Replies

1. 
   SgianDubh | Jul 16, 2010 04:36pm | #1

   Generally I find that coarse textured woods look unsatisfactory with a high gloss finish, eg, ash and oak I feel look more attractive with a low sheen polish. The exception to this is where the grain is filled where a high gloss might work.

   I also avoid high gloss finishes on pieces expected to endure heavy use as every scratch or other damage is very noticeable.

   Fine textured woods such as maples, cherry, etc can look very attractive with a high gloss, but again the end use of the piece is a consideration. Medium textured woods like walnut and mahogany tend to look best (in my eyes) with a 50% sheen or lower unless, again the grain is filled.

   I have to admit I seldom go for high gloss finishes, but I'm a furniture designer maker as opposed to, for example, a turner where I think there may be more opportunities for high gloss to look very effective. Slainte.

1. 
   SantaFeTom | Jul 16, 2010 05:17pm | #2

   Durability of finish

   Thanks for the feedback. I remember reading somewhere that gloss poly was more durable than satin or semi. It had something to do with what they add to cut the gloss. I think the article said to finish with gloss and use an appropriate polishing compound to get the desired level of gloss. I am probably too lazy to go through all that though. Do you have any experience with durability for the different gloss levels of poly?

   I also make furniture and have avoided gloss finishes because I think it makes surface imperfections more visible. However I recently did a pecan and Claro walnut table with gloss and like the results.

1. 
   DonStephan | Jul 16, 2010 08:26pm | #3

   Wondering how well rubbing to lower sheen would work on coarser wood where pores not fully filled.  The pores might trap the rubbing compound, or the pores might remain gloss while rest of surface lower sheen.  But open pores might not be what you were considering.

2. 
   SgianDubh | Jul 17, 2010 07:41am | #4

   I can't give a definitive answer on silica (the matting agent) causing weakness in the film formed. I've heard that said many times, but I suspect it may be a plausible but unsubstantiated rumour. I can say that several coats of a matte polish, including varnish, will give you an occluded milky finish because of the build up of matting agent. That's why I prefer to apply base coats of gloss finish and apply only the top one or two coats in my sheen of choice. I do this even with the sprayed finishes such as AC lacquer or pre-cat lacquer if the job is large enough to warrant filling the large 7 litre capacity gun I use sometimes. With these finishes you're limited to a maximum of three coats applied at the correct wet film thickness, ie, about 100 µm (microns) per wet coat to avoid the dreaded cracked finish problem, or the even worse Chinese writing fault. Too heavy a dry coating cause these problems in pre-cat and AC lacquers because the brittle film cracks under its own volition as the upper surface shrinks or expands out of sync with polish at the wood surface. 

   If you want satin or matte on unfilled coarse textured woods I'd suggest you go for it with your sheen of choice, not by rubbing out a gloss finish. Rubbing out leaves glossy bits in the bottom of the open pores if you use things like wire wool alone, and you'll  end up with the rubbing out compound down there if you do the job with those products. Don alluded to this in his response earlier.

   Rubbing out is a technique that works on filled coarse and medium textured woods, and also works on fine textured woods, assuming the polish layer is thick enough to do the job. For myself, rubbing out is generally too time consuming and expensive for the customer and I generally like to finish straight off the spray gun with little or no more work. Slainte.