I'm currently working in walnut but oak and mahogany are also in line to be
used. I have a variety of finishes on hand including tung oil, salad bowl
oil, lemon oil, varnish, and shellac. Is there any site or book that has
pictures of what these and other finishing materials look like when used on
various woods?

TIA
Norm

"Norm Dresner" wrote in message
...
I'm currently working in walnut but oak and mahogany are also in line to
be
used. I have a variety of finishes on hand including tung oil, salad bowl
oil, lemon oil, varnish, and shellac. Is there any site or book that has
pictures of what these and other finishing materials look like when used
on
various woods?

TIA
Norm


Typically the store that sells the product that you want to buy has actual
samples on oak and pine.

Regardless, if you are looking for a particular "look" make your own
samples so that you will see exactly what you will be getting.

Norm Dresner wrote:
I'm currently working in walnut but oak and mahogany are also in line
to be used. I have a variety of finishes on hand including tung oil,
salad bowl oil, lemon oil, varnish, and shellac. Is there any site
or book that has pictures of what these and other finishing materials
look like when used on various woods?

There won't be a nickel's worth of difference among the oils. The varnish
will add its own color (if oil based) as will the shellac...more coats, more
color. On the woods you mention color from varnish/shellac will be slight.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

"Norm Dresner" wrote in message
...
I'm currently working in walnut but oak and mahogany are also in line to
be
used. I have a variety of finishes on hand including tung oil, salad bowl
oil, lemon oil, varnish, and shellac. Is there any site or book that has
pictures of what these and other finishing materials look like when used
on
various woods?

TIA
Norm


See if your library system has Bob Flexner's book "Understanding Wood
Finishing". It has a number of color pictures that may help you understand
your options.

On Feb 4, 7:05*am, "Norm Dresner" wrote:
I'm currently working in walnut but oak and mahogany are also in line to be
used. *I have a variety of finishes on hand including tung oil, salad bowl
oil, lemon oil, varnish, and shellac. *Is there any site or book that has
pictures

Alas, pictures aren't good enough. Make test pieces of
finishes, and DON'T think the 'manufacturers instructions'
are all the techniques you should try.

Always sand before finishing, and remember to finish
an end grain or knot to see how that causes variation.

I once knew an architect who kept a bin of wood samples,
all carefully labeled, and I try to emulate him. The real
thing is better than a book about it.

Most oil finishes (Minwax, tung oil, boiled linseed oil) are similar,
and shellac doesn't look markedly different from varnish or lacquer.
When you start in on stains, though, the subject gets deep quickly.

"whit3rd" wrote in message
...
On Feb 4, 7:05 am, "Norm Dresner" wrote:
I'm currently working in walnut but oak and mahogany are also in line to
be
used. I have a variety of finishes on hand including tung oil, salad bowl
oil, lemon oil, varnish, and shellac. Is there any site or book that has
pictures

[SNIP]

Most oil finishes (Minwax, tung oil, boiled linseed oil) are similar,
and shellac doesn't look markedly different from varnish or lacquer.
When you start in on stains, though, the subject gets deep quickly.

You're at least the third person who's said that most oiled finishes are
similar -- and one even said that there was no difference. THIS ISN'T TRUE.

What prompted me to post the question was the experience of preparing a
sample of a single piece of walnut with two different manufacturer's Tung
Oil finishes. And one of them was substantially lighter than the other --
so much so that I picked up a piece finished with it and couldn't tell for
sure what wood was underneath until I looked beneath the surface. There's
even more difference between these two Tung Oils and the can of Salad Bowl
Oil I have. If there's that much difference between similar oils on at
least two woods (walnut and cocobolo), then clearly I can't rely on the
"they're all the same" rule.

Yes, you and others are right that the only "right" way is to experiment
with the exact piece of wood being used and the exact finishes available,
but I'd at least like some starting guidelines without having to prepare a
batch of samples myself on six or eight different woods with the four or
five finishing methods that I typically use.

Norm

Norm Dresner wrote:

You're at least the third person who's said that most oiled finishes
are similar -- and one even said that there was no difference. THIS
ISN'T TRUE.

Yes it is.
_____________

What prompted me to post the question was the experience of preparing
a sample of a single piece of walnut with two different
manufacturer's Tung Oil finishes.

Most "tung oil" finishes aren't...they are mostly linseed oil with a little
bit of tung. Many (most?) also have varnish.
_______________

And one of them was substantially
lighter than the other -- so much so that I picked up a piece
finished with it and couldn't tell for sure what wood was underneath
until I looked beneath the surface.

I fear I do not follow you. Are you saying the dark one was so dark that
the application of the oil obscured the wood? To "look beneath the surface"
did you scrape off the oil? If yes to either then I bet $$ to doughnuts
that the dark one also included pigment (AKA stain). Also that you put it
on too heavily and/or didn't wipe the excess off.
_______________

Some facts...

1. Finishes color the wood because they wet it. The wetter it is, the more
the wood pops. Anything with oil in it pops the wood more than water based
products. Or lacquer.

2. The difference between an oil finish and a top coat finish is resin. The
most commonly used resins for wood finishing are polyurethane and alkyd.
Phenolic sometimes. In fine arts, they still use copal, damar and others.

3. If a finish has resin in it it is going to form a top coat although it
may be a very thin one; I'm thinking of the so-called "oil finishes" that
tell you their miracle product "actually hardens the wood" DUH...that's
because it has resin in it.

4. There are three types of oil: animal, vegetable and mineral. Forget
animal oils, they become rancid. Mineral oils NEVER dry, just sit there
sucking up dust.

Vegetable oils can be catagorized as drying ot non-drying. The non-drying
ones have the same affinity for crud as mineral oil.

There are two commonly used vegetable oils that dry: tung and linseed.
Linseed has two flavors: raw and boiled. The boiled linseed generally has
metallic dryers added to promote curing; however, it doesn't HAVE to have
them added as there are other (more expensive) ways. Boiled linseed oil is
food safe after it dries. Raw linseed oil eventually dries but slowly;
that's why it is used to make putty.

Linseed oil becomes quite dark (reddish-brown) over time. On dark wood,
that darkening isn't particularly noticeable. It *can* be on light
wood...how noticeable depends upon how much oil is actually in/on the wood.
The finer the wood is sanded (within reason) the less oil will be trapped in
the scratch marks. I have some poplar trays and the like in our kitchen
drawers that were only sanded medium - 120 or 150; they started off light
but are now a darker than teak, almost as dark as oak. The same thing is
true with stain...the finer the wood is sanded, the less apparent the stain
will be.

5. Some finishes - oil or top coat - may contain assorted other things.
Like wax. Or talc or silica to reduce sheen. Even stearates to promote
sanding.

6. Manufacturers of finishes almost never tell you what is in them. That is
because they are combining common, relatively inexpensive materials into a
"miracle finish" that they peddle for big bucks. Their hype goes way beyond
hyperbole.

7. I repeat what I said originally. On the woods you named...

"There won't be a nickel's worth of difference among the oils. The varnish
will add its own color (if oil based) as will the shellac...more coats, more
color. On the woods you mention color from varnish/shellac will be slight."

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico