Finish for a walnut coffee table

[justin byers]

I’ve got a beauty slab slated to be a trestle coffee table. I’m trying to figure out the best finish to maximize beauty and provide the necessary durability. I’m pretty well versed with finishing. I’ve padded and sprayed shellac, sprayed lacquer, padded on arm r seal, and used a pile of oil and oil/wax finishes. In all honestly I’m leaning toward spraying emtech 6000, just because it’s so much easier, but I’m worried it’ll come out a little cold. My general approach to figured walnut is danish oil, blond shellac and sometimes a topcoat of lacquer for durability, but on this project it would be an awful long regimen.
I thought maybe I’d put it out to the collective conscience and get an idea moving forward. Slab and base pics attached. Thanks is advance ladies and gents.
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[Prashun Patel]

What sheen EM6000 are you planning?

My favorite on walnut is a coat or two of Waterlox Original Sealer finish (because it's so dark), then spray some coats of EMXXX on top. I favor the flat sheen recently. Very forgiving. That slab is nice; you don't have to guild that lily. I wouldn't be afraid of the 'cold' color.

[justin byers]

I’ve been using their satin sheen on most furniture nowadays, on small stuff I shoot gloss and then rub it out to whatever sheen I’m going for, but 4-5 coats of satin will look nice on this I figure. I don’t make furniture much, previously I really relied on oil/wax combos, but honestly the durability is not the best, and it doesn’t do the grain any favors.

[John TenEyck]

If durability is important I would stick with Waterlox, Arm-R-Seal, etc. No uncatalyzed finish is as durable. Of the uncatalyzed WB finishes I've tested so far, GF's EnduroVar was the best. I'll be posting some test results in a few days after I finish testing EM-8000CV + Crosslinker. Spoiler alert, w/o the crosslinker it's not as good as EnduroVar.

John

[Alan Gage]

Maybe a coat or two of shellac under the EM6000 for added color?

I've been doing that under water based poly lately and have been very happy with it. Dries quick, adds color, sands easily, and seals the grain so it doesn't raise when the water finish is applied.

Alan

Alan

[Jim Becker]

I have finished a lot of walnut over the years with EM6000 and its predecessors. In all cases, I used BLO and wax free shellac first because otherwise, the walnut will not have a desirable color. EM8000cv and EM2000 would likely be better if used alone on walnut but only you can determine that. You could also experiment with adding a little honey-amber dye to the EM6000 to see if that gets you what you expect.

BTW, this isn't an issue specific to the Target Coatings product...it's common with a lot of waterborne finishes.

[justin byers]

Jim, your regimen is pretty much mine exactly, so that’s what I did. Don’t regret it at all. I’ll be posting this in the project forum when I get the final pics all done
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