Finish selection for towel rack?

[Eric Heinz]

I am making a Greene & Greene-style towel rack of maple.

I thought of varnish for durability over oil for chatoyance, with shellac in between as a sealer, then I felt a desire for something simpler.

Is shellac tough enough for a towel rack? In "Hand Applied Finishes" Jeff Jewitt lists shellac as good for both water resistance and abrasion, but I believe that varnishes are tougher.

This rack will be loaded with a wet towel every day for years.

[Jamie Buxton]

This rack will be loaded with a wet towel every day for years.

Don't mess around with anything less than several coats of polyurethane.

[Dennis Peacock]

Why not use a Marine Spar Varnish? Something made for wet environments should be better than trying to use something that isn't made for wet environments. I have towel racks in my home that were coated with poly and the finish is all but gone....4 years of use and it's time to make more and finish with Marine Spar this time. :rolleyes:

[Lee Schierer]

I made some oak towel bars for our bathroom. I finished them with MinWax polyurethane and they how no signs of problems despite several years of damp towels occassional wet wash cloths and steamy showers. I'm not sure shellac would be that protective.

[Wes Bischel]

Eric,

I would think you can use shellac for the color/depth of the finish, but I wouldn't use it for the final finish. I have used poly before, and it has worked well, but as noted by Dennis, a marine varnish should be bullet (wet towel) proof.

Wes

PS We'll need pictures of the finished product now that it has been mentioned. ;)

[Jim Becker]

Why not use a Marine Spar Varnish? Something made for wet environments should be better than trying to use something that isn't made for wet environments. I have towel racks in my home that were coated with poly and the finish is all but gone....4 years of use and it's time to make more and finish with Marine Spar this time. :rolleyes:
Spar varnish, which is a "long oil" varnish, is formulated primarily for flexibilty..."spars" need to bend. It's not necessarily more "waterproof" than other varnishes, although it is clearly formulated to be better in this respect than other materials. That said, it could be a good choice for this kind of project, especially if the design is "delicate" and will flex.

Shellac is one of the best moisture barriers, but is less effective when it comes to "real water".

Frankly, any good varnish (polyurethane, alkyd or resin) should perform well for this application if applied correctly as would NC or acrylic laquers. A good continuous surface that will not allow water direct access under the finish is what really needs to happen, so careful attention to the finish process should give good results. The towel racks in our guest room are coated merely with Deft and they have held up well for over four years now. Granted, that's incidental use, but they still look like "new".