What would be the best finish for spalted beech
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Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Finishing / What would be the best finish for spalted beech
Tagged: Finish, Splayed beech
Hi all,
I’m making a clock out of some highly figured and spalted beech.
I was just wondering what the best finish would be for this piece as I want to obviously keep the spalting and figure viable and if possible enhance it.
The clock will be a present so the finish should also be highly durable.
Thanks
Not sure why it has to be “highly durable”. If it is a clock that sits someplace, on wall or shelf, that only gets handled once in a while, it doesn’t need to have a finish that will guard against wear and tear like a table top. There I would probably use a polyurethane.
Shellac should be fine for this project. It offers good protection but will keep and bring out the figure.
There is a tendency to over think this. I always start my thought process on finishing with shellac and then go up the “durability” scale only as needed. But shellac can be used in most of my projects.
Hi Brett,
Thanks for your reply.
By durable I meant that the finish wouldn’t need topping up.
For example I’ve read that boiled linseed oil finishes needs to be touched up as it yellows over time, which was/is one of the finishes I was thinking of using, hence my question.
Thanks Brianj,
I’ll see what my local supplier has in terms of this combination.