Bathroom Vanity Finish

[alex grams]

I am building a new vanity for the bathroom, and looking at finish options that will handle best for wet applications.

My experience is mainly limited to Poly (brush & wipe) and waterlox. I've been wanting to get more into some lacquers and shellacs, but haven't have the time to read up on it and review and the projects to use it on.

Thoughts on a good finish? I see several people praise Target USL.

Btw, the wood will be a walnut that I will most likely just stain with a BLO.

[Matthew Voss]

Alex-

I would use Target's EM8000cv instead of USL for high humidity resistance. Better moisture resistance than USL, especially warm water:

http://www.targetcoatings.com/shop/catalog/EMTECH_Industrial_Water_Based_Topcoat_Series-8-1.html

[Matthew Voss]

Btw, the wood will be a walnut that I will most likely just stain with a BLO.


Also, you'll want to seal that with 2 light coats of dewaxed shellac (Zinnser's seal coat) first.

[Greg Cole]

Alex,
Can't really pick the best water resistant finish, sounds like Matt has ya covered there... but I do have some hands on with piles of walnut.
I like either BLO or DW amber shellac (the amber works to highlight the natural colors of unsteamed and or air dried walnut) as an initial seal coat or a base.
If you use an oil based finish on top of the BLO, a seal coat of shellac is definately needed. I mix mine from flakes, but the rattle cans of Zinnser are nice for smaller things (or if ya don't mind buying a bunch of them but that gets spendy). Padding shellac will take some practice, once ya "get it" you'll be glad. I pad about 1/2 the time and spray the other 1/2.

BTW. Did ya make it out of the demo fiasco intact?

Cheers.
Greg

[alex grams]

Thanks for the info, hopefully this will give me a chance to learn more finishing techniques (time to practice on some scraps!)

Thanks for asking Greg, attached I put a before and an after/in progress picture. Hopefully you can tell which is which. I ended up replacing a lot of the wall behind the toilet since it was moist and rotten from years of water. I ended up tiling behind where the toilet will be, since this will help A LOT in terms of ease of cleaning and such from now on.

I also made a trip to another lumber yard about an hour away for the walnut, and they had some BEAUTIFUL pieces. Nice 4/4 up to 15-18" wide with very little sapwood in it (and about 1/2 the price of the normal place i get walnut). And it is all kiln dried, so it has that nice coloration to it (I was shocked at how much more color the kiln dried had as opposed to the steam dried walnut).

before:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92094&d=1215433309
after:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92093&d=1215433298

Whenever I get the vanity done in I will post some finished pictures of the project.

[Greg Cole]

WOOF. Nice job Alex. Tile is about the one thing about home improvement I haven't farted around with. You've done an awesome job there.
I've been spending every minute and dollar on a deck build the last 2 weeks. We had a pool installed last fall and I finally got the $ and time to build a deck around it, being an above ground pool it's all but useless without a deck around some of it IMO. I can say building around something round brough back some geometry I hadn't used in awhile....
I'll have a post about the deck one of these days, but I never take the time to document progress as I work.
Back on point, I like to have scrap for samples at least 18" long to get a real idea. I usually try different combos of dye, shellac, glaze etc etc etc, it's a relaxing morning activity since my shop is below the bedrooms I have to be quiet as I'm up at the crack of dawn.
15-18" wide sticks make you wish your jointer was about twice it's size and had a planer to match. I have some 12" walnut that I refuse to rip fo use, so I'll wind up Neandering it.
Needless to say, the beds parts are collecting dust as is most of the shop.
But I do have a nice new place to kick up and relax, which doesn't happen easy for me.

Cheers Alex.

G

[Dave Tinley]

Alex-
Mathew has given you some good advise. I do not have much experience with water borne stuff but today I had a chance to spray some Target 9000c and love that stuff. Laid out nice and even, had good clarity and depth.
I dont think you could go wrong with any of the Target products.

One idea you might concider, since you plan on using BLO anyway, why not mix it with 1/3 Poly and 1/3 mineral spirits or naptha and apply about four coats and you will have a wonderful finish.

[Alfred Cole]

Alex,

I covered the use of shellac as a finish on the thread "This french polish really works. The vanity unit shown is the second I have built using shellac as my preferred finish. For vertical surfaces shellac is hard to beat. It is, as I explained in that thread, extremely water resistant if mixed properly. I don't use it as a finish on the counter top because that tends to take a lot more abuse. That said, I have used it on the table on a yacht.

Jerry

War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left.

[Greg Cole]

Hi Alex,
Laquer over shellac sounds fine to me.
In regards to laquer, it's pretty forgiving to apply & one of the easiest to spray. It's easy to touch up as it melts into the previous layer of finish as well not like poly etc. My youngest step daughter got hair dye (black of course!! :mad:) all over my kitchen cabinets that are white paint covered with laquer & a touch of sandpaper to remove the black spots and a quick shot of laquer & you'll never know.
I've had good luck with a conversion style gun and a decent size compressor, just nudging a little as you'll find spraying will open a new world for finish application. I'm holding onto some pennies & dimes hoping to accumulate $ for a turbine HVLP set up..... "one of these days".

Cheers.
G