Even when I’ve applied a certain finish 100 times, I still make a sample board. There are just too many variables.
The wood might have some interesting chemicals and colors in it. A finish manufacturer might have changed its formula (looking at you Lily/Valspar). Or you are dealing with shellac, which can be old or have some unexpected hues.
Yesterday I made a sample board using teak that was left over from building the chest. I planed it using the same tools I used on the chest – then lightly scuffed it with #220-grit sandpaper. Then I applied one coat of Liberon Bison Wax, the Tudor Brown color. I call this wax: Creepy Janitor.
I love this wax on open-grained woods. The wax gets into the pores and adds brown tones to the garnet shellac. It is easy to apply and buffs to a low lustre that never looks like someone fingered your project after eating a large basket of greasy Freedom Fries.
But the smell – until it dissipates – gives me the creeps.
It’s a very odd perfumy smell that is mixed with cleaning fluids. I have some more descriptive words for it that involve armpits, a greasy rubbing compound for sore joints and glass kittens, but I know it would get me in trouble with the readers.
The sample board looked great, so this morning I removed all the hardware from the chest. (This takes more than an hour. It’s like undressing a Victorian woman.) I applied the two coats of garnet shellac, sanding between the coats with a #320-grit sanding sponge.
Now I’m just waiting for the shellac to harden up a bit more before I apply the wax. And I’m going to first make dinner so I don’t have that brown goo in my nostrils when chewing.
Really, I love the wax. It’s worth the smell.
— Christopher Schwarz
I always worry the fumes will cause Dain Bramage. 😉
How does it wear? Considerable color is added, not just the pores, so I wonder if it tends to show wear, and if so do you touch it up with the same wax or call it patina?
I don’t find that it wears like a regular wax finish. I’ve had it on some mahogany try squares for a long time. I think they look better the more they are handled.
And how do you know so much about undressing a Victorian woman, I wonder? Wayward reading in your past, perhaps?
Come to my house dressed as a Victorian woman and I’ll prove I do.
Wait. Scratch that.
And I was just getting ready to sign up for the show.
How does it compare to Briwax?
They are similar in smell and function.
It looks nice–but so does the uncolored teak. I wonder why you decided to change the color?
The wax fills in the pores. I think it looks a lot better than a simple shellac finish. But I like old furniture that has some patina.