Best finish for knotty pine?

[Jim Broestler]

Just built a bassinet out of knotty pine and I'm curious as to what the best method/materials might be for the finish. The guy who's buying it asked for a honey-pine tint, semigloss. I know that knots are really bad about absorbing the finish, so should I use a wood conditioner or sanding sealer? I've got some Polyshades in Honey Pine already, so I was going to use that. Would this do the job, or should I be looking at something else, like Shellac?

Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Shellac would be a good traditional finish and you can vary the shade by choosing the "color" of shellac that best suits the wood. Experiment on some scrap to be sure it's the look you want. And unlike varnish, shellac dries extremely fast, cutting down your finishing time. The downside is that "semi-gloss" is not something native to shellac. If you do need semi-gloss, then you'll probably be bet served with an alkyd varnish top coat in that sheen. If you want to use a water borne for that top coat (or anything containing polyurethane resins), your shellac must be de-waxed.

Polyshades is "the worst thing to ever happen to a can", according to a finishing pro I respect a lot. It's very hard to get a good even color result with it.

[Jim Broestler]

If you do need semi-gloss, then you'll probably be bet served with an alkyd varnish top coat in that sheen.

Polyshades is "the worst thing to ever happen to a can", according to a finishing pro I respect a lot. It's very hard to get a good even color result with it.

Can you give me a brand name or two of that alkyd varnish? I'm not familiar with the term alkyd.

About the Polyshades, you mean even with a wood conditioner it still doesn't even out?

[Joe Cunningham]

I'm finishing a tool cabinet with shellac, mixed my own flakes that I got at Woodcraft. I started with a base of 2lb cut Garnet I brushed on, followed by 2lb blonde with a pseudo french polish, and it is a nice honey color. I tried it on the bottom of my shelf first to make sure the finish was what I wanted.

The nice thing about shellac is if you mess up (bad), you just put some denatured alcohol on top, then start over.

The one name I know on alkyd varnish is Pratt & Lambert 38. But do a search on it in this section and you'll a few other names (I forget them as I've only used the P&L).

[Neal Clayton]

Just built a bassinet out of knotty pine and I'm curious as to what the best method/materials might be for the finish. The guy who's buying it asked for a honey-pine tint, semigloss. I know that knots are really bad about absorbing the finish, so should I use a wood conditioner or sanding sealer? I've got some Polyshades in Honey Pine already, so I was going to use that. Would this do the job, or should I be looking at something else, like Shellac?

Thanks.

tung oil based finishes will give the exact honey pine color he's looking for, they have a naturally medium brown/yellow tint to them.

waterlox is one brand that's commonly available (true value hardware stores have it or can get it for you). rockler also sells raw tung oil which you can mix yourself. and since it's an oil, it'll mix with any oil based stain to vary the color to your liking pretty easily, which eliminates the difficulty in staining pine to begin with.

here's a pic of a heart pine floor in my house finished with it...

[Rob Diz]

You might also get some of the color you are looking for with Boiled Linseed oil, but then you will need to put on a seal coat of shellac before your topcoat.

[Steve Schoene]

Wood conditioner will very little effect on polyshades. Polyshades is a quick drying varnish with added color. It sits on the surface, and unless you get in on very, very evenly you will see streaks. Since it dries relatively quickly it's almost impossible to get it on evenly. Any other choice will be better.

I do like shellac for knotty pine, in part because they do a great job of sealing resin from the knots. I'd start with several coats of shellac to seal pores and add a bit of traditional color. For semi-gloss you can finish with one or two coats of a semi-gloss varnish. Waterlox Original/Sealer is one such varnish. For a little less shine, Waterlox makes Satin. Waterlox only uses tung oil as an ingredient in the manufacturing process, the oil has all been chemically reacted to form varnish. Most of the coloration of Waterlox comes from the phenolic resin ingredient in the varnish. It will yellow some over time, not unattractive over knotty pine.

Do not use pure tung oil. Pure tung oil takes a very long time to dry--you must wait several days between coats, and it will only achieve an even sheen after about 5 coats, possibly much more on knotty pine. And at the end of the process you would have a finish with very little protection.

[Joe Cunningham]

tung oil based finishes will give the exact honey pine color he's looking for, they have a naturally medium brown/yellow tint to them.

waterlox is one brand that's commonly available (true value hardware stores have it or can get it for you). rockler also sells raw tung oil which you can mix yourself. and since it's an oil, it'll mix with any oil based stain to vary the color to your liking pretty easily, which eliminates the difficulty in staining pine to begin with.

here's a pic of a heart pine floor in my house finished with it...

Pure tung oil is very light in color--I've used it to burnish milk paint, and as a substitute for BLO since I wanted a much lighter end product (had to let it cure quite a while).

Waterlox is a varnish, not tung oil. Just because it is made from tung oil doesn't mean it *is* tung oil. I brew beer and its main ingredient is water. Doubtful anyone would call beer, 'water'.

I just re-read Flexner's section on varnish last night (in "Understanding Wood Finish"). He really does a great job of de-mystifying all these marketing terms.