Light finish for pine.

[Graham99]

Hello Everybody,

I am looking at options to finish a pine cabinet. I don't want to have it dark, but don't want to leave it raw and have it darken and yellow with age. Can any of the finishing gurus advise the best way to finish pine to get a light appearance.

Regards
Graham

[Christos]

Normally with pine it would be better to apply a sealer coat before applying a finish coat, this is to stop blotching. The sealer coat could be shellac and depending on which type of shellac you use there will be some level of a yellow tinge.

That been said there is a white shellac that Ubeaut has which could work well as a sealer and finish.

[Cliff Rogers]

There is also a UV stable water based Polyurethane that doesn't go yellow.

[AngelaPetruzzi]

Graham if you have not yet choosen your finishing product, one alternative would be to use the Livos Kunos in the white stain.
This is an all in one proudct with not only the white pigments however it being an oil wax resin mix seals and nourishes the timber.
The white pigments get trapped in the top pores of the timber stopping it from going the yellow honey colour of pine. It will still be transparent though so you can still see it is timber and feels like timber.
Needless to say, the finer the sand, the less pigments that get trapped, so the result is a lighter limed effect would probably be the best way to describe it.If you check out here, there are some ply and other timbers stained in white to give you an indication. Stains - Livos Australia


Just to make sure it is what you are after though, do a test patch on the back or the uncerneath of a drawer....as an added bonus, it smells pleasant and you can touch it up at a later stage too.