What to use

[sunnybob]

I'm fitting some internal wardrobe type doors. beech laminate faced chipboard.
I have fitted real beech wood edges.
I have to put something on the beech, but what?
I have blonde shellac, clear polyurethane varnish, danish oil and finishing oil, and a couple types of paste and crystalline wax.

NO, I do not have access to any osmo products.

Should I coat the actual doors as well? (I'd rather not considering my painting skills are hell of a lot worse than my woodworking skills) :roll: :roll:

 

[CHJ]

In your climate I would suggest the shellac as a sanding sealer, lightly denib & if felt necessary recoat, then apply Microcrystalline wax.

 

[marcros]

what finish is on the faced chipboard?

 

[sunnybob]

Its a laminate, semi gloss. If I scratch it, its white underneath.

 

[marcros]

I would try all that you have on a piece of the scrap beech to try for a colour match. Sanding sealer and wax is going to look completely different to Danish oil

 

[sunnybob]

I dont like the oils for finish or smell anyway, so will rule them out.
I will use the shellac, then decide. The rest of the bedroom wardrobe doors look as though they were varnished, but they are 12 years old now so the colour of the new ones is never going to match. Thankfully, they are in a walk in area off to one side so I dont worry too much about that.

 

[sunnybob]

Is there any way of filling the little gaps around the edging? as this was my first attempt it turned out less than perfect, exacerbated by the poor edges on the boards that were cut at the local furniture makers premises.
I shant go back there again.
Thankfully therse are in a dark area and nobody is going to inspect them too closely, but I would like to make them as good as I can get.

 

[RogerS]

In your climate I would suggest the shellac as a sanding sealer, lightly denib & if felt necessary recoat, then apply Microcrystalline wax.

+1

 

[sunnybob]

I've had a slight delay....
In the true spirit of "measure twice cut once" I forgot i was adding on 2 mm of wood each side when I ordered the door panels cut. DOH!
Luckily, that allowed me to slice off the worst edgo on each door and replace with more wood.
Cant believe that my dewalt 745 with an axminster 42 tooth GP blade cut the laminate smoother than the factory's wall panel saw. =D> =D> =D>
Hopefully will get around to applying shellac this afternoon. 8)

 

[memzey]

Try some wax over the shellac Bob. All you need to remember is that proper hard waxes take considerable elbow grease to buff up.

Go on. Give it it a whirl. You know you want to

 

[sunnybob]

Memzey, you and your waxes........
I tried yet again with your mark two wax on my latest box. It just will not shine on end grain. Its a pig to sand off again too.
I finished the wardrobe doors, good parts were its the closest I have ever come to making actual indoors furniture, bad parts were too many to mention.

The shellac on the beech edging is sufficient, the doors are in a very dark walk in wardrobe and nobody will inspect them too closely.

Looks like summer is cancelled this year, shame as after a shaky start we had just managed to convince the dolphin to come back again. But god willing they are all up for arriving here in october.

Stay well, regards to the tribe.

 

[memzey]

Finishing end grain the way you want it bob is a bit of a pig but it can be done. To get a fine finish on it then you will need to significantly up your sanding game. I’m talking up to the kind of high grit wet and dry car finishers use - in the thousands. Once you’ve done that then a couple of coats of shellac followed by a vigorous application and buff of v1 will give you something like what you are looking for.

Having said all of that, I’m not sure what part end grain plays in this project Bob? Surely the beech edging taking the finish is all long grain?

 

[sunnybob]

I tried the wax on a box. But even the back solid piece just would not give me a nice finish. I am just a gloss person, thats all there is to it. :roll: 8)
The shellac on the beech edging was quite close to the wood panel so thats fine, although Dr. Bob wouldnt pat my back for it....... :roll:

 

[memzey]

Hard wax polish does give a gloss finish! Even in the ungodly temperatures of high summer Cyprus (we did prove this last year). The things to remember are that; no wax works particularly well on bare wood - they all need a sealer like shellac and hard wax polishes (like the v1) need considerable vigour in their application and buffing. Once those aspects are adopted you are golden as far as face grain is concerned on the hard woods you use. Edge grain has the added aspect of high grit sanding prior to sealer application but that’s about it.

Of course you don’t need to use wax but the waxes you have will give you the results that you are looking for if you apply them in the right way.

Anyway how is life on the sunny isle? My folks are in Girne at the moment and are debating as to whether they are best served by staying put or coming back.