Shopsmith Forums

I'm building a book case for my son---have some very nice quarter sawn white oak---what is the best way to highlight the natural wood---i would like a "natural wood" look and ---I have heard I should use some sort of 'light" stain
recommendations?

You use a 50/50 mix of BLO and MS, wiped on then wipe off excess, or MinWax natural stain which is about the same thing.

I used a light oak stain on my kids' desks and bookcases, followed by several coats of wipe-on polyurethane varnish, with a hand sanding with a fine steel wool pad between coats. Looked good, and withstood everything they could throw at it during their growing up years.

+1 on the wipe-on poly. Easy, durable, and looks nice for most projects.

But more importantly, test your candidate finish(es) on a piece of matching wood scrap, before applying to your project!

I'll add, a coat of shellac or two first- retards splotchiness that might occur.

Depends if you want a shine that will last for years or a flat surface that will scuff . On book cases or a desk I would suggest considering using tung oil and different grades of wet sand paper like they use in auto body work ,,,,starting from around 220 grit and ending around 1000 grit , the system involves some work but will last for a long time,,,, dip the sand paper in a bowl of tung oil or pour some out on the wood and wet sand it in , let it dry for a few hrs and then do it again with the next higher grade paper ,,,,, after a couple coats let it dry over night ,then keep on going like this until you get to 1000 or higher grit ,I normally do this using 4 grits and it takes 2 days to finish ,,, you will be amazed at the grain quality you will get and after a week or two the surface will be very hard ,, the longer it sets the harder it will get.

If you want a flat surface then the above answers are spot on.

You can also use spray on lacquer in rattle cans to bring out the grain,,it usually takes several coats .

Hobbyman2 wrote:Depends if you want a shine that will last for years or a flat surface that will scuff . On book cases or a desk I would suggest considering using tung oil and different grades of wet sand paper like they use in auto body work ,,,,starting from around 220 grit and ending around 1000 grit , the system involves some work but will last for a long time,,,, dip the sand paper in a bowl of tung oil or pour some out on the wood and wet sand it in , let it dry for a few hrs and then do it again with the next higher grade paper ,,,,, after a couple coats let it dry over night ,then keep on going like this until you get to 1000 or higher grit ,I normally do this using 4 grits and it takes 2 days to finish ,,, you will be amazed at the grain quality you will get and after a week or two the surface will be very hard ,, the longer it sets the harder it will get.

If you want a flat surface then the above answers are spot on.

You can also use spray on lacquer in rattle cans to bring out the grain,,it usually takes several coats .

Would Teak oil work the same? My husband brought me home a can of it the other day but I have never used it before.

General Finishes ArmRseal. 3-7 wipe on coats depending on your patience. Lightly sand in between with 400 grit or higher paper. Then follow with a buffing wax like Renaissance Wax or Minwax furniture wax and buff it down. Awesome, long lasting finish and surface.

The GF polyacrylic finishes are also top notch if you want low VOCs and water solubility. It doesn't bring out the grain as much though, but provides a very durable surface and UV stabilization/protection over stains.

Cheers,
John

thunderbirdbat wrote:

Hobbyman2 wrote:Depends if you want a shine that will last for years or a flat surface that will scuff . On book cases or a desk I would suggest considering using tung oil and different grades of wet sand paper like they use in auto body work ,,,,starting from around 220 grit and ending around 1000 grit , the system involves some work but will last for a long time,,,, dip the sand paper in a bowl of tung oil or pour some out on the wood and wet sand it in , let it dry for a few hrs and then do it again with the next higher grade paper ,,,,, after a couple coats let it dry over night ,then keep on going like this until you get to 1000 or higher grit ,I normally do this using 4 grits and it takes 2 days to finish ,,, you will be amazed at the grain quality you will get and after a week or two the surface will be very hard ,, the longer it sets the harder it will get.

If you want a flat surface then the above answers are spot on.

You can also use spray on lacquer in rattle cans to bring out the grain,,it usually takes several coats .

Would Teak oil work the same? My husband brought me home a can of it the other day but I have never used it before.

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I have not used teak oil enough to say one way or another,I know there was a formbys {sp} kit that I believe used it ,,, you can test it if you have a scrap piece of wood , keep in mind no mater what you use will darken the wood a little , I have used tung oil that didn't darken the wood so much ,,,and lin seed oil with good results , .I used this system on the for end I just made , you can see by the results how it brought out the grain.

Ammonia fumes. It's a traditional "stain" for White Oak. Followed by BLO and wax.

Michael