Restoring a Jarrah Slab Coffee Table

[BradPalmer]

Hey Guys, new to this so forgive if I am in the wrong spot.

I have a beauriful old Jarrah slab coffee table, about 15 years old, I want to restore the surface. The timber has many beautiful fiery red colours and a natural edge all round and is about a metre long by half metre in kind of an oval shape.
I guess that it was originally varnished / lacquered /oiled, unsure which. I have sanded the top with an orbital sander from grades 120 thru 400, now the top is as smooth as a baby's you know what.
I started down the varnish track with Cabothane but after 4 coats couldn't seem to get rid of brush marks. I have since resanded it to get rid of all that.
I have then started thinking of Shellac cream and the EEE Ubeaut shine stuff after reading some of the stuff on this forum but am a home handyman nightmare and not sure which direction to take.
The top of the table itself has lots of little cracks and divots etc as one would expect in a natural piece and I applied a small amount of shellac cream to one little area but doesn't seem to give the glossy shine that i had expected, lots of spotted areas especially around the cracks and divots.
Any ideas or recommendations on finishing this baby.

[ian]

Apart from the brush marks, were you happy with the colour and texture of the Cabothane?

If yes, I suggest you go back to the carbothane, apply 5 or six coats scuff sanding between the coats to remove most of the brush marks.
After the 5 or 6 coats, sand the finish, by hand with wet and dry paper and soapy water -- start at 400 or 600 and use successively finer grits till the shine is what you want
car polish can be used instead of wet and dry once you pass about 2000 grit

[austermite]

Hi Brad

Polyurethane pulls tight as it dries and the brush marks disappear - so, brush it on smoothly, lay it off once and then leave it alone. Let the brush marks disappear by themselves, don't try to finish the surface with the brush.

A lot of people like to thin down polyurethane, sometimes up to fifty percent. Also brushing polyurethane is a bit like learning a musical instrument, you need to practice it and get a feel for it.

And yes, scuff sanding between coats is really important. To scuff sand you sand very lightly pretty much only doing one stroke on any one area. You run your hand over the surface after each sanding movement and when it feels smooth like glass that's it.

There's quite a bit about using polyurethane in the achives of this forum. After you've read what everyone has to say about it some central principles will start to emerge.

I've been through what you're going through now. I hope this is of some help.

Regards

Gerard