OK. I'm thinking about it.

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

About twlelve years ago I (I think) I did a two week demonstration of caning at the Silver Dollar City National Festival of Craftsmen in Branson, MO. To have something to demonstrate on I made a dozen claro black walnut children's rockers which can be seen here.

http://donhenthorn.com/totrock.jpg

<img src="http:///donhenthorn.com/totrock.jpg">

I finished them with Hydracote a waterborne poly being promoted by Highland Hardware and others. I put on the last coat of finish and loaded the chairs in the trailer after dark the day before I left. When I got to the demonstration site and unloaded the chairs I was shocked. The Hydracote was a miserable filmy coat that wasn't clear and completely obscured the beautiful figure and color of the air dried walnut I used in making the chairs. Needles to say I was scrambling for chairs to demonstrate on. I lucked out since a number of local residents brought in chairs for caning at discounted prices and I managed to get by OK. However I had to take those dozen chairs home and painfully hand scrape and re-sand all that crappy Hydracote of those gorgeous chairs and refinish them. I swore off water based finishes for ever and have not tried another since then.

Now I am told that there are clear water based polys that won't hide the grain and color the way Hydracote did. What is the scoop?

[Joe Chritz]

Nice looking chair.

I have only used the Minwax Polycrylic and Target USL as waterbased finished.

The Target dries clear with just a touch of amber coloring to it.

Joe

[Jim Becker]

I've never had what you describe happen. That said, on walnut, I always start with shellac to insure I have the color I want before I top coat with the waterborne. (Usually Target USL) Most water borne products will not "enhance" color the way that oil based or shellac will, so you want your color dealt with first. The one time I frankly forgot to do the early steps on my walnut pieces, there was no "life" to the wood.

That said, there are some new water borne formulations appearing that help deal with this "natively". I'm looking forward to trying them on some future projects.

[Carl Eyman]

Don, I use Homestead Finishing almost exclusively. Jeff sells Fuhr's so that's what I use. It works for me.