Sealing soft edges of redwood table

[Sean Moore]

I recently built a desk for a client and they specifically wanted the desk out of redwood. I procured a nice redwood slab from a local source and the desk came out great. I finished the desk with a couple coats of Osmo.

A few months later, the client has noticed how soft the front edge of the desk is, and the slightest dent or scratch leads to a lasting mark. Does anybody have any ideas how I can better seal the edge? Im not really setup to spray a film finish (I have a very basic spray gun and dont feel skilled/confident enough to spray on lacquer or conversion varnish over a surface that large).

Im planning on trimming the front edge slightly so I can create a fresh/clean edge without scratch marks, but I want to ensure that this doesnt happen again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Jim Becker]

I'm not sure it's going to help for retrofitting, but one thing you could consider for "soft" material projects like this is to use something like Z-Poxy to stabilize things prior to moving on to the actual film finish. It will seal and grain fill. It's a "finishing resin" and much thinner than typical resin products. You may be able to use it to fix the issue by sanding the edges of your table bare, applying several coats of the resin, sanding smooth and then recoating the whole thing with your original finish after a few coats on just the edges to create the "envelope".

[Prashun Patel]

I agree that it’s a hard ask. I made a guitar from a redwood slab and it is just a brittle wood. Imho you are best to round over the edges and eliminate any sharp edges.

[Jamie Buxton]

Redwood is very soft. You may also encounter denting if somebody writes with a ball-point pen on a single sheet of paper.

[Jim Becker]

I'll add that I think you need to 'splain to the client that redwood is uber-soft and it's going to be prone to nicks, dings, etc., over its lifetime. In other words, it will have a lot of character from use...

[Mel Fulks]

Stop wearing a tie clasp and cuff links. Cover the shirt buttons with padded cloth....like Santa Claus. Wear a “smoking jacket”.

[Frederick Skelly]

I wish I had a solution to help you. The redwood I've used was pretty soft. Seems like even if you bevel or roundover the edge, it will still be subject to scratches and dings (again) - maybe just fewer of them.

None of my ideas are good ones, so I wont share them. I hope one of our Pro's will chime in with their experience.