I’m almost done building a dining table from old growth redwood and starting to think about finishing. I want to retain the natural color. I was thinking of tung oil and then a clear poly or shellac. I’ve built plenty of furniture, but in a small apartment with a little boy, I tend to either leave it unfinished or throw a quick coat of stain on, so I really know very little about finishing – how many coats, sanding/steel wool between coats, etc.
Also, I’m building the table in a second home. I only get a few hours each weekend to work on it, so I’m a little hesitant to use tung oil as I understand it takes forever to dry and a day between coats could mean weeks to finish. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
Finish for redwood
Instead of tung oil, try superior danish oil or finishing oil.
If you wet a small test area first, this will give you an indication of the final colour (danish oil will darken slightly)
With both of these oils 2 coats can be applied in the same day, wipe of excess after 10 minutes, lightly rub with the grain between coats with oooo steel wool.
3 coats are normally enough but more coats will give a higher sheen and be more durable
This will give a safe, natural and easily maintainable finish that can also be waxed if desired.
If you are thinking of a real, 100% tung oil, let me suggest that you might want to reconsider. Tung oil has little or no protective qualities. At most, it will somewhat darken the wood but no more than an oil based varnish or poly varnish. Shellac would not be a good choice for a dining table for a couple of reasons. Shellac will not stand up to frequent cleaning with water or any detergents. It does not stand up to heat very well either.
Redwood is a relative soft wood and will be easily dented if something is dropped on it. For this reason, a softer film finish is appropriate. My choice would be a marine exterior non-poly varnish. These products are available in marine supply stores--you will not find them in paint stores or home centers. Because an exterior marine varnish needs to be able to stand up the large swings in temperatures and moisture, they are formulated to be flexible. They will not crack or craze if something is dropped on them and the wood underneath is dented.
Non-poly?
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/search_subCategory.do?categoryName=Varnish&category=36&page=GRID&position=1&refine=1Thanks for the advice Howie. I think I'll go that route. Just curious. What's the advantage of a non-poly varnish over poly? I found this site and Epifanes seems like the way to go but all the user reviews suggest thinning? Any advice as to what to thin it with and what ratio?
Thanks a bunch
Gregg
Epifanes markets its own brand of thinner, but I don't think i't at all essential to use that. Just use a good quality mineral sprits, not odorless paint thinner/
Check out http://www.defender.com under maintenance supplies for pretty good prices on Epifanes.
I would go with Howard's suggestion. Can't fail, easy to apply, will look terrific.
No expert here on finishing....
However I would go with. ...Instead of tung oil, try superior danish oil or finishing oil... As another poster stated.
You said you were using old growth redwood. I wonder why anybody would want to put Poly on it?
American, I call the 'true redwood', is durable, redwood is non-toxic and immune to decay. Redwood survives almost anything! Even fire if it is a really big tree!
Placemats at each eating station will cover most things.. Then again, the collectors love 'Patina' on wood collected over the years. I'd bet a fine red wine spilled onto the table would give it at least $500.00 more worth over the years for each and every spill that was let to dry into the wood?.
A sharp card scraper and new oil can get rid of many stains. I would not even bother. Wipe down the table with some bleach 'cut with water' to kill the germs.
I had a above ground pool about 15 X 30 by 4 to12 feet deep.. (1 foot = 30.48 centimeters). The deck was five feet wide around the pool.. We had it for the children... All of the redwood boards were about 2 inches thick and 12 inches wide around the oval. One board rotted out for some reason. We had the pool for many years. Guess what?.. After about 20 years the pool gave out and flodded the yard. Guess what failed.. The steel gave out and I saved all of the redwood to make flower boxes for the local folks...
I will leave it at that!
foot...
Living Redwood trees are fire retardant due to only their shaggy, thick bark; their inner wood is highly flamable and prized firewood by innkeepers along the CA coast for that 'roaring and crackling' effect for the firesides. The wood its self is soft, easy to split along the grain. It is fairly rot resistant as long as it does not come into contact with soil. We are currently in the process of restoring an old Victorian in the Redwood country. We are using heat guns to lift the paint: one, being careful not to ignite the underlying wood; two, not gouging it with scraping/lifting tools as it takes very little preasure to dent/scratch. Since we are restoring and leaving most of the woodwork bare and beautiful, the majority of it being doorways, wanscotts and moulding, I am seriously considering the marine finish for a more durable, dingfree protection especially along the traffic routes! If theredwood table was to hold up under my family's use, I would want the strongest of finish -- they put a solid oak to the test and it was questionable whether it would make it out of their grade school years!
Not sure what you mean by "ding free" and a finish that will stand up. Finishes won't make the wood any harder. And pine is a very soft wood also, but our antique pine kitchen table has got some character to it from the kids, but is still able to hold up a plate and glass!! ;o)
table finish
Check out sutherlandwelles.com and call them for advice on a table top. Table tops take a lot of abuse from foods to liquids to hot containers to abrasion. i would check out sutherland welles and then to fully protect the top buy a glass top to fit over the redwood due to redwoods softness.
This is what my table looks like with oil finish.
I used reclaimed lumber from a picnic table, it was 17 years old and in Northern Utah weather the whole time. I planed it to 1.25 inches to get a flat surface and biscuit joined the boards. Finish is a Golden Oak stain with 4 coats of Cherry Danish oil. The photo does not show the sheen very well. it is very nice.
For final finish I mixed tung oil with thinner 1 part oil, 3 parts thinner and gave it a wipe. Had to do this as I finished it in my drive way and we got a light wind last night. the wipe down took off the tree blossoms and pollon. I really should have done this indoors, but lack the space.
I am having trouble hiding the wood putty. the gel stains I'm painting over it just wipe off with the oil. If you need putty, use a darker one.
Hey,
History: I work only with oils. Been doing it for 20 years. In the earlier years I tried lots of oils on lots of species of wood to learn about wood and oils, obviously. I must have 60 story sticks.
I told you that story to tell you this one: tung oil gets a bad rap. Any finish that doesn't provide the results we want is, by extension, a bad finish, right? A bad word today is naturally bad forever, especially in rooms like this.
I like tung oil. It's never my 1st choice but it has its place. It doesn't yellow and it's easy to work with, if you don't use it on oily woods like osage orange or purpleheart.
Between coats, I prefer 3 with a wet-sanded 4th for a topcoat. Sanding between coats only requires 220 grit. Wet-sanding with 800 wet/dry paper removes dirt and leaves a soft feel but not a high shine. But don't try a film topcoat. It will, in essence, float on the oil and not dry well.
Mikaol
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