what finish to use?????

[Rowan]

I have just finished (well I keep sanding a bit more each time I pass it) sanding my burl top for a coffee table I am making and want some advice on finishing it.

To date I normally finish bowls either with hardened shellack and wax, or oil and wax but have seen a product on another table that had a great finish. It was called "mirratone" or "mirrortone" not sure how to spell it and looked great. Can anyone give me some info about it. Is it user friendly where do I get it and is it sprayed or brushed on. I do have spray equipment and access to a very accomplished sprayer if needed ( fathers do have their uses). If not this product anyone want to suggest others that they like. I am after a hard wearing semi gloss finish. Catch is I dont want to wax it, as being burl the top has natural grooves that the wax loves getting into and being hard to get out.

[Shane Watson]

Mirotone is a brand the same as wattyl. Its highly regarding within the commercial finishing industry. Hell i've used thousand's of litres of the stuff but you need more info on what type of finish you want before going to a mirotone stockist and the supply a lot of diiferent products from the basic DIY targeted stuff to the high end users.

[Phreddy]

Hi fellas. Yes, mirotone has been around for a while - first came across their stuff in the army years ago, we used their hammertone finishes on certain stuff. They do all kinds of stuff, but I'd say what you're referring to Rowan is their "nitrocellulose" clear lacquer.
Nitrocellulose lacquers have been around for a looong time, they were used as auto finishes before the advent of acrylic lacquers. I'm actually in the midst of a finishing project using nitrocellulose myself - an electric guitar restoration. As you could probably guess I'm after a super high gloss, and NC lacquers give you just that - with the right prep you cen get a mirror shine that looks about three feet deep! (so can you with acrylics, but guitar makers traditionally use NC, plus there's a special blend I can get hold of which is specifically formulated for guitar finishing)
The downside is though that it needs buffing to achieve that REALLY smooth shine (like acrylics do) and on some things this just isn't practical. (in those cases I personally choose polyurethanes - they come off the gun real nice, and the longer drying times usually allow the finish to "flow out" to a nice smooth surface. Also PU is pretty tough, which can render it unsuitable though for other jobs! Confusing, ain't it??)

Having said all that, don't take any of that as gospel! My expertise is in computers and electronics! This stuff is just a hobby for me.

Anyways, good luck!