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Wood plinth finishing?

Discussion in 'Just starting...' started by Forté, May 27, 2016.

  1. Forté A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Not sure this is the right place to ask but..

    What's the best way to finish off a wood plinth?

    I've managed to finally get a nice smooth surface on the wood itself thanks to lots of time spent with many grades of sandpaper. But, being new to the whole plinth and display painting thing, I usually just paint them black. But recently I picked up a piece of spalted beech and would like to keep the grain and start using the odd polished finish now and then.

    So what's best to use? Paint on varnish. Spray varnish. Lacquer. Wax. I have no clue.
  2. Alex A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Well you have so many choices !

    Lacquer no if you don't have the proper spraying and safety equipment.

    Varnish is fine since you can use a paint brush to apply it and you can use a water based one. Vrry easy to use.

    Personally, I prefer a shellac finish for a plinth. Can be easily corrected in the future. But it is not water resistant
  3. Viking Bob PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    I have used Danish oil and after about 3 coats it drys to a satin finish, easy to use too.
  4. Forté A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    I'll look into shellac and Danish oil. Thank you.
  5. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    A polyurethane finish works well, too. As with shellacs, you can find variations from clear to tinted. And there are varieties available from gloss to satin. The wood you use can also be factor. For example, when I've used white pine and white oak, I've used an amber shellac, because the wood itself looked better to my eye, with the additional color. A wood like cherry will benefit from something like a clear oil, which will help seal the wood, but will enhance the wood's natural color and grain.

    Sorry, this is coming from years of watching Norm Abram's "New Yankee Workshop".

    Prost!
    Brad
    Forté likes this.
  6. Forté A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Cheers Brad. Any info helps.
  7. Mat Lambert A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    I use Teak Oil on my homemade bases - wiping on several coats with a lint free cloth. The wood is a light mahogany colour to start but oil makes it slightly darker, richer and gives a nice satin finish.
    I've used it on my kitchen table top too so it's quite durable and can be redone easily to refresh the wood when the finish looks a little tired.
    Cheers
    Mat
  8. rossbach PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Netherlands
    It depends on the endeffect you're after. Oiling with lineseed oil can have a nice effect as it lifts the grain. What I often do however is this. I give a base a few coats of varish. Doens't matter if mat, semi-gloss or gloss is being used (Modelmaster/Humbrol). Thes oilbased varnishes give the toughest finish.

    When it is dry I start sanding the bases with sandingsticks/sponges. I end up with polishing the base to a mirror like finish that cannot be achieved by just applying coats of varnish. And yes this can be done with mat varnish.

    Suppose it does resemble working with shellac which also invlves polishing.

    cheers Paul
  9. rossbach PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Netherlands
    By the way: i basecoat with an airbrush.
    Forté likes this.
  10. Forté A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Sadly I don't airbrush.
  11. rossbach PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Netherlands
    Spraycan? The trick lies in the sanding and final polishing of the laquer/varnish.
  12. Mozzy Member

    Danish Oil is indeed good but having tried a plethora over the years when I used to make tables etc to display my large Bonsai, I used Liberon. It is in a tin like Danish Oil but does after a couple or three coats give an amazing finish.

    If I can ever afford a small lathe and make my own figure stands then I would use it again in a flash. Amazing product for solid wood kitchen worktops.

    Mozzy
    Forté likes this.
  13. Forté A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Not heard of this at all so I'll give it a look. Be interesting to see if you end up making some plinths yourself.
  14. Mozzy Member

    This is the one. Finishing oil.

    Attached Files:

    Forté likes this.
  15. Forté A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Cheers Mozzy
    Mozzy likes this.

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