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Hey guys, I've gone dark (cherry, rosewood) before, but this time I'm going light (and cheap). On my Pi 2 towers I'm using white ash flexible (paperbacked) veneer from Constantine's, surrounded on the front baffle with a 1" wide frame of solid cherry, rounded over. In earlier projects, I've used a simple polymerized Tung oil finish a la Bill E (as always, thanks!). I might well just go that way again (have not tested it on a scrap yet), but I'm looking for other suggestions as well. My goal is to leave the ash light (so it will contrast with the darker cherry border), so no heavy stains or dyes, I just want to make the grain (which is very nice, but subtle) a little more pronounced. Thanks in advance. Tempest and Pi Construction Pix
Re: White Ash Finishing Suggestions Wanted
Tung oil is great finish. It will give you some of the best grain definition and its not a difficult finish to use. An oil base stain will help to highlight and bring out some grain. There are a few lighter ones that will help keep your contrast, but all will start to darken the ash a little. Shellac is also a good finish and my favorite is Varnish.
I know a furniture repair and refinish guy who sprays varnish with a $100 Wagner sprayer! Gotta ask him how he does it. Never tried but always heard spraying varnish is the bomb. Second the Tung oil. Won't darken too much. Have you tried 'Tried and True' wax and tung oil? Good stuff.
Have not used the "tried and true" brand. I did just do a job using some woodcraft tung oil and its different than other's I've used. I cant say its bad, but I'm not partial to it either.
I had forgotten it was linseed oil. Linseed darkens a good bit as opposed to Tung which does not. MInwax makes a pretty good Tung oil available everywhere and full of metal driers so no drying problems
To fill or not to fill- that is the question.
I really like Tung for its ease of application, and I'll use it if I don't want to fill the grain. If I'm after a piano finish then I prefer a water base urethane, as you can lay on a dozen coats a day if you need to, which is a real advantage with open grain woods like Ash or Oak. The disadvantage to water base urethane is that it doesn't level well, but when you're basically sanding it all off during the grain filling process that matters little. At the end of the process you can go with a French rub if you want to, but what I do if I don't want to invest that much time and work is to allow the final coat to cure for two days and then give it a couple of coats of sprayed on oil base urethane or lacquer. The other caveat with water base urethane is that it can have problems adhering when used over oil stains, so make sure you use an anilyne dye for grain highlighting.
I'm getting an early start to the weekend by getting some garage time this afternoon. First I'm going to try some Tung oil on a scrap of the veneer to see how that looks. Then I'll decide. Tempest and Pi Construction Pix