/wfg/ Wood Finishing General

What's the chemical difference between wipe-on polyurethane and brush-on? Can I just use paint thinner or something and get the same effect from a can of standard brush-on?

Just sanded the factory coating off my backup opinel and applied the following:

1 part pine tar
1 part turpentine
1 part boiled linseed oil

Letting it dry and we'll see how it turns out. Supposedly its supposed to be a great coating for tools and gunstocks: nonslip, waterproof and durable.

Alternately, I've heard of replacing the BLO with beeswax, and it sets up like shoe polish.

>>1140281
Yes, you can.
>>1140277
>>1140281
The dirty secret is that for the most part, brands have one oil/resin mix they use for oil-based, and one acrylic/resin mix they use for water-based, and everything else is just repackaged nonsense.

"Salad bowl finish" is the same thing as polyurethane, with different/more solvents to make it smell and feel different. Same with tabletop varnish.

Wiping varnish is just varnish with extra spirits in it. Cut poly with OMS or Naptha and you've got your own.

Some companies have a spar/marine varnish which is typically treated tung instead of linseed as a base, with a better resin. This is worth the extra dime if your project is going to be outside.

Otherwise, pick up General Finishes or Rustoleum poly. Gloss for building coats, then a final coat of whatever sheen you want.

Coats are built with gloss because varnish is naturally glossy. Like with paint, to achieve lesser sheen, dampeners are added and adhesive properties are lessened. Neither of these traits are desirable.

All poly is food safe. Raw Tung and raw linseed oil are edible, but drop to food safe when dry. Shellac is the opposite - denatured alcohol is literally poisoned grain alcohol (to get around alcohol tax). Once dry, Shellac is edible, but it's not waterproof and repairing dings is a bitch. (Really the only reason shellac is even still around is so guys can jerk off to their incorrectly applied French polishes.)

If you're going to break the bank with varnish, get Epifanes Marine Varnish. If not, General Finishes or Rustoleum poly, or Pure Tung Oil, or fuck it even BLO is nice, honestly. It gets a lot if shit BC of how cheap it is, but it does the job well.

>>1140910
I've got a can full of decades old poly and it has almost an inch of solid crust on top, and I've another can that's just as old but doesn't have any crust on it. Does this stuff go off regardless of atmosphere ingress, or is the second can fine?

>>1140913
Give it a test run, and if it cures like it should, it's fine to use. 20+ years old varnish being good to use isn't unheard of at all. There are concerns besides curing, but they're uncommon and that's what the test run is for.

You can even strain the contents of the other can and see if it works. I did that a couple months ago with some GF spar that turned out to be good to go after I knocked a hole in the cured barrier and strained it through a rag.

>>1140910

What about for dining table tops? Polyurethane isn't going to cut it. I don't know what the pros use, but when you buy a dining table there's some kind of really hard clear gloss on top which isn't polyurethane. Whatever it is, it's ver scratch and liquid resistant. That's why I thought the product in the OP pic may be the solution.

>>1140954

Furniture and cabinet shops use lacquer...

>>1140970
Lacquer and Varnish are often used interchangeably. Is there a difference?

For surfaces that get beat on, like desktops, I haven't found anything better than Minwax fast-drying polyurethane.

The finishes applied with a rag do not hold up in comparison, and the water-based stuff breaks down with wear. I don't like them. I would rather deal with the lingering odor and solvents and mess of the good ol Minwax.

Things that are meant to be looked at and not touched get Watco Danish Oil .

>>1140998

Well, we spray lacquer as it's a high volume shop, and it dries pretty quick...

Varnish I've brushed on...don't know if it can be sprayed, probably have to be thinned down quite a bit...takes an aweful lot longer to dry...

For me lacquer is the way to go desu...

>>1141003
What if drying time doesn't matter? What are the differences in the end result?

>>1141004

Lacquer is two coats, one vinyl sealer coat followed up with a quick sand, then the lacquer itself...ezpz...

With varnish, if you've left brush strokes in the finish, it'll dry with ridges that need to be sanded flat again...just more work desu...

If you go the varnish route, use a very high quality bristle brush, take your time, and watch for puddling and runs...

>>1141009
>With varnish, if you've left brush strokes in the finish, it'll dry with ridges that need to be sanded flat again...just more work desu...

Protip. Use a cabinet scraper or just straight up razer blade and scrape (not cut or slice) high spots off...

And learn to tip your paint. Of french polish.

>>1141004
Varnish when applied with a brush usually goes on in a thicker coat, so if you get a scratch it can be polished out easier.

what are the benefits of wax versus stain & poly? Specifically thinking about a white oak coffee table.

>>1141082
Stain offers no protection, just changes the color.

Wax has the most natural feel and offers good protection, but will need to be touched up periodically. Oils will damage a Wax finish.

Polyurethane offers the best and longest lasting protection, but you lose that natural wood feeling you get with wax.

Linseed, Danish, and Tung oils are similar to Wax

>>1141096
Wax offers almost no protection.

File: dining1.jpg (45KB, 650x488px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 650x488px

>>1140954
It's just multiple polyurethane coats.

You CAN use an epoxy finish, but they're a bit of a pain in the ass.

If you're talking about a finish like in the pic - that's just poly.

Once you get about 4-6 coats on something with a gloss poly, they'll look like they've been dipped in glass.

The pic is probably 3-5 coats (I'm guessing)

>>1140954

2K polyurethane is one of the best finishes available for wear and chemical resistance.

>>1140998

Lacquer is sprayed on acrylic (in the past nitro cellulose, but that's garbage). Rustoleum crystal clear enamel for instance for a department store brand.

>>1140281
I always buy clear gloss poly in bulk, thicker the better, and mineral spirits in bulk. I thin it for wipe on, i thin it a lot more for the spray gun. If gloss is too much I sand it til i get the sheen I like.

One can, infinite options.

>>1142344

Nitro cellulose is garbage? What, are you a fool or something?

It's used in all cabinet and furniture shops...

It's the standard material...nothing can touch it, drying time, cost, actual finish...

You obviously don't have any clue as to whats used in shops, or done commercially...

>>1140998
Lacquer is a type of varnish, like poly, spar, acrylic, shellac, etc. Typically protection/preservation is the goal and the finished appearance is just a nice bonus. You can call lacquer varnish, but calling varnish lacquer may not be correct.

The broadest definition is some sort of dissolved resin.

And you also get oil varnish blends, like the typical poly-blo-white spirits mixed in thirds, which will provide a little bit of protection while allowing the wood to look mostly natural.

>>1143073
Actually a lot of large shops have moved away from nitro in the last few years(thanks EPA). It's still the choice of high end makers and hobbyists, but it's becoming harder to track down. I've heard the minwax black can is nitro, but haven't been able to find any actual evidence.

>>1143073

>It's the standard material...nothing can touch it, drying time, cost, actual finish...

The lovely crackling patterns.

I'm making a round hanging lamp for my mum. And she liked a lamp she showed me in a store once but didn't like half the laps design, and I took note of what she liked. And one of the things was like this plastic like middle part that kinda had a leathery/marble mimic to it. And I'm trying to replicate that.. But I'm using paper instead of plastic, and I wanted the rich yellow hue it had when it was turned on. So I'm thinking about shellac but its not golden enough.. And I know it will age but not fast enough for it to be yellow on mothers day.. What finish could I used. I looked into leather (rabbit mainly because its thin and cheaper then mink) and its still too expensive. And I'm poor. So paper it was...