Walnut finish suggestion

[David Huston]

I am going to be making some placemats out of walnut for a friend and would love some finish advice. I have a Fuji mini mite 3 with a pressure cup gun. I have some Target em8000 conversion varnish and some em2000. I was leaning more towards the CV for durability. Any advice on getting the grain to pop with the water borne CV. Maybe a coat of Danish oil first? I thought about BLO which I haven't used before but was concerned about it's dry time. Any advice would be awesome.

[David Huston]

This is the look the customer if asking for.

[Jim Becker]

I routinely use BLO followed by a barrier coat of de-waxed shellac to warm/pop various wood species, including walnut, before finishing with a water borne product like Targets EM series finishes. The EM2000 you have will provide a little warmth itself because it's an emulsified alkyd finish with a water carrier, but it may not be enough on its own. (experiment on scrap!) The EM8000cv would likely be slightly more durable...even more-so if you add the cross linker that Target sells.

[Prashun Patel]

I got that exact look on a dining table by spraying Sealcoat , followed by Enduro Clear Poly (satin).

[matt romanowski]

I'd suggest buying some pints of different finishes and doing tests. For our dining table, I tried a few things and settled on Waterlox. I think it looks amazing on walnut, but will have more open grain that the photos you posted.

[David Huston]

Thanks for the advice. Jim and Prashun - would you have any pictures of any walnut pieces that you have finished? Jim - your "Continent" douglas fir top was AMAZING!

[Prashun Patel]

I don't have great pix of it. But here it is. Completed last October.

[Marty R Schlosser]

I applied EM2000 directly to one of my walnut pieces (photo enclosed), but had better results with another piece (sorry, no photos) with walnut when I applied BLO and allowed it to fully cure (7 days) then applied EM2000.

A friend of mine who refinished furniture for a living strongly suggested I shy away from applying shellac of any type after BLO. His line of thinking is that shellac doesn't harden as much as many think, and because of that, waterborne finishes won't adhere as effectively. Now, I'm not an expert... but he most certainly is, and I'd listen to him before anyone else.

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[Jim Becker]

Marty, what your friend told you seems to go against the grain of many other very experienced folks. De-waxed shellac, applied lightly as a barrier coat shouldn't cause a problem with adhesion. In fact, the purpose is exactly the opposite. It's secondary purpose is to further warm the color. That said, what you don't want to do is try to put the shellac on heavy. That can cause issues with water borne finishes, including Target Coatings products, which can include "spidery cracking", etc.