Don Stephan
Posts: 825
Joined: 2003-07-18
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
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This should start the darts and arrows my way . . .
In general, I'm wondering if we should emphasize less how hard a finish is, and emphasize more that ANY finish can be damaged if mistreated. My concern is that some people may assume that "this is an extremely hard finish" means it's okay to plop down a casserole dish straight from the oven, leave spills on the finish for hours/overnight, play rama-lama-ding-dong on the table with beer mugs, and so on.
Moldern finishes, I'm told, are harder to strip than older finishes, which means they are more expensive to strip. So when (not if) a mistreated finish is damaged, the table is more likely to be thrown away because of the cost to strip and refinish.
My experiements have found that three coats of equal thirds mineral spirits, boiled linseed oil, and P&L 38 varnish (danish oil or oil-varnish blend) didn't mark after a wet coffee mug was left on the surface for more than 30 minutes. It can't chip, because it's too thin to chip. The surface still feels like wood, rather than a film finish. And in 10 years clean well, lightly sand with 400, wipe on another coat and the finish is like new.
A really decorative tabletop? A woodworking store owner here in Cincinnati has said many times when he built his cherry dining table 25 years ago after a thin coat of blo he topped with french polished dewaxed shellac, and hasn't had to touch the finish yet. I'm sure guests get a 5 minute presentation on how to respect fine furniture, but it's still impressive. And like danish oil a shellac finish certainly is easy to touch up or renew when the need arises.
Just another way of looking at the topic.
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