Steamed beech

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jlawford

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Any recommendations for finishing a steamed beech shelving unit?

Don't want to change the tone of the wood particularly, just protect from moisture and the odd knock. Storing cups and glasses on one shelf, dry food goods in packets and tubs on the other.
 
Suggest you try it on a sample piece of scrap to see if it's a finish you like but personally I would go for a Hard Wax Oil, This is one version.

Easy to retouch after a few years if showing signs of wear and knocks.
 
I'm not a fan of many of the modern blended finishes with any number of unlisted components (sometimes as many as a dozen). They can obviously do the job of making the wood look nice, but if I'm finishing my own project I want to know what I'm putting on the wood, not be guessing at ingredients and how they might fare over time.

If you can stomach the smell and don't mind the drying time you could wipe on a couple of layers of diluted varnish, wiping away some or all of the excess. This is the simplest and easiest route to excellent water resistance and improved resistance to knocks and scrapes. Wiping on poly won't change the colour much, just give it that finished wood look, and the more you dilute it the less it will change the colour.

You could just oil it, that provides more than adequate protection for many pieces (particularly in hardwoods) and can be easily touched up or refreshed in years to come if need be. But most oils you'd use will darken the wood quite a bit.
 
I'd probably go for boiled linseed or maybe danish oil then wax, i guess beeswax paste might be better as its supposed to be a bit more grippy.
 
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