others to do so. At the same time, it lasts a long time in the can compared to the others prob cos it doesn't have noxious driers in it.

Hi Diana,

There is no need to be afraid of oil finishes. I have used Organoil Hard Burnishing oil to great effect on several pieces of furniture, including a mobile kitchen bench (African Mahogany) and a Red Gum coffee table.

The HBO is very durable and used correctly, gives a brilliant finish. As already stated, all oils will darken the colour of Red Gum, but the upside is that some oils (NOT Feast Watson Danish Oil) actually enhance figure in the timber.
I've attached some pics of some furniture finished with HBO. (No other finish, wax or floorseal etc. has been used)
Pic #1 is our Blackwood dining table
Pic #2 is a Red Gum entertainment unit
Pic #3 is "Spray and Wipe" being used on Red Gum finished with HBO and
Pic 4 is a Blackwood coffee table about 3 days after application of HBO.

Regards,

Rob

Nice work Rob.

I wasn't aware that FW did a Danish Oil, and can't find any ref to it on their website.

You are right Ern, I stand corrected. It was Cabot's DO.:-

Rob

Yeah, my memory's not as good as it was and I'm not sure that the wisdom age is sposed to bring is compensating. Sigh.

Good to hear you've got good results from the Organoil HBO.

It was my first finishing technique when I started turning but I found that after 2-3 weeks the grain rose.

Other users did not have the same prob but I'd moved to Rustins DO.

For flat work, only having seen it at wood shows, it seems to me that wet finishing with Organoil or a similar oil finish with a ROS worked well, producing a grain filling slurry that required nothing else.

Apart from that, the distinction in finishes for wood AFAIK is btwn those that soak in, built up over repeated applications, and can be repaired, and those like plain poly that sit on the top. There's no way of repairing the latter. It all has to come off.

my goodness, so many choices! Rob thanks for the pictures. the reds and golden oranges brought out by the oils are fantastic. im certainly going to go with the danish oil ..Cabots is easy enough to source ...as are various "scandanavian" oils. Rustins in proving elusive in this part of the countryside (south gippy) . i think i'll probably bite the bullet and settle on either of the former....its all a great learning curve and i think you all for your contributions. i shall post a few pictures of the finished product when the time arrives!
Regards
Diana

Rob, are you for serious? That is an amazing finish with HBO. I have used it on a small side table but didn't get it anywhere near that amount of gloss. I must admit, I didn't go on to buff it too much as I wanted a relatively satin finish but I have tried other pieces and not got that high a sheen. Well done, they look great.
HBO is a good finish (as Rob has shown) and it will stand up to a bit of abuse and is resonably easy to repair.

Just to add another option not widely canvassed here - I have been using "Treatex hard wax oil" with great results. This product is usually used for floors and after about 10 days goes quite hard ( like a 2 pack polyurethane) but in the first few days it is very easy to sand. It can be wiped brished, rolled or sprayed and is easily thinned. But best of all I dont't get a headache when breathing the fumes whilst working over it. This is a quuite forgiving finish for a amateur.
It can also be repaired with a light sand and a wipe over with new finish. See the link below for details
<cite></cite>http://www.whittlewaxes.com.au

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/alwyn/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]see the attached pic for an example

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Originally Posted by woodyou

my goodness, so many choices! Rob thanks for the pictures. the reds and golden oranges brought out by the oils are fantastic. im certainly going to go with the danish oil ..Cabots is easy enough to source ...as are various "scandanavian" oils. Rustins in proving elusive in this part of the countryside (south gippy) . i think i'll probably bite the bullet and settle on either of the former....its all a great learning curve and i think you all for your contributions. i shall post a few pictures of the finished product when the time arrives!
Regards
Diana

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G`day Woodyou
You will be able to order Rustins over the phone from Carrolls Woodcraft Supplies (a sponcer on this site)
Im also in Gipps and if i get my order in by 11am i usually have it the following day, very quick efficienct service.

Cheers Stef