John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Dear folks, my son and I just finished building a solid cherry with walnut accents desk, we would like to finish the desk in a satin clear, but we also love the warmth and patina that develops with oil based finishes. We are not staining our project, we are applying the finish with brush, or wipe on. I am going to dive into the General Finishes line of products, I'd like to know if anyone here has any recommendations for our project? Artie, Gunny and FlGatorwood 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W. Hargis Jr Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Will that be one of their waterborne finishes or an oil based (not knowing what's available to you)? Gunny and FlGatorwood 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kmealy Posted January 22, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 (edited) If you are going to use a water-borne finish, it imparts a very cool color. It's not very flattering unless you have some stain underneath. If w-b is what you can get, I suggest putting on a couple of coats of dewaxed shellac as an under-coat, then go with a w-b top coat of choice (assuming you can get it, I have heard you cannot buy denatured alcohol in CA). Who'd have thought alcohol bootlegging would have degraded to this?! I have used EnduroVar on my last few projects and it seems to be working fine, but I've always sprayed it. W-b dries very fast and is a bit tricky to brush, IMO. Edited January 22, 2021 by kmealy John Morris, FlGatorwood, Cal and 3 others 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 How about Armor Seal oil based wipe on? Gunny and FlGatorwood 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Sorry, Arm R Seal I meant. FlGatorwood and Cal 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Howe Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Still gonna darken cherry. Not to worry. It's banned in most Kali zip codes. Cal, FlGatorwood, kmealy and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danl Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 John, When working with Cherry, I like to have one coat of BLO followed by a coat of shellac (if the top coat is water borne). The BLO will pop the cherry and walnut. Danl FlGatorwood, Cal, Gunny and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Fred W. Hargis Jr Posted January 22, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 (edited) Arm R Seal is just a thin urethane varnish, and while I don't care much for urethane finishes...it's very nice. It will take a few more coats than most other ones, but it's nice and can be wiped on if you want to do it that way. It will give you the appearance you want. Edited January 22, 2021 by Fred W. Hargis Jr kmealy, Artie, FlGatorwood and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 34 minutes ago, Gene Howe said: Still gonna darken cherry. Not to worry. It's banned in most Kali zip codes. I can't get it shipped to me? FlGatorwood and Cal 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 21 minutes ago, Danl said: John, When working with Cherry, I like to have one coat of BLO followed by a coat of shellac (if the top coat is water borne). The BLO will pop the cherry and walnut. Danl Thanks Dan, that is what I would do typically, just as you described, but I really want to try General Finishes for this project, our newest sponsors, I am going to support them and give feedback/review here, on the product I purchase. Thanks Dan! Cal, Artie, Gunny and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 19 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said: but it's nice and can be wiped on if you want to do it that way. It will give you the appearance you want. Perfect! FlGatorwood, Cal and Artie 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post John Morris Posted January 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Just checked our local Woodcraft, they sell Arm R Seal oil based, cool! lew, Cal, Artie and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gene Howe Posted January 22, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 2 hours ago, John Morris said: Just checked our local Woodcraft, they sell Arm R Seal oil based, cool! But it's "under the counter" and you need a password. You'll get it in a plain silver can wrapped in a plain brown paper sack. John Morris, Gerald, Artie and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kmealy Posted January 22, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 3 hours ago, Danl said: John, When working with Cherry, I like to have one coat of BLO followed by a coat of shellac (if the top coat is water borne). The BLO will pop the cherry and walnut. Danl Yes, I have used this too. Got 8 years of patina in 2 weeks (sat outside during sunny weather for the first week). John Morris, Gunny, Artie and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kmealy Posted January 22, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Arm-r-Seal is a good product. It's a polyurethane varnish that might be thinned a bit more than some others to make it wiping viscosity. Fred W. Hargis Jr, Gunny, Artie and 3 others 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gerald Posted January 23, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 As to cherry I learned this from the old Wood magazine finishing guru. BLO and garnet shellac. It actually seems to make the cherry hold the color and reduce darkening. Oh and it evens out the color in cherry since it tends to have an uneven color due to sapwood and other reasons. Gunny, John Morris, FlGatorwood and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunny Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 All these years and I have never worked with cherry. Cal, p_toad, John Morris and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Fred W. Hargis Jr Posted January 23, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 You are truly missing something, it's one of my favorite domestic woods. John Morris, kmealy, Gunny and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Dudelston Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 28 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said: You are truly missing something, it's one of my favorite domestic woods. I’m with you, Fred. There’s about 400 bf of it in my garage. Just use sharp tools because it will burn. p_toad, Fred W. Hargis Jr, John Morris and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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