Finish for Blackwood coffee table?

[Green Woodchips]

Hi everyone.

I'm in the process of making a Tassie Blackwood coffee table for some friends (wedding present).

I'm finishing it off with a scraper, so as to get a nice silky finish.

But I'm not much of a hack on which finish to apply to the top. What can you recommend that:

(a) is practical (spill resistant);

(b) gives a smooth satin finish;

(c) is easy for a mug like me to apply?

Also ... the legs and aprons are sassafras. Any thoughts on a good satin finish for those?

Regards,
GW

[Wongo]

Easy to apply, durable, $29.95 from Bunnings.

[Green Woodchips]

Thanks, Wongo.

Have you used it?

Cheers,
GW

[Wongo]

Yes I used for my workbench. It was pretty easy and I liked it.

[Peter3]

I have 2 different tones of Tasmanian Blackwood on my coffee table and TV unit, I want to match TV unit as coffee table is lighter, what can I do? I cant see the product you posted here. Thanks

[KeithP]

Peter, you are replying to posts from 2006 (see the dates on the posts ).

Regards
Keith

[China]

Peter3
Rustins Plastic Coating, impervious to just about everything, plus you can finish to whatever gloss level you desire. I also believe a product called Hard Shellac is good for such finishing although I have never used it.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Peter,

Are you saying that you want the two different tones of blackwood to look the same? If you are then you will need to apply stain to the lighter timber - bleaching the darker blackwood is unlikely to be easy.

If you wish to apply a stain, and the items will not be in sunlight, then you can easily use one of the spirit based stains and over-finish with your choice. There is a very wide range of choice for final finish, depending on what you want it to look like. I don't like the polyurethanes, but that's just my choice - they certainly make a tough and long-life finish. Unfortunately, the end-of-life for them is ugly and they have to be chemically or heat stripped. My preference is for shellac and the forums owners sell a hard shellac that is quite water/spill resistant and can easily be stained and refreshed.

I think that the range of tones in blackwood should be celebrated, not stained into non-existence, so please consider that option.

By-the-way, all the oil 'stains' are actually pigments that cloud and hide the colour and figure of the timber. Only the spirit stains and shellac really allow that wonderful transparent view into the beauty of the figure of the timber IMHO.

I hope that this helps

David

[Peter3]

Thank you all for your input. I am new with woodwork but would like to learn to DIY. So I will have to finely sand it back, then apply stain then shellac. Any suggestion for the type of stain, the darker TV unit is kind of reddish

[Peter3]

Peter,

Are you saying that you want the two different tones of blackwood to look the same? If you are then you will need to apply stain to the lighter timber - bleaching the darker blackwood is unlikely to be easy.

If you wish to apply a stain, and the items will not be in sunlight, then you can easily use one of the spirit based stains and over-finish with your choice. There is a very wide range of choice for final finish, depending on what you want it to look like. I don't like the polyurethanes, but that's just my choice - they certainly make a tough and long-life finish. Unfortunately, the end-of-life for them is ugly and they have to be chemically or heat stripped. My preference is for shellac and the forums owners sell a hard shellac that is quite water/spill resistant and can easily be stained and refreshed.

I think that the range of tones in blackwood should be celebrated, not stained into non-existence, so please consider that option.

By-the-way, all the oil 'stains' are actually pigments that cloud and hide the colour and figure of the timber. Only the spirit stains and shellac really allow that wonderful transparent view into the beauty of the figure of the timber IMHO.

I hope that this helps

David

I would like to stain it with spirit stain and apply the shellac as you suggested. What brand of spirit stains should I buy where can I buy the shellac? Thanks in advance