Wednesday 14 March 2018

Finishing the Walnut Chest


So here is the little walnut chest with it's last coat of finish applied.


That walnut is gorgeous with it's brown, grey, salmon and black streaks.


Getting a great finish on walnut is not easy. A matt surface which suits ash and oak so well doesn't look good at all. A shiny surface is easy to achieve with shellac, but it shows up every scratch and I'm not keen on the high gloss look.
If I had used an oil finish on the bare wood it would have highlighted the big contrast in the colours and again this would not have shown the walnut at it's best.


So here is my finish formula. Two coats of hand rubbed Melamine Lacquer to seal the grain and preserve the colours followed by two coats of Osmo Polyx Oil Matt which leaves a dull but well protected surface. To finish and build a nice tactile sheen, I've applied three coats of Auro oil wax which I buffed up after each coat.


6 comments:

  1. That’s a beautiful finish, David. I finally have a local supplier who carries Osmo. I’ll have to give it a try. On an unrelated note: have you ever considered posting on Instagram? Your work is always inspiring and you would quickly amass thousands of followers to share your work with.

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    1. Thanks Kevin. Instagram is on my to-do list. All the best, David.

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  2. Bloody lovely mate, I so want to build one of these. Just wish I had the machinery to process stock !!!

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  3. Hi David,
    hope to see you on instagram soon. The good thing is it gets very easy to make a quick post... the bad thing is then you get sucked in to looking at everyone else's quick posts :-P I saw someone else recently saying they applied osmo after sealing with shellac, and don't really understand this - as you say, you are applying the lacquer to "seal the grain" ... being a penetrating oil, you don't find this to be an issue with the osmo? Seems a bit contradictory. Any insight would be appreciated. Finishing is the hardest area to gain experience in I find.
    Thanks, and great work as usual.
    Owen

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    1. Hi Owen, I do look at Instagram so I'm hooked already! The Osmo is an oil varnish so it builds up on the surface, I could have used this from the start but it would have given a more harsh contrast to the colours. The anomaly here is using the Auro oil last, which is a penetrating finish, but it worked nicely. I always test proposed finishes on a test piece first. Good luck! David.

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