We have an antique art nouveau unstained oak two-door dresser we bought at a
garage sale. It is complete but pretty beat up, and cracked in places, with
original shellac, worn off in spots. We have removed much of what remains of
the shellac, and I am now re-attaching and gluing various loose parts back
together, so that it is structurally solid and the cracks are rejoined.
This will be used in my adult son's bedroom as a light table next to the
bed, and will get light duty use.
I wish to have a practical, sturdy natural finish, preferably not using
stain given the spotty areas of fresh wood and sealed wood.
What would you suggest as a non yellowing finish coat, given I don't want to
darken the nice medium toned unstained oak?
I am guessing my choices are somewhere among the following: carnauba wax,
Polyurethane alkyd satin, Poly acrylic, varnish, shellac, etc.
Your advice is welcome!
Roger

I wish to have a practical, sturdy natural finish, preferably not using
stain given the spotty areas of fresh wood and sealed wood.
What would you suggest as a non yellowing finish coat, given I don't want to
darken the nice medium toned unstained oak?
Roger

You do know, don't you, that if you ask 10 woodworkers for finishing
advice you'll get at least 11 different answers...
I'd go with shellac. Super-blonde won't impart much color. Easy to
apply, don't have to sand between coats, should be plenty durable for
light use. The new coat will literally blend right together with the
old coat, as long as it's relatively clean. I'd do a few coats with 1
or 2lb cut, rub it out with 0000 steel wool, and add a bit of paste
wax. Mmm... so smooth and "warm" I can almost feel it.
suggested source: http://www.hockfinishes.com/, also available through
Woodcraft.
Andy

"Roger" sherry roger at comcast dot net wrote in
:

We have an antique art nouveau unstained oak two-door dresser we
bought at a garage sale. It is complete but pretty beat up, and
cracked in places, with original shellac, worn off in spots. We have
removed much of what remains of the shellac, and I am now re-attaching
and gluing various loose parts back together, so that it is
structurally solid and the cracks are rejoined. This will be used in
my adult son's bedroom as a light table next to the bed, and will get
light duty use. I wish to have a practical, sturdy natural finish,
preferably not using stain given the spotty areas of fresh wood and
sealed wood. What would you suggest as a non yellowing finish coat,
given I don't want to darken the nice medium toned unstained oak?
I am guessing my choices are somewhere among the following: carnauba
wax,
Polyurethane alkyd satin, Poly acrylic, varnish, shellac, etc.
Your advice is welcome!
Roger




Shellac is consistent with the original design, cheap, natural, and easy to
apply. It's more than sufficient to last for another 50 years of
reasonable use. After that, it's easy for someone else to strip and renew
the finish.

What more do you want?

I used dewaxed super blond shellac & wax on the art noveau nightstands I
did for my son & daughter-in-law for their wedding present. Looks great!

Patriarch

In article , "Roger" sherry roger at comcast dot net wrote:
We have an antique art nouveau unstained oak two-door dresser we bought at a
garage sale. It is complete but pretty beat up, and cracked in places, with
original shellac, worn off in spots. We have removed much of what remains of
the shellac, and I am now re-attaching and gluing various loose parts back
together, so that it is structurally solid and the cracks are rejoined.
This will be used in my adult son's bedroom as a light table next to the
bed, and will get light duty use.
I wish to have a practical, sturdy natural finish, preferably not using
stain given the spotty areas of fresh wood and sealed wood.
What would you suggest as a non yellowing finish coat, given I don't want to
darken the nice medium toned unstained oak?
I am guessing my choices are somewhere among the following: carnauba wax,
Polyurethane alkyd satin, Poly acrylic, varnish, shellac, etc.

I've just completed refinishing some oak kitchen cabinets
and am well pleased with the results.

I did not stain. I applied 4 coats of good quality (gloss)
oil-based poly. I used a light sanding (400 grit) between
coats. Rather than using a satin poly top coat, I used gloss
and then knocked off the "plastic" shine with 0000 steel wool
and a little wax.

Since you're anxious to avoid the yellowing associated with
oil-based poly, you could try this with a water-based poly
or the poly acrylic. They are probably not quite as durable
as the oil-based poly but your dresser will likely get a
lot less abuse than my kitchen cabs (with 3 young kids)!

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are two pics of the dresser (age unknown) in question.
Roger

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/3783/img16001od1.jpg

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4975/img15981zu3.jpg

Roger wrote:
We have an antique art nouveau unstained oak two-door dresser we
bought at a garage sale. It is complete but pretty beat up, and
cracked in places, with original shellac, worn off in spots. We
have removed much of what remains of the shellac, and I am now
re-attaching and gluing various loose parts back together, so that
it is structurally solid and the cracks are rejoined. This will be
used in my adult son's bedroom as a light table next to the bed,
and will get light duty use.
I wish to have a practical, sturdy natural finish, preferably not
using stain given the spotty areas of fresh wood and sealed wood.
What would you suggest as a non yellowing finish coat, given I
don't want to darken the nice medium toned unstained oak?
I am guessing my choices are somewhere among the following:
carnauba wax, Polyurethane alkyd satin, Poly acrylic, varnish,
shellac, etc.
Your advice is welcome!

Of those you listed the only two I'd consider are varnish and shellac;
however, you forgot lacquer. Specifically, Deft semi-gloss (can, not
spray)...fast build, fast dry, easy sanding, easy repair,
non-yellowing, looks good, wears well, no intrinsic color and "colors"
wood less than most others. I'd remove all the shellac though else
any finish will look spotty.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
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LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

"Roger"
We have an antique art nouveau unstained oak two-door dresser we bought at
a garage sale. It is complete but pretty beat up, and cracked in places,
with original shellac, worn off in spots.
snip
This will be used in my adult son's bedroom as a light table next to the
bed, and will get light duty use.
snip
Roger

Two things. First, sand completely and re-apply shellac or a nice lacquer,
buff and wax.
Second, toss the adult son out, make him get a job.

Dave



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"Teamcasa" wrote in message
...

Second, toss the adult son out, make him get a job.

Dave

Dave, my bad, I didn't word the original post correctly. It is for my adult
son's house's bedroom. He just bought a house and now we're helping him
furnish it, through a bit of flea marketing and sweat equity.
Roger