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I'm working on a breadbox made from maple with a spalted sycamore front door. No stain or dye, but I'm wondering if I should follow any special procedure with the sycamore to stabilize the coloring and wood before finishing.
I'm planning on a couple coats of wipe on poly, but any suggestions would be welcome and probably heeded.
Thanks in advance.
Well you asked...
Poly is for floors, period. Not the best for furniture etc.
Spalted lumber tends to be very absorbant. I would finish inside and out with a couple coats of de-waxed super blonde shellac, if you want no color; or an amber or garnet shellac if you want a bit of color.
Once sealed with the shellac I would use a quality alkyd resin soya oil varnish like Cabot's 8000 series or Pratt & Lambert #38 (my favotrite alkyd/soya) varnish.
Sherwin Willaims also makes a quality alkyd resin soya oil varnish that they sell at the SW paint stores. SW Claissic Oil Varnish (burgandy can) gloss or satin.
Just my experience with the very little spalted sycamore I've worked with (only bowl turning, no furniture work yet, but I have a stash); its very prone to moving with moisture changes. It moves a LOT. I had some problems with turning & sanding the insides of bowls, then reversing & finishing the bottoms; by the time I was done with one side, the other was out of true! This happened several times; no problems with other woods exc. apple. Just my $0.02. Edit: the dewaxed shellac is the ticket to the finish; I used sealcoat on every bowl after the first; I used a few ounces of varnish, literally, on a 10" bowl before the shellac.
I have had my hands on quite a bit of spalted sycamore in the last few years. I think an oil based finish is very unflattering on it. Yellows it and muddles the beauty, IMHO.
I would opt for a clear shellac (like sealcoat) or lacquer. Both will look nice on it.
The timing on this is good. I'm about a week away from putting some finish on a small spalted sycamore end table. I was already planning on using 2-3 coats of SealCoat but since I wont be able to count on the owner not putting drinks on it without a coaster I was thinking of a couple oats of WB poly over the shellac. Any thoughts? Or brand recommendations?
Ditto to what Nathan mentioned...if it's plain/flat sawn sycamore, be sure that you built your project with movement in mind. Quarter sawn is a lot more stable and spalted QS looks outstanding. (I have that bookmatched on a small bookcase top in our master bath toilet room and it's incredible) As to finishing it, I didn't stray from the treatment I was giving to the cherry that made up the rest of the project....BLO, de-waxed shellac and then sprayed water borne. (Target Coatings USL, now EM6000)
Can that be brushed?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Becker
Doug, yes it can. Jeff Jewitt, I believe, has published some comments about that. It's primarily designed for spraying, but like Minwax Polycrylic, it will go on with a brush ok with good technique. Similar to shellac, you can't take eons to brush it out, however, like you can with an oil based varnish.
I nearly opted for brushing it tonight, as a matter of fact, on a small horse stall plaque, but in the end, just decided to put it in my HVLP gun and spray since cleanup is so easy.