Tool Box - Walnut and Rippled Sycamore-What finish?

[syntec4]

Hi all,
I am am building myself a tool Box from American Black Walnut and Rippled sycamore. It will be carried in the back of my car/van and spend some time on the end of the bench. Which finish should I look for that will highlight the nice grain in the timber but also be gloss and durable. I have access to spraying equipment if required but would prefer to brush if possible, mainly because of the mess. I don't want to colour the timber too much if possible but I realise it will be difficult not to yellow the Sycamore.

Cheers
Lee.

 

[PowerTool]

How about acrylic lacquer ? Gloss finish,clear,reasonably hard-wearing,and brushable.

Andrew

 

[syntec4]

Cheers Andrew, Could you suggest a supplier/Manufacturer

lee.

 

[PowerTool]

Well there's always these people
Axminster stock it,if you want to mail order.

Andrew

 

[syntec4]

Cheers Andrew, Just the job
lee.

 

[Philly]

Lee
I would recommend Chestnuts finishing oil! It is a tough product, easy to apply and builds to a gloss finish in 3 or 4 coats if you desire. It is also easy to touch up if your case gets scratched, dented, etc.
It does yellow sycamore a little but is worth it!
Cheers
Philly

 

[syntec4]

cheers Philly,
I think I now have an excuse to get some 'supplies' in. I'll get one of each and do some samples

Thanks
Lee.

 

[Chris Knight]

Lee,
I'd recommend a waterborne acrylic laquer. You can brush these but they benefit from a denibbing between coats and I always finish my finish (when brushing an acrylic) with successively finer grades of paper up to 1000 or 4000 grit, depending how glossy I want it. I usually use a scraper as the first step as it makes it easy to achieve a nice flat surface that is more easily sanded thereafter.

I find all finishing oils will impart a yellowish tinge to sycamore.

Be careful if using sandpaper on the bare wood that you don't sand from walnut to sycamore as it's possible to get dark walnut dust in the pores of the sycamore.

 

[syntec4]

Thanks for the tip Chris,
I don't like sanding much anyway. I though I might finish initialy with plane/scraper. Then sanding sealer, then start the sanding in between coats. This would hopefully avoid the walnut getting into the end grain and also provide a sturdy finish. Do you this this is the right way to go? Andrew suggested Chestnut products, which I believe also have a suitable sanding sealer for their water based products.


Cheers
Lee.

 

[Chris Knight]

Lee,
Sealers are a sometimes a bit misunderstood. They certainly can be used to seal and sanding sealers help with sanding - thanks to added stearate that helps keep the paper unclogged. However, any finish will seal a surface and normally doesn't really require a separate product to do it.

I just apply waterborne lacquer to the bare wood and the first coat is normally sucked in pretty quickly - at this point having accomplished what a separate sealer would have achieved - successive coats will need less finish to achieve the same areal coverage because the pores of the wood now accept less finish. At some point , depending on the wood (and walnut is rather open grained) the pores will be full with cured finish and a perfectly level surface is available if one wants to take it that far.

Your plan to plane/scrape is fine but as I have indicated, I do not think a separate seal coat is needed. Wait until you have a couple of coats on before you rely on the integrity of the surface to resist sanding dust getting into the wood.

 

[woodbloke]

I also would go for a water based acrylic varnish, brush applied with the very fine lacquer brushes from Axminster. I use the matt varnish and the only place it can obtain it locally is Homebase, all the other sheds do a satin or gloss which I don't like - Rob