Finish for a Tasmanian Sassafras Outdoor Dining Setting

Hi Everyone,
I am in the process of making an outdoor dining setting consisting of a table and 5 stools. The timber is Tasmanian Sassafras with Blackheart feature. The timber is generally light in colour and very soft. The setting will be outdoors but under the cover of a laserlite roof. I am getting to the stage of deciding the finish and am researching what products will be durable and maintain the existing colour of the timer. My research has narrowed to the following three methods (but am very open to other suggestions):
1. Hardwax Oil (such as those provided by Whittle Waxes)
2. Epoxy coating (couple of coats) followed by a clear poly finish Spar Marine Grade (couple of coats)
3. Oil (Tung) followed by a clear poly finish Spar Marine Grade (couple of coats)

Any / all advice is welcome.

Looking good so far!
I'd suggest that whatever method you end up wanting to go with, that you test it on some offcuts first. 1 and 3 out of your choices will make the timber go a 'golder' more yellow color. Epoxy would probably not change the color of the timber by much. I don't think poly over epoxy is necessary. Not sure what the purpose of the tung oil would be if followed by clear poly. I used a really non viscous penetrating epoxy followed by marine poly on a western red cedar external door that has held up well. The thin epoxy penetrated well into the cedar and followed by the marine clear poly, it ended up being a hard and durable finish..

Good advice....many thanks.

I use a lot of Sassy and it is prone to rot. Outside you need to seal it as well as you can, I would go epoxy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rusweb

Hi Everyone,
I am in the process of making an outdoor dining setting consisting of a table and 5 stools. The timber is Tasmanian Sassafras with Blackheart feature. The timber is generally light in colour and very soft. The setting will be outdoors but under the cover of a laserlite roof. I am getting to the stage of deciding the finish and am researching what products will be durable and maintain the existing colour of the timer. My research has narrowed to the following three methods (but am very open to other suggestions):
1. Hardwax Oil (such as those provided by Whittle Waxes)
2. Epoxy coating (couple of coats) followed by a clear poly finish Spar Marine Grade (couple of coats)
3. Oil (Tung) followed by a clear poly finish Spar Marine Grade (couple of coats)

Any / all advice is welcome.

---

Hi I would not use epoxy for an outdoor for coating. It will discolor over time. Best is to use a non yellowing polyurethane 1 thinned our coat to seal, 1 coat of gloss sanded back with 240 then a thin coat satin. You have to seal underneath as well. For effect the deep voids can be filled with pigmented epoxy. Never put a polyurethane over Tung oil. It orange peels.

Hi,
I would just stick with an outdoor furniture oil. Reason being it saves a huge amount of work when it comes time to recoat the table. Whatever you use will need to be done again when it starts looking tatty but with a hard coat it requires sanding right back. An oil finish is so much easier to touch up.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/feast-wa...e-oil_p1570638
Regards
John