Replies

1. 
   Nailbag | Jun 06, 2003 03:13am | #1

   I'm often bewildered by the many finishing options so I stick to the traditional....sand till you think you've sanded enough and then sand some more. Don't skip grits. Then rub in linseed oil with fine steel wool, wait 30 minutes and wipe down. Repeat until the wood "bleeds" oil from open pores.  Then mix your favorite flavor of poly with oil, about 75/25 poly/oil and rub in again. Pretty easy and really shows the depth of the wood without imparting any color. If you want to test for this "color" rub on some alcohol.

   Old school shellac flakes are great too but not as durable or easy to repair.

2. 
   RMillard | Jun 06, 2003 05:23am | #2

   Since I make federal reproductions, I use mahogany almost exclusively, and my finishing method is constantly being slightly revised , but here is what I do.

   I hand plane all solid wood and follow with 320 grit paper in a random orbit sander. Veneer gets scraped and sanded to 320 grit. Raise the grain.

   Hydrated lime mixed in distilled water will impart a very nice aged red look to mahogany. This lime mixture in my experience, “freezes” the color, or in other words the mahogany will not darken appreciably over time ( which it does when dyed , stained, or oiled). You must experiment with the lime, as it can make any color between almost no change, to nearly black. Like fuming, it will take a coat of oil to bring out the final color of mahogany treated this way. I got away from the lime method, since it limits you to the red. For more control over the finished color, I now use Tried and True Danish oil with Trans Tint dyes. This colors the mahogany with beautiful results, giving great depth and clarity. I use Cordovan, golden brown, bright red, lemon yellow and brown mahogany, in various combinations to get the color I want. Last but not least, is Minwax Red Mahogany. This is really great stuff, and by mixing it with their natural “stain” you can lighten the rather dark color straight from the can. I often use it as a glazing stain over a coat of shellac to give an aged look.

   I fill my grain on all but carved surfaces, using dark red or brown mahogany filler from Constantine’s.

   I top coat with de-waxed dark shellac, and super blond shellac, on every surface other than table tops, shellac is just not durable enough for tops, but nothing beats the look and feel of a good shellac finish, it has all the qualities of an oil finish and none of the drawbacks..

   For table tops I use Rock Hard varnish, which is not the easiest material to work with, but its durability and looks can’t be beat.

   Rob Millard