London Plane lace wood - finish?

[ScottGoddard]

Hi all,

I am about half way through building a console table out of London Plane lace wood. I am starting to think about the finish....Does anyone have any experience of finishing this wood? recommendation?

 

[Glynne]

I made a similar table several years ago: -

lacewood-brown-oak-hall-table-t64673.html

I simply used cellulose sanding sealer, denibbed and then used paste wax.

 

[marcros]

I have used shellac, tung oil, and hard wax oil on items, but not on a table. I think that they would probably not be suited to that. My favourite of the three is a blonde shellac.

 

[ED65]

What do you want it to look like Scott? That should be one of your starting points. If it will never see a wet glass or a hot mug then you can basically pick based on looks and not worry about relative level of protection provided by shellac v. varnish, Danish oil or some other finish.

If you don't want it to veer towards more yellow/orange colouring then steer clear of any conventional finish that contains oil, they'll all change colour somewhat (some more than others, but all go more amber in due course).

The wood will naturally darken over time by itself of course but this is greatly magnified by any finish that darkens also.

 

[ScottGoddard]

I prefer a stain finish so was going to use some Osmo, but not sure based on what you are saying?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm sure Custard will be along to point you to the best Osmo.

 

[ScottGoddard]

I am actually talking to him via PM...

 

[custard]

One of the key questions you have to answer when finishing is how dark does timber have to be before you're no longer bothered by the risk of darkening/yellowing?

The answer can only ever be a personal choice, but over the years I've done masses of tests like these,

in my opinion (and let me stress, this is just my opinion) London Plane Lace Wood falls above that dividing line. In other words I wouldn't be too bothered about using an oil based finish. If you were to look at South American Lacewood I'd argue that it's inherently lighter and finishes differently; but quarter sawn London Plane will actually deliver clearer separation between the "flecks" and the background timber with an oil based finish.

 

[ScottGoddard]

I have nearly completed this piece and applied the finish to nearly every bar the draw fronts....However, this delay on the draw fronts has changed my mind on the. So far i have use Osmo Stain, but it has darkened the wood and brought out the pink. However, i think i prefer the natural whiter / lighter colour of the wood....

What finish would you recommend to keep the white / natural look.

 

[woodbloke66]

What finish would you recommend to keep the white / natural look.

If you want something that hardly alters the colour of a whiteish timber, consider an acrylic wax such as this stuff. I've tried both the matt and satin versions on Olive Ash and it's very good indeed - Rob