Looking for suggestions on a finish for Camphor Laurel coffee table, grandson proof

[Enfield Guy]

I'm not sure I understand the issue. Aren't those dings and scratches tiny little captured memories, and opportunities to educate the tacker, now, and into the future? ( Remember when you bashed your Tonka truck on my coffee table). I don't think i would sweat it too much, sure I would be annoyed sometimes but I reckon life is a learning and reviewing thing.

Good luck with it all.

[crowie]

Few coats of danish oil and a few coats of wipe on poly.

Crowie, I used a home made Wipe On Poly recipe on a Bluegum slab and it is very tough. Could have something to do with the slab which was hard as nails but the finish took a bashing from MiniArcher when she was little.
Equal parts polyurethane (Estapol I think it was), boiled linseed oil and turps. Then add another half measure of Poly. Wipe on with a cloth. The oil and turps allow it to self level. Dry overnight then add another coat.
I was really impressed with how durable it was. If I ever get to build anything again I'll use it without hesitation.
This is what I put it on.

Attachment 408176

Gents, would it help to bring the colour & figure of the timber our to do both ideas?? Thank you

[crowie]

I'm not sure I understand the issue. Aren't those dings and scratches tiny little captured memories, and opportunities to educate the tacker, now, and into the future? ( Remember when you bashed your Tonka truck on my coffee table). I don't think i would sweat it too much, sure I would be annoyed sometimes but I reckon life is a learning and reviewing thing.

Good luck with it all.

The wooden toy vehicles already have the "captured memories" of the grandsons enjoyment; I'd like the table to fair a little better....

[crowie]

I found this recipe for "home made wipe on poly" before Tony's reply; any thoughts on which might be the better of the two, thank you..
********************************************************************************************************

Combine your ingredients in a glass jar, working in a well- ventilated area. Keep your mixture stirred as you use it.
With so many wipe-on finishes to choose from, you’ll probably find one you like right off the shelf. But you can easily make your own.
To make an oil/varnish blend, mix equal parts of oil-base varnish, tung or boiled linseed oil, and mineral spirits, as shown.
You can alter the mixture to suit your need.
More oil increases penetration and colour, and slows drying.
Additional mineral spirits speed drying and decrease the thickness of the film.
Increase the quantity of varnish to create a thicker film.
Making a wiping varnish is even simpler.
Just mix conventional varnish with an equal amount of mineral spirits.

[crowie]

One other question please folks...

Do I apply the finish on all sides of the table, including the underneath?? Thank you!!

[Kuffy]

I thought I would be clever a few months ago and made up my own danish oil type stuff. 45% poly, 30% turps, and 25% boiled linseed oil. What I ended up with was glossy patches of poly alongside matt patches of oil. When applying subsequent coats, the glossy patches of poly displayed as witness lines which looked terribad. So I sanded it all back and just used satin poly. I reckon my mix had too much poly.

There are arguments regarding the finishing of the undersides of tops. Mostly based around timber gaining or losing moisture through the end grain only. The counter argument is figured timbers which present a lot of end grain through the faces of the top. Therefore you may as well just finish the top and bottom. Since you can't see the bottom, I slap on a couple of coats and flip it over when wet and do the top and edges. The sticks or pyramids that I rest the wet underside surface on generally will stick to the surface, but you can't see it. And if you can't see it, did it really happen?

[NCArcher]

I found this recipe for "home made wipe on poly" before Tony's reply; any thoughts on which might be the better of the two, thank you..
********************************************************************************************************

Combine your ingredients in a glass jar, working in a well- ventilated area. Keep your mixture stirred as you use it.
With so many wipe-on finishes to choose from, you’ll probably find one you like right off the shelf. But you can easily make your own.
To make an oil/varnish blend, mix equal parts of oil-base varnish, tung or boiled linseed oil, and mineral spirits, as shown.
You can alter the mixture to suit your need.
More oil increases penetration and colour, and slows drying.
Additional mineral spirits speed drying and decrease the thickness of the film.
Increase the quantity of varnish to create a thicker film.
Making a wiping varnish is even simpler.
Just mix conventional varnish with an equal amount of mineral spirits.

Pretty much the same thing but using a varnish rather than a poly. I think Poly and Varnish are similar finishes in that they are a surface finish i.e. don't penetrate the timber like oil.
The oil penetrates the timber and polymerizes while the poly/varnish provides a protective coating over the top. The mineral spirits (turps) allows the two to mix and flow. This could be completely wrong but I think that is how it works.
Kuffy's comments about too much poly are interesting. I didn't really play with the mixtures. Mine was probably 30% turps, 30% BLO and 40% poly.
Oh and yes, all sides of the table. Like Kuffy, I'm not too particular about the quality of the underside. The only people who ever see the underside are little kids and what do they know

[barnsey]

Mr Archers suggestion I have heard before and reckon that might be the go, I had to repair a parquetry floor a while back and used finishes from Boatcraft. 2 part epoxy and and a 2 part clear over the top. All were water based so no smell. Came up a treat. boatcraft.com.au
They are really helpful too.
Just throwing it in as a thought.

[crowie]

Pretty much the same thing but using a varnish rather than a poly. I think Poly and Varnish are similar finishes in that they are a surface finish i.e. don't penetrate the timber like oil.
The oil penetrates the timber and polymerizes while the poly/varnish provides a protective coating over the top. The mineral spirits (turps) allows the two to mix and flow. This could be completely wrong but I think that is how it works.
Kuffy's comments about too much poly are interesting. I didn't really play with the mixtures. Mine was probably 30% turps, 30% BLO and 40% poly.
Oh and yes, all sides of the table. Like Kuffy, I'm not too particular about the quality of the underside. The only people who ever see the underside are little kids and what do they know

Thanks Tony for the confirmation...Used you mix ratio with Satan Finish Poly and Tung Oil.

Another question please:

How many coats do I need to apply....tried 4 times to upload a photo but it won't work!

Cheers, Peter

[NCArcher]

I think i did 3. 2 would be minimum. If you like the look after 2 leave it there. Try additional coats on the underside to see how they look. Poly is a fairly hard and thick coating. It doesn't need to be built up over lots of coats like straight shellac or some of the oil finishes.