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I have no desire to get into spraying.
The new dining table I am building is black walnut. I prefer to use wipeon finishes. I have experience and good results with Min-Wax fast drying poly and Waterlox.
What would you recommend for a grain filling and finishing regimen?
Thanks!
A hard wax would be what I did, they are so easy to apply. There is no hard shell though
Rubio monocoat. (2 coats more than likely.) The wax will fill minimally but not like a hard finish
I had good luck with Arm-r-seal. However I will use a Wooster Foam King foam brush on any surface I can apply to in a horizontal position. I finid it easier on the large flat surfaces to use the bush. Additionally, it will only take 3 coats as you can apply more at once. Here is a dining table I used Arm-r-seal on:
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ble&highlight=
Rubio Monocoat...hand applied and buffed. Two coats, even though they specify one. If you want more sheen, they now have that available. You can choose to apply a ceramic coating on the top if you desire more durability. Rubio is beautiful on black walnut. Or, just use the wipe on oil based finish you know and prefer. I never grain fill, other than on guitar bodies.
If you want a traditional look, pick your favorite OB varnish. If you want easy to apply and easy to repair, pick Rubio Monocoat or Osmo Polyox.
If you want to fill the grain, one of the easiest ways is to sand in the first coat or two of finish. Use silicon carbide sandpaper and sand the wood while slathered with finish. Clean the sandpaper in mineral spirits when done, and use it the next time. Wipe the slurry off cross grain with a plastic scraper, like used for Bondo. When it's dry, lightly hand sand it and look at the grain. If it's not completely filled, repeat the process until it is. This process works with both traditional varnish and Osmo. I've never tried it with Rubio, so I can't say.
John
First off, I am a huge fan of wipe on finishes, especially on walnut, and have been using them for years. I have pieces I built back in the nineties that have never been refinished and still look great with a nice depth of shine. Even the walnut face frames on my kitchen cabinets have a wipe on/wipe off finish that is original after 30+ years and still have a deep depth of shine. I can't speak to the durability of Rubio Monocoat because I have never tried it. I did have a long talk with the people at the Rubio Monocoat booth at the recent International Builders Show a couple of weeks ago. Appearance-wise, even with their new "sheen enhancer", the samples they had in the booth had very little depth of shine. The countertops at my local supplier, finished in Rubio Monocoat, also don't have much of a shine to them, although what little shine they have hasn't changed since they were new and they do take a real beating.
My furniture and kitchen cabinet face frames were finished with Daly's ProFin using a wipe on/wipe off technique. My figured maple end panels were finished with the ProFin sprayed on. Daly's has since gone out of business but I discovered there is a company supposedly reproducing some of their products, including ProFin. I will probably order some and see if it performs as well as the original. Currently, and for the last several years, I have been using Arm-R-Seal as both a wipe on/wipe off finish and a brush on/leave on finish. As a wipe on/wipe off finish it works well, offers a good depth of shine, but is tricky to work with on large surfaces. I have also used Sam Maloof's finish, originally his home-made version and then the commercially available version. His finish performs the closest I have found to ProFin in terms of application, durability, and depth of shine.
It has been suggested to use a wax type finish. As far as ease of application and appearance, this would work depending on the type and brand of wax product use. I prefer not to use wax finishes on table tops. They are not as durable as other wipe on/wipe off finishes and a wet glass can leave a white ring.
Ken
I've always had good results with Seal-A-Cell, and Arm-R-Seal. Flood coat with the Seal-A-Cell, and wipe off excess. Let dry and follow up with Arm-R-Seal in the gloss level finish you like. It's a pretty easy finish to get good results with.
Rubio Monocoat with the Ceramic additive does look really nice in the internet vid's I've seen, but I've never used it.
I've just started playing around with the hard wax finishes, and I'm still on the fence. I've only used Odie's so far, and it is not easy to apply correctly,per their instructions.It's a workout on a large piece.
Here is a cutting board done with Odie's ;
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ard-Old-Design
Here is an air dried walnut top 22"x60" done with Seal-A_Cell, and Arm-R-Seal.;
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....aft&highlight=
BTW
The Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal used on that sewing machine top were probably 8-10 years old, and previously opened. I pretty much used them on that top to get rid of them.