Which finish to use?

I have two questions regarding what would be the best finish to use.

Project 1: I'm making wine racks out of very old red cedar (came from wall panels made early last century). The timber is very soft. Can scratch it with your fingernail. What would be best to harden the the surface but not darken the colour too much?

Project 2: I'm using silky oak from two old desks and some very old doors to build a bar. What suggestions do you have on a suitable finish to bring out the grain without hiding it (keep it light)? It needs to be resistant to water and alcohol. I'm not after a varnish or estapol finish but more an oil type that won't show the damage done by drunken yobos.

Another porblem I've encountered is cleaning the old finishoff the silky oak. The only way I've found so far of removing it is heaps of metho and scraping. Is there a better way of removing it? The surface goes very sticky when the metho is applied.

Well heres' my twopenneth. I use a 2 pack or waterbased satin floor finish if I think the item is going to be abused or is a soft wood.
If I want a good hard wearing oil type finish I use Birchwood Casey's Tru oil. You can get it from most gunshops or gunsmiths. Ubeaut may have a finish but Ive not used one.

Bare in mind that a lot of people are extremely allergic to silky oak so the finish should be tough durable and completely cover the entire thing. Otherwise you could have someone break out in a rash have respiratory problems and other symptoms.

I know of one man who can tell as soon as he walks into a room if there's any silky present and will refuse to enter.

Use paint stripper to remove the old stuff. Much quicker and easier then mucking around with metho and the like. Buy the cheap stuff it works well, don't get the environmentally friendly girlie stuff get the blokey, rip ya skin off stuff.

U-Beaut, I can understand reactions to new timber that still has the oils and esters present, but would there be likely to be anything coming off timber that has been seasoned for 50 to 80 years?

Here are some photos of the timber.

One shows the Silky oak before and after cleaning with metho. The colour of the piece of S/O is close to the colour I want the final piece to be.

Although the other piece is called 'cedar', can anyone positively identify what the timber is?

Both pieces of timber have merely been sanded back so it is their natural colour.

Quote:

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would there be likely to be anything coming off timber that has been seasoned for 50 to 80 years?

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Yes, as far as I know.

I have no idea what it is or why people are allergic but age doesn't seem to make a difference. Also bare in mind that you will sand it etc to get it ready for polishing whish will bring out all the goodies (or baddies) and allow them into the air basically exposing new fresh timber to the air for the first time..

As for the timbers, the centre pic definitely looks like red cedar to me.

Cheers - Neil :U

Not sure about hardening the cedar, but would Danish Oil be a good solution for the bar top? I love the stuff, it is easy to use, looks awesome, and is easily touched up. I have a kitchen table that I stained and Danished, it's seen its fair share of alcohol (and other spills) I can tell you, but it still looks good. It won't give you a really hard, high gloss finish but it is perfect for a slightly rustic look where the wood speaks for itself.