I am making a table top for my board gaming table out of 2 leaves (~3ftx2.5ft) They are made mostly of cherry and a little bit of purple heart. The problem is 2 fold, I want the finish to be durable and I live in an apartment.
I’m looking for some suggestions on what finished I should look into that would be a good durable surface for a table top. I used a hard wax to finish the other parts of the table, but I am a bit worried its not as durable as I’d like for this part of the project.
The second part is that these parts are by far the largest I have had to finish, and now I live with a SO, so I cant just take over the space. I potentially could bum a garage from my SO’s parents, but I was wondering if it would be worth it to look into professional finishing to get the perfect surface without worrying about space. The professionals would have the equipment required for some of the more commercial finishes. I’m hoping that since the parts are pre sanded, they would be easy for someone to finish with the right tools. Any advice on the pros and cons of DIY vs. professionals for finishing? Any recommended places in Austin?
Am easy, Non-Toxic finish would be something like walrus oils, furniture, oil. You can put it on pretty much anywhere, smells pretty decent. The only thing is over time it will wear off, especially with you so we’re cleaning and you would have to reapply. It goes on easy dries fairly fast. This option could fit your time and space problem, but it doesn’t really help your durability problem in my opinion.
If you are in a position where you could leave it set up dust 2 days, I recommend general finishes arm-r-seal. Pricier than the stuff you might find at Home Depot, but it is not nearly as thick. It’s an easy off the shelf solution. It is polyurethane, and you can have a long lasting and durable finish with three coats. Their first one usually soaks into the wood fairly quickly, once it’s dried to the touch and not tacky, which might take 20 to 40 minutes, you put the second coat on. Let this one dry for a few hours, and then do the final coat. You would do this for both sides, so I would recommend starting with the bottom first on one day. Start early. Early. Let it dry overnight and then the next morning flip it over and do the other side.
This stuff can be sprayed, or wiped fairly easily with a clean cloth. If you feel like any residual dust has settled and it’s not as smooth as you like, get some 600 grit sandpaper and lightly sand out those spots while sanding along the grain. You would do this before your last coat.
For my own projects, I usually start with a base layer of some thinned out shellac. This helps put some sealer on the project and kind of helps to pre-even things out before my real finish goes on. Shellac is also significantly cheaper.
I hope this information is helpful either in practice or guiding you to what you want to do.
@CSpicer Cam, when we last talked about whether to go with Osmo or Armor Seal, I neglected to mention that if you opt to go with Osmo or a different brand of hard wax oil, you can significantly increase the durability by applying a ceramic coating over it. There are several brands, however I have not personally used one so I cannot offer an opinion on which brand.
It was fun discussing this with you this morning. The price is very front end heavy, and again, I have no personal experience with it. However, the few people I know who have used it swear by it.
For me, I’d rather let a hard wax finish go and touch it up as needed since it’s so easy. It was a commission? That would be a much harder decision.
