How would you finish this?

[Larry Fox]

I have asked a variant of this question in the past but thought I would ask it a bit more open-ended with a picture this time. Obviously it has not been scraped, sanded and prepared for finish yet. Table is walnut, center is waterfall bubinga veneer pressed onto an MDF substrate. My desire is to have a filled-pore finish and possibly introduce some BLO to accentuate the grain and figure but I would like to NOT muddy the inlay. The inlay is just laid on the top in this pic and it will be a border around the bubinga and not extend to the edges.

The piece won’t see much abuse and my thought was to fill the pores, get some oil into it somehow and French Polish the top with a few sprayed on coats of shellac elsewhere.

My questions:

1) How do I keep the inlays from getting “muddy” and dirty during all this. Some have suggested a coat of shellac carefully brushed on to protect it during the oiling and filling. Now that you can see a pic, do you think that is the best approach?
2) In terms of grain filler, what would you use here? I would like to keep the bubinga bright as well as the inlays so I have ruled out a dark grain filler on that part. However, I would like to keep the walnut dark so I was thinking a dark one there. I also want the inlays to be filled.
3) I was considering using the time-honored technique of BLO and pumice as a grain filler but that brought me back to the muddy inlays.

Meeting these goals definitely feels like a tall order. So, how would you finish it?

IMG_7779.JPG

[Brian Peters]

I would spray it with a few coats of lacquer or a conversion varnish. I know the look you want, a flat polished top with no open grain. If you're not interested or have the means to spray finish then don't try this but I highly recommend a product called Krystal. It finishes like glass and sprays like lacquer, made by a company called ML Campbell. However, you could get a similar build up with just a few coats of lacquer. Not a fan of shellac so can't comment on it. best of luck, looks like a nice table!

[Steve Schoene]

French polish would do the job--and give about the finest finish possible. High gloss, deep grain, but no apparent thickness. French polish does fill the grain--with shellac and pumice, but doesn't have the ambering overtime potential of BLO. If your tests on scrap confirm the need, you can use BLO on the Walnut (it only takes one VERY light coat), and French Polish over everything, including the BLO.

French polishing is quite often just done on tops with a rubbed out shellac, sprayed or padded on the rest.

[Larry Fox]

Thanks for the reply guys - I really appreciate the time.

Brian, I do have the ability to spray but my concern is that the laquer / cv approach will give me too much build. Apologies for not mentioning it in op but I am looking for something with low build.

Steve - I like the approach you outline as I am a big fan of FP and fits well with my original intentions, I will try it on some scrap. I did a quick test on some scrap last night trying a very light application of oil and the results were encouraging.