Finishing Tassie Oak Veneer

[TheOtherMick]

I'm building a table for my kitchen that will get a fair bit of general use. I didn't want to spend heaps but wanted it to match the wooden kitchen cabinets so I decided on a tassie Oak Veneered particle board for the table top and tassie oak for the legs, etc. I've stained the whole lot to a darker colour to match the rest of the kitchen and bought some Rustins DO to finish the surface of the table (as I heard it was non-toxic - ie I can eat something off the table that fell off my plate, safe for little kids, etc)

I've sanded back to 400 and applied 2 coats of Rustins - first coat just wiped on, 2nd coat worked in with 600 grade wet and dry. I'm a little disappointed in the result thus far, very little sheen to speak of, not much difference to just the bare stained timber.

Any thoughts on how I can get a better finish gratefully accepted. Keep working the DO in? (Probably got enough Rustins to give it another couple of coats) Give it a final coat of wax? I went the oil route becasue I like the fact that if I have some scratches, etc, I can just repair the specific area rather than having to rub back the whole table and reseal (as I understand is the case with a poly finish).

Cheers

[RETIRED]

To get any sort of sheen with Danish requires at least 4 coats with about 48 hours between.

Little doubtful that you may get a sheen at all with staining and being a veneer.

If all else fails Poly or NC will go over DO after you let it dry for a week.

Another thought is that the DO is reacting with the stain and not allowing it to even penetrate.

[TheOtherMick]

I don't think there's a problem with the stain and DO reacting. The DO seems to soak into the veneer quite well, so much so that I thought the tin I bought would be sufficient for at least 6 coats, but after seeing how much soaked in, I think I'll be lucky to get 4. Being a veneer maybe the oil is getting to the particle board substrate? Would a DO with Poly (Cabots?) give any different results?

[RETIRED]

This a problem with staining veneers. It generally does soak through to the substrate.

That is the reason that most finishers use a lacquer tinted with the stain. Cabots would probably help but make sure it is well dry before the next coat if it needs it..