Clear seal Alder Wood

[Josh Jackson]

Ok everyone. Got an interesting project. A customer wants me to mass produce some ornaments for him on alder. He liked the samples, but...he wants it sealed like a clear epoxy/resin for a protective coating. He was concerned about scratches on the etchings.

After looking through our forum I was surprised to not find anything along these lines beyond a few comments on shellac or staining. He does not want staining, just a straight forward clear coat.

My initial thought is to do an epoxy dip like I've done with a cutting board, but that was costly and frustrating to get just right.

What are your thoughts? Insight?

[Scott Shepherd]

You can't just use lacquer?

[Josh Jackson]

I considered lacquer, but my alder wood is on back order for this. Also couldn't find anything on using lacquer either. Used lacquer on some other woods, but unsure how it looked professionally with alder.

[John Noell]

Do you only need the front protected or both sides? Doming one side (at a time) might be a lot easier than the dip.

[Josh Jackson]

The design is on both sides, so I'll probably need to do the dip. So it'll be cut out. I've not dipped in lacquer. That's why I'm asking. I've seen things dipped before but never done it.

[Bill George]

Well since your going to need an attachment point for dipping and you will need one for spraying both sides I don't see an issue. Lacquer dries very fast, I would use semi gloss and just spray it.

[Jerome Stanek]

lacquer medium rub would be the way to go pick up a cheap Harbor freight spray gun and spray it. 2 coats on each side should do it and it dries really fast.