Yet another finishing question.

[Fran L]

Finally getting into the shop after months. Did this Steve Good “Baby’s First Christmas” pattern. Luckily, she has an easy name and I was able to cut and paste it from the A’s in the pattern. I was going to leave it plain, my wife said to paint it. It’s a nice piece of 1/2 inch Oak and I wanted to see the grain. We compromised and I did the bow and the cap. Gotta admit, I like how it’s turning out.I want a nice shine for on the tree or wherever and wanted suggestions. Right now it has 1 coat of Danish Oil. I saw a video where more coats of it will bring out a shine but I did a “Home Sweet Home” sign for my niece(forgot to take a picture) and it didn’t really shine with about 6 coats but I used a piece of scrap wood lying around which I’m pretty sure was pine and the result was fine for the project. Will I get a better result with Oak or just go with the polyurethane I usually use?

   

Edited December 4, 2019 by Fran L

[dgman]

You always want a topcoat to protect and seal the wood. If all you have is poly, then I would go with that. However, I don’t like shiny. I like a more satin finish. If it were me I would use a satin or semi gloss spray lacquer. It still adds a little shine, but not to much.

[tomsteve]

gloss poly would be great. with the danish oil already on it, the poly wont soak in and less coats necessary. something like this id spray 2 light coats of poly-allowing to tack between coats. if im happy with it, then all good. if theres dust nibs i run some 800 grit on a hard black across the surface(usually only requires one or 2 strokes) then 1 more coat.

[Fran L]

Thanks guys, I was leaning towards the poly but wanted more knowledgeable opinion before I messed it up. I’m going with the semi-gloss. The first coat looks ok. 

[tomsteve]

fran, i used to use gloss on everything. then i noticed on some fretwork portraits hanging on the wall that the gloss throws a glare and i would have to move my head around at certain times of the day(depending on where the sun was comin in) to see the work.

i switched to satin and dont have the problem now. i have some ornaments ive made over the years on the christmas tree. a couple of the early ones  have a gloss finish. the tree lights alone throw a glare on those ones.

[Fran L]

Tom, I do use Satin finish on most of my projects and debated using it on this one but I decided I wanted a bright and shiny look for a Christmas ornament. I like how it's turning out.

[Ron Johnson]

When I paint a wood project I use water based acrylic paint and depending on your mixture if it's thin enough the wood grain shows through nicely. I then apply three coats of polyurethane (satin, semi gloss or high gloss). Each coat will dry for one day, lightly sanding between each coat. The item is then finished with a coat of cabinet makers wax. I have items going back several years where the finish still looks like new.