samples finishing...

[Greg Muller]

All,
here is the plan; I want to take 6"x6"x 4/4 samples of about 20-30 types of wood and put an identical, wipe-on or brush-on, clear finish on every one of them that will bring out the color and figure and protect them also. These will be used as samples for future projects. I understand that using the same thing on all of them will limit the results somewhat.

I'll do something similar later with stains, but for now, just clear.

The key words here are identical and easy!

What do you recommend?

Greg

[Joe Chritz]

You really need to use whatever you plan on offering for your work.

For me that is Target USL. It happens to fit your needed easy.

Because wood changes so much dependent on the finish schedule used it is difficult to make samples unless you go all the way through.

For example, Curly maple under a coat of USL will be a bit bland. A wipe down of BLO, dewaxed amber shellac and USL is something else entirely.

Similarly using a wipe on finish like waterlox won't help if the project is big enough you are going to spray with something else.

Then you add the fact that some (most solvent based finishes) will amber more over time you will eventually be using samples that won't look like that for a year or more.

Joe

[Greg Muller]

Yeah, I knew I wasn't clear enough in my question... These are not samples of finishes that may be used on projects, or even of available finishes, they are samples of the grains of different woods and will be seen by me... just me. All I want is a finish that will make the wood look wet, maybe a slight shine or gloss, and protect them.


Does that help?

Thanks all!

Greg

[mike holden]

If all you are trying to do is see the rough variation between wood types, then yes a simple coat of shellac will do.
However, if you are attempting to create finish samples for future projects, be aware that each tree is a bit different, sometimes startlingly so, so you need to use the actual material of your project to determine your finish.
Would be nice if there were a shortcut, but there isn't.
BTW, I have never wound up using the finish schedule I thought I would after making up sample boards - some other variation always looked better!
Mike

[Jim Becker]

I would use blond or super blond de-waxed shellac. Fast, easy and a nice high gloss. Oh, and you can get the de-waxed Zinsser product is spray bombs that make it a snap to get finish on all your samples. (or brush/wipe on Zinsser SealCoat) There is just enough amber in the product that there will be a comfortable, non-bland effect to the wood.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

If you just want to have a reference as to what the wood will look like with some kind of finish the easiest (and applicable to all cases) is shellac, and using Sealcoat is probably easiest. Of course you have two sides so you could use two things. Or do something on half a side to have the raw wood for reference. I wouldn't use varnish as the older it gets the more yellow it gets. Of course the same applies for some woods.....and all wood changes color somewhat over time.

I am a bit leery of using samples like that, although they can have their place. Mother Nature is notorious for a lack of quality control. For identical species the woods from different trees can look considerably different, so I try to use a scrap from a particular project for finish testing.