Best finish for timber servery bench top

[hardwick]

Hi all,

I was hoping for some tips on the best finish for a servery bench top made out of old wall studs. I've had the studs (2" by 3") faced, dressed and epoxy glued together (on edge) to make up a fairly large bench. The timber is a random mix of whatever was about in the 1950's in Cairns when the house was built...Silk Oak, Kauri Pine, Red Penda, others I wish I knew . I thought it would be a nice feature and a bit of history from the old house to put on display.

The servery top is under cover, but one end will cop a bit of sun and some rain. The other end is fairly close to the cook top, maybe 6 inches or so, so could cop a little bit of radiant heat.

The are a few nail holes etc I was planning to fill with an epoxy resin. I had initially thought of finishing the bench in epoxy also, like the bar tops down the local (seem to be bulletproof!), but realise epoxy is not UV stable and could/will yellow. Next tip was polyurethane two pack...not sure if it will look too plasticy though? So, thought after reading some posts, maybe an oil (Tung) with final wax may suit. I'd like bring out the different timbers and also give it a bit of robustness against indentation etc.

Any tips much appreciated.

Cheers,
B

[China]

rustins plastic coating

[Arron]

How about a non-yellowing epoxy resin like Botecote's Clear System ?

[old pete]

Hi B,

I've coated a fair number of bench tops over the years with Estapol 7008 two pack epoxy. This is a great product for indoor bench tops and you should get 10 to 15 years out of a well applied coating (three applications in that) if treated with respect. It is not in my experience a yellowing product. If you use it indoors be prepared to abandon ship for the first night as the fumes are fairly pungent. You will also need to wear an appropriate good quality hydrocarbon stopping vapor mask during the application process. I don't know about the partly indoor/ partly out door exposure. Sounds a bit like a mission impossible to me for long term viability of a finish coat.

An oil finish would look great and if you have the horsepower the time and the money to apply a back up coat every three weeks or 4 weeks by all means got for that approach. It's a very tough ask for an oil finish.

Good luck Old Pete




QUOTE=hardwick;1578493]Hi all,

I was hoping for some tips on the best finish for a servery bench top made out of old wall studs. I've had the studs (2" by 3") faced, dressed and epoxy glued together (on edge) to make up a fairly large bench. The timber is a random mix of whatever was about in the 1950's in Cairns when the house was built...Silk Oak, Kauri Pine, Red Penda, others I wish I knew . I thought it would be a nice feature and a bit of history from the old house to put on display.

The servery top is under cover, but one end will cop a bit of sun and some rain. The other end is fairly close to the cook top, maybe 6 inches or so, so could cop a little bit of radiant heat.

The are a few nail holes etc I was planning to fill with an epoxy resin. I had initially thought of finishing the bench in epoxy also, like the bar tops down the local (seem to be bulletproof!), but realise epoxy is not UV stable and could/will yellow. Next tip was polyurethane two pack...not sure if it will look too plasticy though? So, thought after reading some posts, maybe an oil (Tung) with final wax may suit. I'd like bring out the different timbers and also give it a bit of robustness against indentation etc.

Any tips much appreciated.

Cheers,
B[/QUOTE]

[LGS]

Hi Hardwick,

Plastic of one form or another seems to be the method of choice, and is probably the right one, but I'm not sure why. As Old Pete says, the top needs to be treated with respect. Primarily I think this is because if you scratch it, you need to start over from "scratch" again.

I would think using Tung Oil in one or other of it's guises would give you a very natural finish with high grain resolution. There's nothing to stop you from coating the oil finish with plastic, or shellac, or wax if you want, once it has cured (allow about a week). As far as durability, I have coffee tables and a mobile kitchen bench which were done 6+ years ago and still look perfect. They have never had a second coat of HBO, nor have I had to strip them back. Like Old Pete, I am unsure about the indoor/outdoor aspect of the finish, but feel fairly confident that HBO will work.

My opinion is that you might use Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil (HBO). Applied properly, you will get a beautiful finish (gloss or satin) with great grain resolution and colour and radiant heat and liquid resistance. For most small scratches, you can simply wipe oil into the surface and this will cover them nicely. Be aware that, if you make a deep scratch in the surface, you will have to strip the finish and redo it. A lot less painful than ripping off plastic though. The best thing as far as I'm concerned is that you can just wipe it down with your normal kitchen spray cleaner with no deleterious results to the finish.
I can't remember if HBO has UV filters in it or not, so you may want to talk to Organoil about this first.

If you decide to go this path, follow the method (mine or theirs) exactly! Any change to the system will result in a nightmare.

If I can help any further assistance, let me know.

Regards,

Rob