Birch plywood

[Chippygeoff]

Apart from various hardwoods I also use a top quality birch plywood in various thicknesses, from 4mm to 18mm. I have only recently been using this for my scroll saw work and have been trying out a couple of finishes on pieces of scrap. I don't want to apply any finish to completed items at the moment until I get a decent finish as the things I make i sell at craft fairs so the items have to be presentable. we are only talking about small items like animals, puzzles, nothing much bigger than 8 x 6 on the flat stuff and some of the animals and puzzles are only 5 x 3. I have tried staining with a light teak stain and wax polishing afterwards and to be honest looks awful. Painting them by hand is out of the question as it would be to time consuming. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[AndyT]

How about spray paint?
A sculptor/model maker friend of mine used to get nice results on small pieces by using two spray cans at once - red and green - which mixed on the workpiece to give a nice range of browns, with some interesting variation in it. He just used ordinary aerosol paint from a car spares place.

 

[woodpig]

Try a darker stain followed by sanding sealer.

 

[yetloh]

Birch ply is a very nice material in its own right if it is good quality, so why try to make it look like something else. I would just give it 3 coats of blonde shellac and allow it to speak for itself.

Jim

 

[Chippygeoff]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I must admit that the birch ply does look nice on its own and as Jim suggested I have applied a few coats of shellac and it looks okay. On a couple of items I make I like the idea of the two colour car spray and will give this a go at the weekend using a lazy susan. Thanks again.

Geoff