Clear finish for kwila / merbau anyone?

[Dengue]

I have some kwila /merbau that I would like to finish in a nice smooth clear finish. It is for indoor furniture.
This timber is typically open grained with lots of hairline cracks. I have washed it down with Intergrain Tannin Remover etc.
I need to finish to be very smooth, and also hard like enamel if possible.
Can anyone please suggest a suitable finish ?

[aldav]

Is this a deck? Piece of furniture? Indoor/outdoor location? If it is a piece of furniture and indoor IMO you have two options
1. Use a grain filling finish such as polyurethane
2. Prep. it with two or three coats of a grain filling sanding sealer such as - Sanding Sealer | Feast Watson Products - and then top coat it with whatever you like.

[Dengue]

Thanks aldav, have edited the original post showing it is for indoor furniture. I wasn’t aware that poly was grain filling, much appreciated.
I would prefer to steer clear of the plastic look of poly if possible

[China]

Rustins Plastic coating, finish to what ever level of gloss you require

[Dengue]

aldav, you might care to read the user comments at the bottom of this web page. Make sure you click on the “View More “ button:
https://www.bunnings.com.au/feast-watson-250ml-sanding-sealer_p156477

looks like this FW Sanding Sealer is fraught with problems

[aldav]

There is some basis for the complaints in those reviews although I have no idea what the guy who pictured his guitar did wrong. I've used this product a bit over the years, most recently on some New Guinea Rosewood, and it certainly does clog the sanding media when you sand it off. I apply it with a brush, but not too thickly, it is relatively thick as you would expect. Once it's dry it has to be completely sanded off, the idea is to fill the grain not coat the wood. These days I use the ROS fitted with #120 or #180 mesh and vacuum dust extraction. The material does form hardish small lumps on the media, but these can be easily flicked off. I do remember using A LOT of sand paper when hand sanding it in the old days. It's important to remove all the sanding sealer before you consider putting on another coat.

There are other products available for instance - New Guitar Parts Grain Filler Natural - Solvent Based | eBay - and other options for grain filling. In A Polishers Handbook UBeaut recommends shellac and talc (page 38).

Picture of the New Guinea Rosewood is attached. Unfortunately the picture doesn't really capture how smooth the surface is, I couldn't get a better one.

[derekcohen]

Hard wax oil.

It is grain filling and will leave a silky finish. Available from Timbecon.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[aldav]

I've been giving this some further thought. Surely hard wax oils are so thin that their grain filling abilities are extremely limited, particularly on very open grained timbers like Merbau. The only time I've used hard wax oil on an open grained timber, meranti, any grain filling was unnoticable.

[woodhutt]

Hard wax oil.

It is grain filling and will leave a silky finish. Available from Timbecon.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek. Would this product be durable enough for a dining table top and applied over a stain?
Pete

[hurcorh]

I've used Quantum Microclear on Merbau, a real nice silky finish after 4 odd coats sanding in between. 1 hr recoat time, water based so cleanup is easy.

[hurcorh]

Here is a picture of the merbau finished in Quantum Microclear. I think this was satin.

[Dengue]

Thanks hurcorh, did you use any grain filler first to get a smooth finish?

[hurcorh]

No grain filler.

[aldav]

Thanks hurcorh, did you use any grain filler first to get a smooth finish?

I thought you didn't want a polyurethane. I'm not surprised that the surface would be smooth after 4 coats of water based poly, it's fairly thick and doesn't soak into the timber to any extent.