Finish for Huon Pine

[tomartomau]

Most of my boxes are made from Australian Blackwood, Jarrah and other Australian hardwoods and I use a Tung based oil finish.
I have aquired some Huon pine but on a test piece the Tung oil did not look like other finished pieces of Huon furniture that I have seen in books.
Any ideas as to the best type of finish for this type of wood?
Thanks

[ubeaut]

Bit of blatant advertising oops, sorry, advice.

Our U-Beaut Hard Shellac (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/hardshell.htm) works well on Huon pine. It is also hard to damage with such things as nail polish remover. It won't change the colour of the timber any more than wetting the wood with water.

It can be worked up to a full blown piano finish or cut back to a satin, eggshell or flat finish. Looks and feels brilliant.

No matter what you use on Huon, always give it a good wash-down with 95% or 100% Industrial Methylated Spirits (IMS) also known as Ethanol 95% or 100%. Don't use the stuff on the supermarket shelf unless it has 95% printed somewhere on the bottle. Washing the Houn with metho/ethanol will remove the surface oils so that a finish can penetrate and adhere to the wood way more better than not washing it down.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil :U

PS Don't anyone bother reporting this as blatant advertising or spam.
....The Benevolent Dictator already knows about it and has approved it.
....If you don't believe it just ask me.

[Fumbler]

Thanks for asking this question as I have just acquired an 8mm thick piece of birdseye, roughly 570 x 220, for a box lid, generously suppled a workshop colleague and I was wondering which finish to put on it to retain its beautiful colour

(Neil, you've got to love people who approve their own work!!) hahahaha, i'll be in touch to order some.

[artful bodger]

I usually use scandinavian/danish oil on huon pine items, except if those items are table/bench tops then I will use a 2 pack lacquer. Some single pac lacquers will work but they must be thinner based not turps based.

[MikeJ]

Hi

The finish is not that important. Over time Huon mellows and becomes even more beautiful. It took hundreds of years to grow so just wait a year or two and it will be magnificent.

Cheers
Mike

[Xanthorrhoeas]

I have used a variety of finishes on Huon Pine but have found that shellac gives the best result, depth of image etc. I have used the old fashioned brown-button shellac on antique items and also ubeaut's Hard Shellac on new items such as a make-up box and a jewellery box for my daughter. The hard shellac gives them some more protection for less-than-full-care usage.

453600 . This is a quick snap of the jewellery box lid