Hello,

I just found your forum... hope you guys can give me some advice.

I recently built some home theatre speakers and veneered them with a random species i received as part of an assortment i ordered online. It's a light colored wood and after asking the supplier, he said its' most likely Prima Vera (i agree after finding some pictures online that look exactly like my veneer).

There's a nice figure to it and i'd like to make the most of that with the finish i choose. I read a little about using a coat of tung oil prior to the final topcoat to enhance the figure. I've also read elsewhere about possibly applying a stain and then sanding most of it off, then applying a top coat. Any comments on either of those?

I am hoping to use shellac as my top coat because i have to do the finish work in my garage and the shellac odor is not too offensive compared to other finishes. I've used shellac on some other projects with reasonable results. I recently veneered a shelf with some oak, applied several layers of shellac and then wet-sanded with some abralon pads to get a pretty fair finish. I'm thinking something similar hear but i want to get the figure to pop.

The speakers will probably not be handled that much, so a lesser amount of damage resistance from the shellac should be ok. I've also read the tung oil has protective qualities itself - is it suitable to leave that as the topcoat?

It would be great to hear some comments or suggestions for my finish.

Thanks a lot,
Joe