Balau - What finish?

[Forbsie]

I have balau beams in the aft cabin of my boat which have oxidized to a beautiful vivid red hue.

As a newby, I only have experience of varnish, my favourite is Epiphanes, but would any of the other finishes (waxes, oils, etc) retain the colour as well as providing the protection needed.

This is my first post. Please be gentle.

 

[Woodfinish Man]

I think that oils (especially teak oil) will offer the best protection here.

Waterbased lacquers will not tend to enrich the colour as well as the above.

Wax polishes are no good for enhancing the colour and for protection.

Sorry for the length of time it's taken me to see you question. Hope this info helps

 

[wizer]

I take it this applies to Iroko too? I'll have to try Teak Oil.

I was hoping to use a hardwearing finish for my coffee table, would a shellac followed by a water based acrylic do the trick?

 

[Woodfinish Man]

Iroko, as I'm sure you know, is a tough one because it is so resinous. However if anything is going to work well then it would be teak oil.

As for Waterbased over shellac so long as you give the shellac plenty of time to fully cure you'll have no problem. We sell quite a bit of transparent shellac for the flooring guys who then overcoat it with PU or Waterbased finishes.

 

[Woodfinish Man]

Should have also mentioned that Waterbased over Shellac Sanding Sealer doesn't work, the zinc stearate in the SSS makes them incompatable.

 

[wizer]

Thanks, I wanted to use the shellac to further the Iroko a bit and then seal with a bullet proof lacquer for spilt tea and red wine.

 

[NaomiA]

From what I know about teak, and therefore I would guess it also goes to Iroko and Balau, is that you should never use solvent based teak oil on it. The solvent get soaked in and destroys the natural oils of the wood; especially after a few applications. This means that once done, you should continue doing so forever. A good compromise is a silicone based teak sealer (which can be used on any hardwoods). Teak Wonder is one but there are others around if you look at a good yachting supplies shop.

 

[oddsocks]

I've almost finished building a large garden table in iroko (will post as project thread in next few days) and my wife wants to keep the natural colour rather than let it age to sliver. She is also adamant that teak oil is not to be used as it makes it 'too orange'.

Has anyone tried the teak sealer or similar on iroko - does it change the colour (i.e to orange!).

I'll google for some suppliers.

Naomi -Thanks for the comment re not using teak oil on iroko.

Dave