Huon Pine finishing

[TomL]

I have been restoring a damaged Huon Pine coffee table - the top was badly scratched. Have sanded it back carefully, and want to get that silky-smooth finish. I was advised to use beeswax applied with emery paper. That didn't do much - brought some colour into it - then I was advised to use steel wool. That also has brought some colour but no nice finish. Advice?

[ozwinner]

Hi and welcome

Ive used Organoil, followed with Ubeauts EEE with good results on Huon.

Al

[rsser]

Hi Tom,

You have a sanding question and a finishing question.

In my experience, Huon rarely needs more than sanding to 400 grit. But it's soft so you need to carefully go through the grits covering every square inch.

Finish - wax on a coffee table is asking for trouble.

What do you mean by 'nice finish' - low or medium lustre, or something you can comb your hair in? How much darkening can you tolerate?

If you don't mind a bit of darkening, then an oil finish used per instructions and the last coat or two applied and wet sanded with a ROS - durable, warm, medium lustre.

Otherwise, a bleached shellac sanding sealer and a two pack polyurethane. Less darkening, higher lustre, good durability - but difficult to maintain when scratched.

[TomL]

Thanks for that. I wanted to make the Huon Pine look as natural as possible.

You said: "wet sanded with a ROS" - what's that? I am a novice....

T

[rsser]

Sorry .. Random Orbital Sander. Organoil make a light oil whose name escapes me - turners use it (but not the Burnishing Oil). Using small quantitities of this with a ROS gives you grain filling slurry, most of which you wipe off across the grain.

Sadly though Huon with an oil finish will darken to a honey colour over time.

So just to be clear: finish sand thru the grades til you're happy - the ROS is good for this too - then tackle the finish you want.

[PAH1]

Sorry .. Random Orbital Sander. Organoil make a light oil whose name escapes me - turners use it (but not the Burnishing Oil). Using small quantitities of this with a ROS gives you grain filling slurry, most of which you wipe off across the grain.

Woodsheen is what you intend and I have used this on a variety of things with good success but have not yet used it on huon. The woodturning one is high speed friction oil and actually contains mustard oil in addition to the ingredients in the hard burnishing oil. Power buffing is really the way to go on any large area.

The effort to go to higher grits, even up to 2000, can be really worth it depending on the timber and your preferences. For the mostly small things that I have been doing oil finishes sanded to 2000 grit is frequently the way to go, gives a soft feel to the timber and a sheen without being full gloss.

[reeves]

i could be wrong but i have used the polyurethane finishes on high use items with good results.

If u want if to withstand scratching, knocking, cups circles etc then u gotta have tough finish that will hold up plus look good.

I owuld suggest the canubra/beeswax finsihes like Gilly Stephensons...u use the 0000 steel wool for the hard one, then either brush or spray some carbothane.. then finish and buff with wax again, that gives a noise moist wax to seep into t the wood plus a hard poly resin to protect.

Oil may be good, with the wet sanding and buffing but i am not it will give the scratch protection you need...

cheeeeeeeers

[PAH1]

I think that it is a bit of a misconception that urethane is more scratch resistant. The moment it gets scratched you have to take it back to bare wood before you can do anything about it. With Shellac/oil/non precat NC laquer you are able to repair it without any drama at all. Simply sand the area and then reapply the finish. Not a great deal of work and really enjoyable actually. I have not had an issue with either waxed or oiled surfaces with their water resistance and ability to cope with hot tea/coffee or whatever our sons have thrown at things, wipe it up while still wet and you do not have a problem to repair.

[TomL]

Many thanks for all those - I will give it a go. Just picked up a glass top for it and discovered they have cut it to 66cm width, not 60.6...sigh....

[ozwinner]

Another good reason to work in mm, not cm.

Less confusion.

Al