You make me think about it, but I lived in a house before that had painted
shelves at each window and it was fine. So I'm thinking I'll still go
with
clear wood, and if there gets to be a problem over time I still have the
option of painting. If I avoid water based finish and use something like
Thompson's Water Seal maybe it'll fare better. I've used Swedish
penetrating oil in the bathroom and never had a problem there, either, and
I've got lots left. Mind you we only stayed in that house another five
years after putting in the pine panelling. My wife is not averse to
putting
a piece of glass over it either, but now we're talking more trouble than I
want right now.

I would think that you want a film finish...TWS ain't that. IF you go glass,
just make sure you put a little bead of clear silicone around the perimeter
to precent water from wicking under.

FWIW the finish failure that I observed was where screwed the sill down and
used a tapered plug. The plug was tight but somehow that plug resulted in a
fine crack/seam in the finish.

That said I think the sill design is quite nice. perhaps it will give you
some ideas. I'll post tonigth to ABPW.

-Steve


The sliding dovetails will allow me to remove and replace
if the need arises, which it will when we paint the walls.

Oooh ....hold on a minute; this is supposed to be carpentry not FWW.

The only thing I haven't figured out is how to attach the supports,
because I can't depend on a stud being exactly where I want it.
Alternatively I can attach a long board underneath the shelf, parallel to
the wall, and attach brackets to it. But now we're starting to use up
more
wood than I'd prefer to look at.

It's not a fait accompli, but that's what I'm considering now. Gosh
I'm
verbose--sorry. What do you think?

As much as I think a sliding dovetail ais a very cool concept, if that board
wants to cup after installation (not that it will, because it will be held
in place by the "sliding pins") but I could very easily see it not wanting
to come back out.

just a thought.

-Steve