I'm pretty darn new to all things woodworking but am an absolute newbie when it comes to finishes... I do tend to use shellac (not dewaxed) a lot because I do like making cribbage boards and you can use acrylic paint on shellac--the paint doesn't stick to the shellac so it looks like you meticulously painted things when in actual practice you just slop the paint on and wipe off what you don't want (learned that from the channel paw paws workshop...i believe that is the name of his channel). But, would like to find a finish that is durable, relatively easy to apply, and doesn't completely brake the bank (are you listening rubio?). VERY much enjoy your delivery and information... I did ebonize an accents on a table for the den, as a test, and it turned out amazing. And YES!, I learned it from you-Thank you!! keep up the great work and thank you for taking the time to produce the videos.
Thanks, good information! I need to try the bike lust. A bit of food safety information: no polyurethane product is ever food safe in my view. If you need food safe, buy something that claims on the label that it's food safe, or buy oil from the grocery store.
Informative thanks. But what about that sideboard!!! Beautiful. I seem to recall you not being able to video that due to time constraints but that's a lovely piece.
I've been making furniture for 40 years. I'm pretty good at the woodwork....and I've ruined at least a few of the pieces I've made with poor finishing. Getting this right is a black art, and I don't argue with your basic generalisations (although a homemade Danish-oil / wiping varnish is incredibly easy to apply and get right). My tip for the younger me would be to learn one robust finish, and don't bother with any of the others. There really is no need to have a handful of different finishes in your armoury.
Water based stains and lacquers are far easier to apply (HVLP) and look stunning for a much longer time in my experience. Oils and waxes may have some warmth you love for some period of time, but they fail too quickly IMO. If safety is your goal, water based is the way.
I'm a huge fan of a locally made (Sydney Australia) Danish Oil that doesn't use the metal drying agents other brands do. Also like hard wax oils for ease of use and durability but they are expensive. But I use shop made paste wax using high-quality, totally natural products (boiled linseed oil, beeswax, carnuba wax, and gum turpentine). This finish is resilient, cheap and food safe.
Great content! I don't know why, but you're really ignoring a fantastic finish by not using Frank's Red Hot... (sarcasm concluded). I'm far from an expert, far, far from it, but if someone wants to dip their toe into spray finishes, I'd definitely recommend lacquer. It dries almost as fast as shellac, is kinda durable and protective, and totally forgiving as you learn the Goldilocks settings on your particular gun. Plus, there's little need for laborious in-between sanding (little - not nonexistent). Lots of VOCs, but hey. 11/10 recommendation on the brown paper bag trick - it's the finest (grit) and cheapest sandpaper made. 10/10 recommendation on learning and exploring the automotive finish world to learn spraying or find 'bulletproof' products. 10/10 for the Darth Vader reference on Star Wars Day. Question: no love for BLO?
great video. everyone has their own finishing experience and methods. i've never run into Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey before, but i'll give it a shot. audio production note: your music was a bit loud at the beginning and your audio overall feels like it has been pushed to the point of being a bit harsh and muddy. not sure if it is the YT compression or something in the original audio production on your end. i tried with a couple sets of headphones including my monitors and it is pretty harsh and muddy on all of them. on my laptop speakers it is less noticeable though. from the background noise i'm hearing i think the gain is being pushed a bit hard and then in the final mix or in the YT encoder it is getting muddy and harsh. i am pretty sensitive to harsh muddy sounds, so it may not be an issue for most folks.
Hello RC. Another great video. Do you have any idea if the Danish oil under shellac prevents the cursed water staining? I love shellac and the water stain is the only reason it is not all I use.
I don't imagine that anything you could put underneath the dewaxed shellac would prevent water spots as well as anything you could put on top of the dewaxed shellac, particularly a film finish like the PolyWhey I use for that purpose.
I don't personally, no. To my mind, ebonizing isn't an application of dyes/pigments but rather an application of chemicals that change the color of the wood itself.
I'm pretty darn new to all things woodworking but am an absolute newbie when it comes to finishes... I do tend to use shellac (not dewaxed) a lot because I do like making cribbage boards and you can use acrylic paint on shellac--the paint doesn't stick to the shellac so it looks like you meticulously painted things when in actual practice you just slop the paint on and wipe off what you don't want (learned that from the channel paw paws workshop...i believe that is the name of his channel). But, would like to find a finish that is durable, relatively easy to apply, and doesn't completely brake the bank (are you listening rubio?). VERY much enjoy your delivery and information... I did ebonize an accents on a table for the den, as a test, and it turned out amazing. And YES!, I learned it from you-Thank you!! keep up the great work and thank you for taking the time to produce the videos.
Thanks, good information! I need to try the bike lust. A bit of food safety information: no polyurethane product is ever food safe in my view. If you need food safe, buy something that claims on the label that it's food safe, or buy oil from the grocery store.
Thank You 🧡❤💚
Thanks
Informative thanks. But what about that sideboard!!! Beautiful. I seem to recall you not being able to video that due to time constraints but that's a lovely piece.
Thanks. Parts of the build have been the basis for a number of my videos of late. I also talk about it on Instagram.
I've been making furniture for 40 years. I'm pretty good at the woodwork....and I've ruined at least a few of the pieces I've made with poor finishing. Getting this right is a black art, and I don't argue with your basic generalisations (although a homemade Danish-oil / wiping varnish is incredibly easy to apply and get right). My tip for the younger me would be to learn one robust finish, and don't bother with any of the others. There really is no need to have a handful of different finishes in your armoury.
Yeah, Danish Oil is hard to screw up too. That's why I said I should've switched that and the water based poly on the graph.
Water based stains and lacquers are far easier to apply (HVLP) and look stunning for a much longer time in my experience. Oils and waxes may have some warmth you love for some period of time, but they fail too quickly IMO. If safety is your goal, water based is the way.
I'm a huge fan of a locally made (Sydney Australia) Danish Oil that doesn't use the metal drying agents other brands do. Also like hard wax oils for ease of use and durability but they are expensive.
But I use shop made paste wax using high-quality, totally natural products (boiled linseed oil, beeswax, carnuba wax, and gum turpentine). This finish is resilient, cheap and food safe.
Great content! I don't know why, but you're really ignoring a fantastic finish by not using Frank's Red Hot... (sarcasm concluded).
I'm far from an expert, far, far from it, but if someone wants to dip their toe into spray finishes, I'd definitely recommend lacquer. It dries almost as fast as shellac, is kinda durable and protective, and totally forgiving as you learn the Goldilocks settings on your particular gun. Plus, there's little need for laborious in-between sanding (little - not nonexistent). Lots of VOCs, but hey.
11/10 recommendation on the brown paper bag trick - it's the finest (grit) and cheapest sandpaper made.
10/10 recommendation on learning and exploring the automotive finish world to learn spraying or find 'bulletproof' products.
10/10 for the Darth Vader reference on Star Wars Day.
Question: no love for BLO?
The one time I tried boiled linseed oil it refused to dry, and after that incident, I moved on.
Got to watch out for that cousin Cletus.
great video. everyone has their own finishing experience and methods. i've never run into Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey before, but i'll give it a shot.
audio production note: your music was a bit loud at the beginning and your audio overall feels like it has been pushed to the point of being a bit harsh and muddy. not sure if it is the YT compression or something in the original audio production on your end. i tried with a couple sets of headphones including my monitors and it is pretty harsh and muddy on all of them. on my laptop speakers it is less noticeable though. from the background noise i'm hearing i think the gain is being pushed a bit hard and then in the final mix or in the YT encoder it is getting muddy and harsh. i am pretty sensitive to harsh muddy sounds, so it may not be an issue for most folks.
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Hello RC. Another great video. Do you have any idea if the Danish oil under shellac prevents the cursed water staining? I love shellac and the water stain is the only reason it is not all I use.
I don't imagine that anything you could put underneath the dewaxed shellac would prevent water spots as well as anything you could put on top of the dewaxed shellac, particularly a film finish like the PolyWhey I use for that purpose.
Do you consider your ebonizing process as a stain?
I don't personally, no. To my mind, ebonizing isn't an application of dyes/pigments but rather an application of chemicals that change the color of the wood itself.
Generally speaking, this comment is finished.