Murray River Oak Keepsake Box Finish

[DrCarl]

Hello Forum,
I need some advice on what finish to use on a keepsake box I have made out of Murray River Oak floorboards.
This is the first box I have made and it’s not quite finished yet - I need to do a bit more sanding, glue in the base, add a piano hinge and handles and then I will be ready to do the finishing.

I want to keep the natural colour of the oak if possible and use a gloss finish.
I don’t know if I should use a sanding sealer first and then use some sort of varnish (polyurethane or other) or maybe a wax or an oil.

Any help would be appreciated and brand recommendations would be useful too .
I live on the Central Coast NSW so Bunnings is probably my easiest store to purchase from.

On a side note, I am considering laser engraving before finishing an elephant on the lid (the box is a present for a new born). Does anyone on the Central Coast have this service they could offer?

Cheers,
Carl.

[crowie]

G’day Carl,
My old master woodturning mate Ian gave me a recipe for homemade wipe-on-poly as follows:

30% Tung Oil
40% Clear Satin Polyurethane
30% Mineral Turps.

I make up a small batch of approximately 250mls at a time.

Then recipe has been given and shared with a lot of people without any problems
Cheers crowie

[DrCarl]

Thanks for your reply Crowie, that sounds like a good recipe - I’ll give it a go.
As I want to gloss my box I assume the recipe would work if I used Clear Gloss Poly instead of the Satin.
Any brand of Tung Oil and Poly would do?
This is what I found at Bunnings. I figured the oil based poly would give a nicer gloss than the water based but am open to opinions here.
Diggers Mineral Turpentine - 1L | Bunnings Warehouse
Feast Watson 1L Tung Oil | Bunnings Warehouse
Cabot's 500ml Gloss Oil Based Cabothane Clear Polyurethane Timber Varnish

Cheers,
Carl.

[crowie]

G’day Carl, I used “Sceneys Tung Oil” but I know a mate who’s used Tung Oil from Bunnings.
I buy my “Mineral Turps” at Bunnings
I use Cabots Clear Satin Polyurethane.
The Gloss Finish can make the end result look somewhat plastic so that’s why the Satin.
Cheers crowie

[mpot]

30% Tung Oil
40% Clear Satin Polyurethane
30% Mineral Turps.

That's a Danish Oil recipe - typically equal(ish) parts of a resin (polyurethane varnish), oil (boiled linseed oil, tung oil or similar) and a solvent (white spirits, mineral turps or similar).

I've been making a similar mixture - using gloss varnish - and have been happy with the results.
I typically wipe it on thick, leave it for about 10 minutes, then wipe off as much as I can. Because it's a pretty thin coat, you'll need to build up a few coats (I typically do between 5 and 10, depending on what it looks like, and what sort of finish I want).

[homey]

Hi Carl,

If this is your first box you may not be aware that gloss finishes require a very smooth prepared suface or the defects are glaringly obvious. If you have any doubts at all concerning the quality of your pre-finish surface I’d recommend a satin finish which is much more forgiving.

I’m not familiar with Murray River Oak but if it is an open-pored timber you may need to fill the pores with something like Aquacote grain filler to get a surface smooth enough to use a gloss finish.

Good luck and please post a pic or two of the finished project - we love pictures

Brian

[Fuzzie]

The Feast Watson product called Tung Oil is not to be confused with pure Tung Oil. It used to be called China Oil but they changed the name somewhere along the way. The current safety data sheet for it doesn't even mention Tung Oil as an ingredient. Major ingredients are Naptha and Turpentine.

[crowie]

I use Sceneys Pure Tung Oil, a natural product that can come direct from them in the parcel post!

Decking Oil, Tung Oil, Linseed Oil, Citrus Solvent, Fence Black

[DrCarl]

As this is my first box I have decided to make it easy on myself and bought Feast Watson Satin Wipe On Poly.
Even though I think gloss might have looked good, I had a look around at some of those weekend stalls where woodworkers sell their wares and came to the same conclusion as Brian, any imperfections would be highlighted so I decided to go with the satin.
Later on I will ‘mix my own’ but for this project the store bought is the way to go.
Once I’m done I will post pics.

Thank you all for the great advice.

Cheers,
Carl.

[ubeaut]

Hello Carl

If you want to try gloss you should be able to take your satin finish up to a gloss by using EEE-Ultra Shine over the fully cured satin finish. It will bring it up to a higher shine with a little bit of work. It should also help to hide or remove and imperfections in the finish.

Just a little word of advice. Before you do your finish have a practice on a separate piece of the same or similar wood that has been sanded to the same amount as the box. May save a bit of teeth gnashing and frustration when you come to the final finish. Will also give you a chance to see how the EEE (if you get some) will turn out.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Cheers - Neil

[DrCarl]

Well, I finally finished the keepsake box. I’m pretty happy with the results. The satin wipe on Poly worked a treat and was easier than I thought it would be.
Below are some pictures. There are some imperfections in the box but for my first attempt I think I did alright. The elephant handles I cut with a bandsaw and filed and sanded to final shape. The elephant on the lid was laser cut and glued in place.
Cheers,
Carl.

[G Mack]

Hi Carl
Very nice box and love the finger joint corners. What sort of jig helped you with that?
I also like the novel handles
- Graeme

[DrCarl]

Hi Carl
Very nice box and love the finger joint corners. What sort of jig helped you with that?
I also like the novel handles
- Graeme

Thanks Graeme, really appreciated. It was a box made for a newborn and the theme for this baby was elephants, hence the handles and the top design.

I bought a box jig from Banggood.com for the box joints.
Drillpro 30x60x450mm aluminum box joint jig with stop set for miter gauge woodworking tool Sale - Banggood.com

It didn’t take long to set up once I’d attached it to my mitre gauge, but you can also buy a mitre gauge from Banggood that is suitable for this jig.

Cheers,
Carl.