I am laying out a long project to do (and hopefully it will only take a
short summer to finish it). It will be a 6' tall TV center, with raised
panel cabinets and all that (lots of open wood surfaces, both inside and
out). I will use WATCO Oak finish (prefer Natural but so many oaks in the
living room is already stained with Oak finishes, so makes senses to
follow the surroundings, right?). Now, I like to final coat it (is that
called "clear coating"?). What should I use?

Wax? Polyurethane? Lacquer? Spar? Shellac?

Semi-gloss?

Now, the main question, should I use a spray gun for final clear coating?
Or use a can spray (like Minwax)? I have air compressor, so...

I never used final coatings, only used WATCO oil and wax, by hand/cloth.
Appreciate suggestions. I have kids. This project is going to be
something I would actually show off my work (being obvious in open space,
like a living room where everyone will see it, instead of small tables
thats easily overlooked).

Chuck

CNT wrote in :

I am laying out a long project to do (and hopefully it will only take
a short summer to finish it). It will be a 6' tall TV center, with
raised panel cabinets and all that (lots of open wood surfaces, both
inside and out). I will use WATCO Oak finish (prefer Natural but so
many oaks in the living room is already stained with Oak finishes, so
makes senses to follow the surroundings, right?). Now, I like to final
coat it (is that called "clear coating"?). What should I use?

Wax? Polyurethane? Lacquer? Spar? Shellac?

Semi-gloss?

Now, the main question, should I use a spray gun for final clear
coating? Or use a can spray (like Minwax)? I have air compressor,
so...

I never used final coatings, only used WATCO oil and wax, by
hand/cloth. Appreciate suggestions. I have kids. This project is going
to be something I would actually show off my work (being obvious in
open space, like a living room where everyone will see it, instead of
small tables thats easily overlooked).

Chuck


With what you know, and what you've done, and what you're trying to
accomplish, I suggest you find a source for Waterlox. www.waterlox.com
You'll get the results you seek, without having to deal with new equipment
or techniques.

And it cures more quickly to recoat than WATCO oils, too.

Patriarch

With what you know, and what you've done, and what you're trying to
accomplish, I suggest you find a source for Waterlox.
www.waterlox.com You'll get the results you seek, without having to
deal with new equipment or techniques.

And it cures more quickly to recoat than WATCO oils, too.

Just that, one thing does the "oak finish" and seal?

http://www.waterlox.com/product.cfm?productid=5

CNT wrote in :

With what you know, and what you've done, and what you're trying to
accomplish, I suggest you find a source for Waterlox.
www.waterlox.com You'll get the results you seek, without having to
deal with new equipment or techniques.

And it cures more quickly to recoat than WATCO oils, too.

Just that, one thing does the "oak finish" and seal?

http://www.waterlox.com/product.cfm?productid=5


Yes. It has a much higher solids (resins) content than WATCO, and it's
dead easy to use.

Patriarch

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:12:51 -0000, the inscrutable CNT
spake:

With what you know, and what you've done, and what you're trying to
accomplish, I suggest you find a source for Waterlox.
www.waterlox.com You'll get the results you seek, without having to
deal with new equipment or techniques.

And it cures more quickly to recoat than WATCO oils, too.

Just that, one thing does the "oak finish" and seal?

http://www.waterlox.com/product.cfm?productid=5

No, it's not quite as amber as Watco Golden Oak, but it looks great.
Try a single coat of Watco and finish up with Waterlox.


----------------------------------------------------
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http://diversify.com Dynamic Website Applications
================================================== ==

Not sure what will the outcome be (never tried it). I just want to make
this TV center close to all other regular oak finishes furniture. A lot
of them are "smooth" feel, yet little grooves by the pores. I don't want
to make the TV center shining gloss, extra smooth. Just to blend with
other oaks in the living room.

When you say try Watco first then finish with Waterlox, you mean that
extra link below or there's a clear coating?

No body mention if I should use spray? It is going to be huge work by
hand, but I still can do it if necessary.

Chuck

http://www.waterlox.com/product.cfm?productid=5

No, it's not quite as amber as Watco Golden Oak, but it looks great.
Try a single coat of Watco and finish up with Waterlox.

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 20:40:19 -0000, the inscrutable CNT
spake:

Not sure what will the outcome be (never tried it). I just want to make
this TV center close to all other regular oak finishes furniture. A lot
of them are "smooth" feel, yet little grooves by the pores. I don't want
to make the TV center shining gloss, extra smooth. Just to blend with
other oaks in the living room.

When you say try Watco first then finish with Waterlox, you mean that
extra link below or there's a clear coating?

No, I meant put a first coat or two of Watco to get the darker amber
color, then let it dry. Now wipe on several coats of Waterlox
Original.


No body mention if I should use spray? It is going to be huge work by
hand, but I still can do it if necessary.

I tried brushing Waterlox once and went back to wiping. With Watco,
you wipe on and off. With Waterlox, you wipe on and let dry (MUCH
easier to use; much quicker to build a film finish.)


----------------------------------------------------
Thesaurus: Ancient reptile with excellent vocabulary
http://diversify.com Dynamic Website Applications
================================================== ==

Forgot to mention that I have the book:

Understanding Wood Finishing: How to Select and Apply the Right Finish
by Bob Flexner... it's somewhere since it's been a while I reviewed it.

Chuck

"CNT" wrote in message
...
I am laying out a long project to do (and hopefully it will only take a
short summer to finish it). It will be a 6' tall TV center, with raised
panel cabinets and all that (lots of open wood surfaces, both inside and
out). I will use WATCO Oak finish (prefer Natural but so many oaks in the
living room is already stained with Oak finishes, so makes senses to
follow the surroundings, right?). Now, I like to final coat it (is that
called "clear coating"?). What should I use?

Wax? Polyurethane? Lacquer? Spar? Shellac?

Semi-gloss?


You can get a great clear finish with Bartleys Gel Varnish. SemiGloss. Or
you can also get a great finish using a good FOAM brush and General Finishes
Arm-R-Seal.

CNT says...

I am laying out a long project to do (and hopefully it will only take a
short summer to finish it). It will be a 6' tall TV center, with raised
panel cabinets and all that (lots of open wood surfaces, both inside and
out). I will use WATCO Oak finish (prefer Natural but so many oaks in the
living room is already stained with Oak finishes, so makes senses to
follow the surroundings, right?). Now, I like to final coat it (is that
called "clear coating"?). What should I use?

Wax? Polyurethane? Lacquer? Spar? Shellac?

Semi-gloss?

Now, the main question, should I use a spray gun for final clear coating?
Or use a can spray (like Minwax)? I have air compressor, so...

I never used final coatings, only used WATCO oil and wax, by hand/cloth.
Appreciate suggestions. I have kids. This project is going to be
something I would actually show off my work (being obvious in open space,
like a living room where everyone will see it, instead of small tables
thats easily overlooked).

Chuck

My vote would be if you are set on using the Watco to just thin down
some varnish and wipe on 2 or three coats. A tung oil varnish would be
good. You can get Formby's at Wally-World or Waterlox at a real
woodworking store. Remove the high gloss and dust nibs with a light
sanding with 320 and finish with synthetic steel wool.

"Hax Planks" wrote in message
.net...

My vote would be if you are set on using the Watco to just thin down
some varnish and wipe on 2 or three coats. A tung oil varnish would be
good. You can get Formby's at Wally-World or Waterlox at a real
woodworking store. Remove the high gloss and dust nibs with a light
sanding with 320 and finish with synthetic steel wool.

I see this type of advice given here frequently and it causes me to ask -
why do you guys use such a coarse sandpaper to knock down dust nibs? Is it
just something that sort of just gets repeated a lot and becomes something
of a generally accepted suggestion? I ask because (especially for higher
gloss finishes) a 1000-1500 grit paper will work very well for knocking down
dust nibs and flattening out finishes, and has the added advantage of far
less sanding marks to deal with in subsequent steps. 320 as a finishing
grit is very aggressive. It is a grit that would normally be used prior to
any finishing work even beginning - to prep the surface. Where high gloss
is not desired, 1000-1500 would still be an appropriate and perhaps even a
more appropriate grit to use. Again - far fewer scratches to deal with.
There will be a very noticable difference to the touch between a surface
knocked down with 320 and steel wool versus one knocked down with a less
aggressive grit. So, the question is... how come?

--

-Mike-

Mike Marlow says...

"Hax Planks" wrote in message
.net...

My vote would be if you are set on using the Watco to just thin down
some varnish and wipe on 2 or three coats. A tung oil varnish would be
good. You can get Formby's at Wally-World or Waterlox at a real
woodworking store. Remove the high gloss and dust nibs with a light
sanding with 320 and finish with synthetic steel wool.

I see this type of advice given here frequently and it causes me to ask -
why do you guys use such a coarse sandpaper to knock down dust nibs? Is it
just something that sort of just gets repeated a lot and becomes something
of a generally accepted suggestion? I ask because (especially for higher
gloss finishes) a 1000-1500 grit paper will work very well for knocking down
dust nibs and flattening out finishes, and has the added advantage of far
less sanding marks to deal with in subsequent steps. 320 as a finishing
grit is very aggressive. It is a grit that would normally be used prior to
any finishing work even beginning - to prep the surface. Where high gloss
is not desired, 1000-1500 would still be an appropriate and perhaps even a
more appropriate grit to use. Again - far fewer scratches to deal with.
There will be a very noticable difference to the touch between a surface
knocked down with 320 and steel wool versus one knocked down with a less
aggressive grit. So, the question is... how come?

I use 320 wet/dry with mineral spirits as a lubricant. The dust nibs
with varnish are pretty substantial and the paper clogs fast. So after
cleaning off the paper once or twice, it loses a lot of its
aggressiveness. In my experience in trying to get a thicker film 400
quickly becomes useless. But in any case, notice I did say to sand
lightly. Plus, with varnish you want to level the surface a little,
which shouldn't be much of a problem if it was thinned to wipe on
consistency, but it still may not be perfect. If dust nibs are really
the only problem, then you may be able to use just about anything 320 or
above with lubricant and get the results you want, but 320 is cheap and
common and the sandpaper is only for taking down the worst of the high
spots. If I'm going to follow up with steel wool, I don't see the point
of super fine sandpaper. It's the job of the steel wool to finish it
off. I don't go beyond 220 for the final sanding on the wood if I am
going to use a film finish. Flexner says 180 is usually good enough.
You would want a better surface with an oil finish, but I like the
protection of a film finish.

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 08:34:59 -0500, the inscrutable "Mike Marlow"
spake:


"Hax Planks" wrote in message
t.net...

My vote would be if you are set on using the Watco to just thin down
some varnish and wipe on 2 or three coats. A tung oil varnish would be
good. You can get Formby's at Wally-World or Waterlox at a real
woodworking store. Remove the high gloss and dust nibs with a light
sanding with 320 and finish with synthetic steel wool.

I see this type of advice given here frequently and it causes me to ask -
why do you guys use such a coarse sandpaper to knock down dust nibs? Is it
just something that sort of just gets repeated a lot and becomes something
of a generally accepted suggestion? I ask because (especially for higher
gloss finishes) a 1000-1500 grit paper will work very well for knocking down
dust nibs and flattening out finishes, and has the added advantage of far
less sanding marks to deal with in subsequent steps. 320 as a finishing
grit is very aggressive.

Those of us who degloss finishes as a standard practice (we prefer a
satin sheen) use 320 to denib and 0000 with Johnson's Wax to finalize
the finish. Both are similar in their coarseness. The wax fills in the
minor (to us) scratches.

For a pinanner (gloss) finish, 600 or better would be the ticket, as
you say.


----------------------------------------------------
Thesaurus: Ancient reptile with excellent vocabulary
http://diversify.com Dynamic Website Applications
================================================== ==