My first finish

Hi all,

I need a piece of advice from you.

I made a small box out of Tasmanian oak and now it's time to finish it.

I would like to preserve as much as possible the wood and its aspect so I discarded any water-basef finish and any varnish/stain.

I was going to use linseed oil but then I discovered the danger about possible fires and I am quite scared. It seems that the only solution if I want to use oil is to use tung oil or danish oil, but the first seems difficult and the second I am not really convinced about.

Another option is wipe on poly but I am scared about the plastic effect.

Do you have any suggestion considering that I will buy my finish at bunnings and this is my first experience (but I want to achieve the best result possible as this is a wedding gift).

Thanks a lot
Jekkil

Pure linseed or tung oil will give a slight yellow tinge to the piece as most oils will. This is especially the case when it comes to white or very light coloured timber. Danish oil is normally a mix of oil, poly and dryers you need to check on the back of the pack to see what type of oil. At one stage I had a can that contained tung oil as there oil component.

I have used the wipe on poly on my turned pieces and was my go to finish when I was making pens. I normally apply a very thin coat and it would be about three coats. I did not give a plastic look or feel but it I applied seven coats it became quite thick and shinny. I prefer the Minwax brand over another brand as I found it was not as thick to apply.

If you main source of finish is going to be a large hardware chain can I suggest that you take a look at the back of the cans to get a better understanding of the contains in that can. Oil based finish normally contain some from of spirt that evaporates as it dries and left on the rag that you applied the finish with could combust. Hanging the rag out to dry or washing it in soapy water then hanging out does not allow it to heat thus prevent combustion.

If you want to keep the color of the wood as it is, as much as possible, you'll want to use a water based poly, white shellac, or Poly X Raw. I know you said you've discarded water based finish but that seems at odds with wanting to keep the 'raw wood' look. Any solvent based finish or oil finish will impart a yellowish tinge that will change the color of the wood. On darker woods it can be a desirable effect, on lighter woods, which some Tas Oak can be, it might not be desirable.

The easiest to apply finish that keeps the wood looking 'unfinished' would in my opinion be Osmo Polyx Raw. It has titanium oxide pigment in it, so it's not recommended for use on darker timbers. Osmo is also expensive but on small pieces it is practically fool proof to apply.

White shellac would be my next choice - it takes more practice to apply than Osmo but on smaller pieces it's not difficult.

You're in Melbourne so there are local stockists for Osmo and for Ubeaut's white shellac.

If you want to stick to Bunnies and you're happy with a low gloss finish try Feast Watson Fine Buffing Oil. You'll need to fine sand to at least 400 grit, then use a sanding sealer (FW recommend their Proofseal - it's clear so no colour change), sand to 600 grit then apply the oil with 0000 steel wool. Follow the directions on the can. Once you've buffed off you'll have a low gloss finish that looks deep in to the grain, although it will be slightly darker then the natural timber.

If you want a bit more gloss top the oil with uBeaut's EEE Ultra Shine or Shellawax Glow - smick. :2tsup: You can't get them at Bunnies though.

If you are making more than a few boxes, grab a small bottle of Livos Kunos oil. It is absolutely remarkable in how soft it makes the finish feel.

My other finishes are sprayed Nitrocellulose and sprayed Polyurethane. The poly is rubbed back to 2000 grit using just sandpapers from a car refinisher (supercheapauto is OK) and a rubber block (Wet and Dry 600, then 1200 and 2000 using water with a couple of drops of kitchen detergent.). Final treatment is buffing with car cutting compounds. Meguiars SwirlX is my favourite.

If you want to make the whole process faster, buy a "De-Nibber": https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RI9GF0 ... coarse then fine. It makes it super quick.

The Livos Kunos is by FAR the easiest of any oil finish I've ever used. Use is simplicity itself and completely foolproof. Customers LOVE it.

Kings livos oil. I made 2 boxes and the first i used wipe on poly, I thought it was the best thing since sliced cheese, until it went wrong and I spent the best part of 6weekd trying to fix it. So with the next box and little time to finish it, I needed a foolproof east to apply finish. Kudos livos oil fit the bill. Wipe it on, leave for 15min then wipe off the excess, then repeat process the next day, then buff out and leave again and on the third day buff previous coat then do the same again, but each coat needs less each time. And it's fool proof, unless you forget to wipe off excess before it gets too tacky then it's a bigger, but good thing is, you just wipe on some more to get the wetness then wipe off etc. easy peasy as they say. Now it's my finish of choice for boxes.