I have an idea of what might be best for this project but want some opinions. Have a possible project coming up to make from 12 to 16 offering plates. Hopefully this will be in white oak even tho the pews are red oak. I want the finish to be reparable and yet sturdy.

   These are the finishes I am considering:

        1. Poly; durable but more difficult to repair

        2. Lacquer; reparable but not as durable as some other finishes to constant handling

        3. Tru Oil ; very durable and supposed to be easily repairable, and maybe easy to apply .No longer available in aerosol.

        4. WHAT is another I have left out?

My church uses gold plated serving plates because the hosts are considered holy and the fragements that can lodge in a wood serving plate must be completely cleaned and consumed after each service.

 

That said I would strongly consider shellac.  It is not as durable as Poly or Lac but is humanly consumable.  

Also the shellac is highly repairable. Dewaxed garnet shellac will color the wood to blend your white oak with the red oak finish and is not affected by water or human body oil. 

 

Tru Oil  - not very durable, very renewable but is it human consumable?

I know Poly and Laq are not human consumable. 

 

 

few finishes are as sturdy as alkyd polyurethane.  Epoxy is good too but feels thick and heavy.

1 hour ago, Michael Thuman said:

My church uses gold plated serving plates because the hosts are considered holy and the fragements that can lodge in a wood serving plate must be completely cleaned and consumed after each service.

 

That said I would strongly consider shellac.  It is not as durable as Poly or Lac but is humanly consumable.  

Also the shellac is highly repairable. Dewaxed garnet shellac will color the wood to blend your white oak with the red oak finish and is not affected by water or human body oil. 

 

Tru Oil  - not very durable, very renewable but is it human consumable?

I know Poly and Laq are not human consumable. 

 

 

Michael these are offering plates only. Had not even considered shellac due to its susceptibility to moisture, but will look at that too. 

59 minutes ago, Michael Thuman said:

I know Poly and Laq are not human consumable.  

I think you may be mistaken there. Most clear finishes are harmless when cured off.   Interestingly  BLO has heavy metals in it as driers, but not enough to be an issue.

6 minutes ago, Cliff said:

few finishes are as sturdy as alkyd polyurethane.  Epoxy is good too but feels thick and heavy.

That is my concept too but with all the dings that the metal plates have after 20 plus years they will take a beating . However even is scratch sanded out and another coat applied may not look bad.

I wonder if the type of lacquer used on auto finishes would be hard enough to withstand the wear.

As mentioned above, shellac is another option.    Both it and lacquer are easily repairable because new and old coats melt into each other.  (This is one of the reasons why 99% of commercial furniture is lacquered)    All you need to do is a cleaning, a bit of sanding if there is some damage, and brush or spray on another coat.  If you can find it, pre-cat lacquer is a bit more durable.

Personally, I'd avoid poly because it's durable but not very repairable.  I think epoxy is even less so.   You can't strip it off and if, say a plate gets dropped, it may crack as the wood dents.

 

I see the major dangers are body oils, change getting dropped in, and rough handling between collections.

 

One of today's jobs -- lacquer.  Besides the paint transfer, depressions all along the line

All, Laq is suspectible to many common household cleaners.  Where as shellac holds up well.  But stay away from amonia on both and nail pollish remover.  They both destroy the finish.  If by collection plate you mean offering plate.  We have ushers that use baskets with long wooden poles.  The baskets are normally stainless wire mesh small enough to not let an evelope or bill the slip thru but change can slip thru.  If someone is offering some change they are to use the envelope at the end of the pew.

When you said offering plate I was thinking communion plates.  Sorry.

The offering plate is where people deposit their monentary sacrifice to the church.  

If that defnition is what you mean by offering plate I would use in order, Shellac, Laq, pre-cat Laq, Poly, Wax, Oil.