Advice on a dining setting

G’day all

I’m working on a bit of a restoration project and I at the stage where I’m thinking about different finishes and would like a few different opinions based on peoples experiences. The project is the restoration of a (reproduction) dinning room setting, I have attached pic’s at the bottom. As the pic’s show there is a fair bit of detailed carving which makes finishing more interesting than my usual flat surfaces. At the moment there are two finishes that I am looking at, spraying on lacquer and Shellawax cream with a boot brush and lambs wool buff (possible with some EEE).

My main concern is that I have not (knowingly) seen either of these finishers before. I assume that Lacquer would be a smooth finish with a feel similar to varnish but what does a Shellawax look and more importantly feel like? I have used organoil’s hard burnishing oil before an liked the result because you can still “feel” the wood. This is the impression I get about Shellawax from Neil’s book, correct me if I’m wrong.

I would appreciate anybody’s comments on their experiences (good and bad) with either finish and if someone knows a gallery or something in the Canberra region where I see and feel them that would be appreciated.

Secondly if I go down the path of the lacquer can someone point me in the right direction in relation to advantages and disadvantages of the different lacquers, there is a bit in the forums on water based ones, has anybody used them? Are they available in Canberra? Do they behave in the same way as nitro cellulose lacquers? I would be looking at using probably a Wagner 180, is this a suitable choice? And any other advice that you could offer would be appreciated.

Finally…. I am looking at darkening the wood prior to finishing it. I was thinking about trying Potassium Bichromate as the wood may be Philippine Cedar. Would this be incompatible with either finish, if so is there an alternative?

Thanks for looking

TJ
Attachment 23468

Attachment 23469

Decided on a finish yet?

Not yet

Probably go with Shellawax after using some of Neil’s dye underneath to match up all the timber, but waiting for that to get to my local shop. Still not sure though, and don’t seem to be getting too many opinions/experiences to point me in the right direction.

I haven't used Shellawax but shellac gives a low build shiny finish with a ncie natural feel. Wax softens the shine somewhat. The main disadvantage with shellac is its susceptibility to marking from water/alcohol spills.


As for lacquering, do you have a spray gun and compressor? Lacquering requires these and a crash course in spray painting.


Potassium dichromate is compatible with both and should work okay. I usually add some Van Dyke crystals (walnut) to emphasise the brown and kill the yellow of the Potassium