# Finish comparison for Birds Eye Maple



## RogerS (27 Jun 2012)

Following on from the thread on Polyvine, I took a small piece of BEM with similar figuring across its width. Sanded down to 180 grit. Five different finishes applied...from left to right

Fiddes shellac sealer

Fiddes White Polish

Smith & Rodger Transparent White Polish

Smith & Rodger Vitapol Polish

Polyvine Gloss finish

The middle three were variously recommended to me as having the lest colouring effect on the wood as they contained bleached shellac. I leave it to you to decide whether or not these claims are true. 

The following series of photographs attempts to show the results after different coats have been applied. In hindsight, if I had the kit, I'd have set up a lit photoshoot booth so that the light angle, level and colour temperature were the same. That would let you see the change in colour as the coats were built-up on each finish. Nevertheless, you can draw comparisons across the finishes on each sample. 

First photo is after one coat.




Next photo is after the first coat was knocked back with 240 grit and then a second coat applied.




Third photo is after another coat




Fourth photo is after the fourth coat.




This final photo is after the fourth coat was knocked back with 400 grit, a wipe of fresh finish applied using a clean French Polishing rubber followed by using Liberon Burnishing Cream.





The surprise is that normal Shellac Sealer has less of a colouring effect on the BEM than the other allegedly 'uncolouring' shellac based products. But this is at the expense of losing out on the figuring as I think in the middle three that the Birds Eye really comes out and hits you. The Polyvine (being aqueous based) also has least colouring effect but again lacks that 'punch'. 

The Polyvine is aso pretty awkward to apply as well as being bloody expensive. It is very gloopy and does not flow at all well leaving brush marks behind (synthetic brush) so you do have to knock it back and then apply the Burnishing Cream. Diluting it slightly does improve the flow however.


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## marcros (27 Jun 2012)

Roger,

I tend to agree with you- I particularly like the Vitapol, but not much to tell between the middle 3. The BEM seems to need some colour to make it pop, but worth considering the standard sealer for light timbers like sycamore or non BE maple.

Mark


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## MickCheese (27 Jun 2012)

For me 2 & 4 are my favourites.

Mick


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## RogerS (27 Jun 2012)

Interesting. Just noticed that in the sunlight as you rotate the wood, the underlying image changes almost like a hologram as the light rays fall onto the grain of the wood from different angles. Only visible in 2 > 4


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## marcros (27 Jun 2012)

MickCheese":3t0b74m9 said:


> For me 2 & 4 are my favourites.
> 
> Mick



same here.


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## Sgian Dubh (27 Jun 2012)

RogerS":y5lka4kg said:


> Interesting. Just noticed that in the sunlight as you rotate the wood, the underlying image changes almost like a hologram as the light rays fall onto the grain of the wood from different angles. Only visible in 2 > 4


You've just discovered chatoyance. I discuss it briefly near the end of this link: http://www.richardjonesfurniture.com/Ar ... e-ups.html Slainte.


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## Dibs-h (27 Jun 2012)

marcros":qh3tsldc said:


> MickCheese":qh3tsldc said:
> 
> 
> > For me 2 & 4 are my favourites.
> ...



Makes 3 of us! LOL!


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## Phil Pascoe (28 Jun 2012)

#-o Is it just me? Surely there is more figure in the middle three? That seems to make the comparisons slightly unfair!?


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## RogerS (28 Jun 2012)

phil.p":1qepp1cs said:


> #-o Is it just me? Surely there is more figure in the middle three? That seems to make the comparisons slightly unfair!?



Yes..ish but what hasn't come out in the photo is that what figure there is, hasn't really been picked out by the respective finishes.


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## Crooked Tree (29 Jun 2012)

That test does give quite a good comparison between products for us - thank you for doing it. Perhaps we should have a central respository for finish test info like this?

I too like the 3 white french polishes best - although they do change the colour somewhat, they add a significant je-ne-sais-quoi to the timber. Like others, I find clear/white french polishes to have the least "negative" effect on the timber's natural colour.


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