Treatment/finishing for pitch pine shelving

[eartrumpet]

Hello all,
I've recently bought a few lengths of (incredible smelling) pitch pine from a reclamation yard in order to make floating shelves to go into alcoves in my lounge and having never done this before would really appreciate any tips as to how to finish the wood.

After sanding, what do I need to do... varnish, shellac, wax... No idea where to start. I would like them a little darker, say teak darkness to go with other furniture in the room. I would like them to have a matt finish. I like the idea of using Fiddes wax as I've heard good things and also I live half a mile from their factory so it seems appropriate too.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

 

[MattRoberts]

I'd suggest taking a look at the briwax range - lots of great colours, and you can buff to the desired level of shine

 

[thetyreman]

depends on what your end goal is, I really like dewaxed shellac on light woods, will it get heavy or light use? do you want to retain the natural colour? do you want a matt, satin or gloss? meh so many options. Don't forget you could paint it as well, and with paint there's a whole universe of options, almost infinite combinations.

 

[eartrumpet]

Thanks both for your ideas. It'll get light use - ornaments mostly which won't be moved around much. Definitely want matt finish and want to see the wood so no paint. I'd like it darkish for pine. I shall look into briwax and dewaxed shellac. I know pitch pine is very resinous, would anything be ok with that in mind?

 

[custard]

Wax or shellac will both adhere to resinous timbers. The problem with just wax is that over several years the pores will fill up with airborne grime. You may read this isn't a problem as long as you don't have open fires, I disagree. I recently saw some Ash windsor chairs I made nearly thirty years ago. Ash is an open grained timber and I was disappointed to see how grimy the pores had become in a centrally heated home, and without a sealing coat there was nothing I could do about it unless I was prepared to sand back to bare timber. A darker shellac than dewaxed blonde, like button or garnet shellac, will give you a distinctly darker result. You'd have to apply several coats and matt it down with wire wool, over a period of years the simple action of the duster will burnish the edges back to a glossier finish but you can worry about that then!