What Finish Should I Use on Nightstand/Bedside Table Build - WIP, Advice Needed

[danst96]

Hello all,

I am making my first proper woodworking project ever. I used to dabble woodturning back in my early teens and even made some money selling bowls (made about £400 which wasn't too bad for a 14 year old lol). I gave up on the hobby but have recently got back into it and am attempting to make some American Black Walnut nightstands.

Below is my progress so far and I am moving onto the sanding of the carcasses. I still need to make legs (havent completely decided what to do here yet, got a few ideas), drawboxes and a little shelf which will be going in the dados you can see in the pictures below.

I am still a little while off finishing but want to order in what I need so I don't lose any time. Do any of you have any recommendations for finishes for a nice matte finish on ABW?

As you can see my mitre joint isn't the best although with it being my first proper attempt on hardwood I am satisfied with the outcome. Also not to blame my tools or anything but I have a very cheap Clarke table saw which did struggle with the cut and kept pulling the wood away from the fence and almost set my shop on fire as the photo below, well not really on fire but I could barely breathe through the smoke lol.

I only got the saw about 3 weeks ago and have only really done the cuts for this project (in addition to cutting some sheet ply and other softwood) and the blade seems to be blunt already and causing the burning while cutting. Would the ABW dull the blade that quickly? Its the original Clarke CMT blade that came with the saw. Would be glad of your thoughts on this and whether I should get a new blade already.

Second one all glued and clamped up and should be ready to start sanding today.

Will add some more photos as progress is made but if anyone has any finishing tips I would be glad to hear!

 

[Rorton]

Osmo PolyX 3032 (Satin) for me

not the best example, first I found in my photos with something half Osmo, half unfinished

 

[Dr Al]

I'd wholeheartedly recommend Mike G's magic mix. He recommended it to me for my first woodworking project. I've since tried a few alternatives (including hard wax oil, danish oil and shellac, but I keep going back to his mix as it's just so easy to apply, beautiful to look at and robust to abuse. It looks wonderful on American Black Walnut.

From his message in that thread:

I think the simplest finish to get right is a wiping varnish. Mix 1/3rd spirit-based varnish, 1/3rd white spirit, one third oil (Tung Oil or Finishing Oil or Danish Oil or Linseed Oil.....in that order of preference). Slap it on with a brush, then wipe it off after 10 minutes max (it mustn't go tacky). Leave for 24 hours, then do the merest wipe-over with a very fine worn old piece of sandpaper, barely touching the surface. Repeat the brushing on/ wiping off. Do this once a day every day for 4 or 5 days or more, and you can build up a really nice finish.

The beauty of it is that you can do this without the spectacular levels of cleanliness required for other finishes, and it produces a robust stain-resistant, water resistant finish which is ideal for a table. Oil and wax finishes are not robust enough for a table as they can be ruined by a cup of tea or a glass of wine.

Be aware that the finish will be less glossy than varnish applied in the normal way, so if you want Satin, then Gloss might be best, and if you want Matt, then go for Satin. You can use old tins of varnish with a dried up crust if you've got some, but otherwise, any varnish which specifies white spirit to clean the brushes is good enough.

It's extremely easy and seems to cope really well: we've managed to spill all sorts of things on the table I made and it's wiped clean with no sign that anything was ever spilled. I use Ronseal Satincoat, Tung Oil and White Spirit. The satin varnish gives a lovely matt finish.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Even cheap and nasty saws perform a lot better with a better blade. I expect yours has a general purpose blade (40T), so you would be better with one with fewer teeth for ripping and one with more teeth for cross cutting. I have a cheap blade from Leading UK Supplier of Multi Tool Blades & Accessories - Saxton Blades on a cheap mitre saw I was given - it transformed it. I won't pretend they're industrial quality blades, but they're good enough for most amateur usage and very good value.
Good value jigsaw blades as well.

 

[danst96]

I'd wholeheartedly recommend Mike G's magic mix. He recommended it to me for my first woodworking project. I've since tried a few alternatives (including hard wax oil, danish oil and shellac, but I keep going back to his mix as it's just so easy to apply, beautiful to look at and robust to abuse. It looks wonderful on American Black Walnut.

From his message in that thread:



It's extremely easy and seems to cope really well: we've managed to spill all sorts of things on the table I made and it's wiped clean with no sign that anything was ever spilled. I use Ronseal Satincoat, Tung Oil and White Spirit. The satin varnish gives a lovely matt finish.

Thats great to know, i will look into that thread and will give that a try.

 

[danst96]

Even cheap and nasty saws perform a lot better with a better blade. I expect yours has a general purpose blade (40T), so you would be better with one with fewer teeth for ripping and one with more teeth for cross cutting. I have a cheap blade from Leading UK Supplier of Multi Tool Blades & Accessories - Saxton Blades on a cheap mitre saw I was given - it transformed it. I won't pretend they're industrial quality blades, but they're good enough for most amateur usage and very good value.
Good value jigsaw blades as well.

Good to know, i will get a new blade. My brother works at this company and they do fairly cheap blades similar to what you have posted TCT Chippex Red

Thanks for that link though, i will save it.

 

[Rorton]

Ive been using a Bosch table saw, and invested in some Freud Blades - not sure the exact diameter of your blades, but I picked up a 254mm x 30mm x 24tooth from FFX for £26

 

[Droogs]

as it is a night stand and will not get heavy use and probably little chance of water exposure then just good old wax would be nice and it is simply a case of the more you buff it the shinnier it gets - so rub until you happy

 

[Ozi]

Hope it's OK to piggy back on this post, I'm in the process of building my son a desk the top of which is hardwood ply edged with oak strips, I was going to use Ronseal polyurethane satinecoatclear but does anybody have a better suggestion maybe something a bit harder, how many coats would you recommend etc? I'm still quite new to this sort of wood working I have previously built barns and goat sheds where the finish is somewhat less important, I always say I will take the first written complaint from any goat seriously but until then....

 

[Rorton]

above post from Dr Al looks good if you have any materials around - otherwise, off the shelf I seem to always turn to Osmo Polyx. I made a desk with a Walnut top and it had 2 x coats of Osmo Polyx 2 years ago, and its been perfect - I use it every day for 7 hours a day as I work from home. The only thing I will say is that I use one of these extra large mouse mats, its 1m long x 400mm deep, and have my keyboard and mouse one, so my arms are always in this as opposed to the desk.

 

[Roland]

as it is a night stand and will not get heavy use and probably little chance of water exposure ...

My experience is that mugs of tea stand on it every morning and evening, and it gets drowned in hot tea once or twice a year.

 

[danst96]

@Dr Al I am going to give Mikes Magic Mix a whirl and @Rorton im also going to try Osmo, no harm in having both as they will get used. I then can give my verdict seeing them side by side.

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

My experience is that mugs of tea stand on it every morning and evening

You take a mug of tea to bed with you?

 

[danst96]

Further to the above, I've started planing down some cherry boards on a new planer thicknesser. Again it's a budget machine (I know daft but I'm on a budget). I have used professional machines such as top end Felder's which were set up right but on first run of sending the board flat across the planer, it's not planing flat, i.e it's thicker one side than the other. Is this the same as snipe or am I doing something wrong?

 

[TheTiddles]

On a planer you’d expect some wedge to be present unless you started with perfectly thicknessed stock (in which case, why would you be planing it?!), the thicknesser will then take that out for you
Aidan

 

[Cabinetman]

I can recommend water-based satin polyurethane varnish, (Johnstons) it sounds too simple I know, water the first coat down with 10% water then two more coats before lunchtime a slight de- nib between each coat and it’s done and finished and hot cup proof and tough as old boots whilst at the same time it really is a professional looking finish, I really wouldn’t waste my time with anything else. This is a desk I made recently for a client. Ian

 

[danst96]

On a planer you’d expect some wedge to be present unless you started with perfectly thicknessed stock (in which case, why would you be planing it?!), the thicknesser will then take that out for you
Aidan

Thanks, on inspection I found it was just very poorly set up and the blades were not straight in the holder and not aligned with the outfeed table either so even when thicknessing it was not leaving a flat finish

 

[Ozi]

I can recommend water-based satin polyurethane varnish, (Johnstons) it sounds too simple I know, water the first coat down with 10% water then two more coats before lunchtime a slight de- nib between each coat and it’s done and finished and hot cup proof and tough as old boots whilst at the same time it really is a professional looking finish, I really wouldn’t waste my time with anything else. This is a desk I made recently for a client. Ian View attachment 102928

Very nice - I will try that varnish on my next project

 

[Ozi]

Don't know if you can help but I have just finished varnishing a desk I made for my son and was not pleased with the finish I obtained, reached the level of "it will do". Being new to this I followed the instructions as best I could. On hardwood ply, wiped down with a white spirit damped cloth to remove dust, stained with a water based stain, two coats of Ronseal polyurethane satin 6 hours apart left 24 hours sanded with 240 paper then top coat. Result brush marks, orange peel and some visible scratches from sanding. Following unsatisfying results on the underside as an experiment preped as before then when the first coat was dry scrapped it with a Stanley blade and applied one further coat, much better finish no brush marks, fairly even shine, not up to the standard in your photo but wouldn't expect that on my second attempt.
What puzzles me is why am I getting a better result going away from the method used by people who obviously know more than I do. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Tuna808]

Don't know if you can help but I have just finished varnishing a desk I made for my son and was not pleased with the finish I obtained, reached the level of "it will do". Being new to this I followed the instructions as best I could. On hardwood ply, wiped down with a white spirit damped cloth to remove dust, stained with a water based stain, two coats of Ronseal polyurethane satin 6 hours apart left 24 hours sanded with 240 paper then top coat. Result brush marks, orange peel and some visible scratches from sanding. Following unsatisfying results on the underside as an experiment preped as before then when the first coat was dry scrapped it with a Stanley blade and applied one further coat, much better finish no brush marks, fairly even shine, not up to the standard in your photo but wouldn't expect that on my second attempt.
What puzzles me is why am I getting a better result going away from the method used by people who obviously know more than I do. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Ozi,
your finish will be as good as your base,if you can see scratches your base wasn’t ready for the varnish,water based stains will lift the grain.It can be avoided if you use wipe a damp rag on the surface,let it dry and light sand,then apply the stain.
You should use the best quality brush you can buy,it is false economy to buy an inferior brush.Consider the hours you have spend on your project and the cost of your materials,use a good brush.
Orange peel sounds like too much varnish has been applied and probably hasn’t dried enough between coats.I like to wait at least 12 hours or more with polyurethane .Lightly cutting back with 600 between coats.
Ronseal is a great varnish,I normally give my work at least 3 coats.....light coats that is.