Finishing chatke viga

[Phil Potter]

I have been making a decorative board with a selection of woods including leopardwood and chatke viga. I was planning to coat it with seal a cell followed by arm r seal. However are either of those woods oily enough to interfere with the curing process?

in the past, I have had issues with rosewood and used shellac as a sealant. This has worked also well on purpleheart and padauk, but the subsequent WB poly applications look a little too plasticky for me. I have moved to using an aerosol spray shellac with very light coats which is better, but I still do not like the overall build of the finish.

So can I get away with putting seal a cell or arm r seal directly on these woods or will I run into trouble. Failing that, are there good ways to get very light coats of shellac that will seal the wood, but not distort the subsequent poly finish. I do not have a sprayer.

Thanks, as always.

Phil

[Mark Daily]

I’m not sure how oily they are but as with any oily wood you first need to use an evaporative finish like lacquer or shellac as poly won’t “bond” with the oils in the wood.

What I do is wipe with lacquer thinner, allow to evaporate, then immediately spray with a light coat of shellac from a rattle can if it’s not a big project. After that dries you can apply your topcoat.

What sheen of poly are you using? The higher the gloss the more plastiky it may look.

If it’s a decorative board that doesn’t need water or abrasion protection how about using an oil finish like tung oil?

I use Tried and True danish oil for cutting boards and other small projects that don’t need lacquer or poly protection.

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[Phil Potter]

Mark,

Thanks for the reply. I plan on giving the board as a present, and while I will tell the lucky receivers not to cut on it, I suspect that they may serve items such as cold meats, smoked salmon, fruits, crackers, etc from it. I’m not sure whether tung oil or danish oil could be used in this case, but I will try and find out.

I also presume that a shellac coating will be needed for any polymerising top coat, so it is just a question of finding the right combination of poly/sheen that works well. I have previously used WB GFHP satin and semi gloss (both look plasticky, the former less so) but have recently been trying the seal-a-cell, arm-r-seal finishes to further pop the grain (the current board has a transtint-dyed curly maple center portion that looks great when coated with these finishes).

Alternatively does any one sell A good lacquer in spray can that might be a better option than shellac? I am sure it is just a question of technique and product combination, but just don’t want to screw up all my hard work to date!

Thanks,

Phil

[glenn bradley]

I’ve had no problems with shellac on leopard wood or chatke. Since most top coats are ok with shellac I would use that as a barrier coat.

[Mark Daily]

Phil- I’ve had good luck with Deft lacquer in rattle cans.

[Phil Potter]

Guys,

Thanks for the responses.

Glenn - did you have any problems with the top coat looking too plasticky over the shellac? If not, can I ask what combination of finishes you used (manufacturer and sheen) and method of application (brush, wipe, spray, rattle can, etc). Thanks!

Mark - I’ll check it out. Have you top coated this with anything else, either successfully or not!!

Appreciate it!

Phil

[Mark Daily]

Guys,

Thanks for the responses.

Glenn - did you have any problems with the top coat looking too plasticky over the shellac? If not, can I ask what combination of finishes you used (manufacturer and sheen) and method of application (brush, wipe, spray, rattle can, etc). Thanks!

Mark - I’ll check it out. Have you top coated this with anything else, either successfully or not!!

Appreciate it!

Phil

Phil- when I use lacquer I don’t topcoat it with anything as it IS my topcoat. If my top coat is going to be poly, I seal the wood with my own sealer by mixing 1 part poly with 3 parts mineral spirits. But this won’t work for oily woods so I just use shellac, which doesn’t seem to affect the sheen of the top coat.

If your results look to plastiky maybe it is too shiny? Maybe you need to let your final coat of poly cure for a week or longer and then rub it out to a softer sheen.

Instead of satin maybe you should try flat.