best finish for coffee table?

[lcm1947]

Well I am finally going to start on my very first piece of furniture. A coffee table. It's going to be built out of oak and oak veneer plywood. I am thinking about using wipe-on poly since I think I could actually apply it better meaning no brush marks. Any opinions as to whether this would be proper for a coffee table? I'm thinking water would be the biggest enemy so I figure the poly would be the best thing. What do you guys recommend? It's going to be a gift ( if I don't screw it up ) to my daughter so really want it to look really really good and pretty. You know something she'd be maybe proud of. All suggestions welcome. Thanks!

[gerti]

I am not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt. I think wipe-on poly is a good choice. However oak has some large pores, so I think a wash coat or two of shellac to seal the pores would be advisable before applying the poly.

[jackellis]

It's going to be a gift ( if I don't screw it up ) to my daughter so really want it to look really really good and pretty.

My wife is a perfectionist in just about everything she does but she's been very complimentary of the things I've built, no matter how badly I think I've screwed them up. I think your daughter will be thrilled to death with anything you make simply because you made it, even if it isn't as perfect as you'd want it to be.

We tend to be our own worst critics, don't we?

[zootroy]

I think that wipe on poly is a good choice for a table top for protection. I would consider using a pore filler if you want a smooth top. If you don't use a pore filler, I would stay away from a high gloss poly.

Test different finishes on scap pieces until you find something you like.

[kwgeorge]

This is one of those “well it depends” kinds of questions. I prefer oil finishes on most of my stuff but with a table such as this you may want to consider the intended use. If it gets a lot of things set on top of it then you are probably going to want a pretty tough finish. I think it was in this months Fine Woodworking magazine that they did a comparison on finishes and one of the categories was hardness so you may want to have a look at that.

Ken

[lcm1947]

Thanks for the replies. What is a wash coat? Never heard that term before.

[bmyers]

I am not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt. I think wipe-on poly is a good choice. However oak has some large pores, so I think a wash coat or two of shellac to seal the pores would be advisable before applying the poly.

Red oak. This is exactly what I did with a garnet shellac from chips. The shellac fell into the pores a little more than the grain but I like it. You want a finish that is easy to fix I think.


Bill

[drumpriest]

He's just saying that you may choose to fill the grain of the oak before top coating. You can use a variety of products to do that.

The absolute best thing for using the coffee table with no coasters is to use the epoxy resin bar top finish. That is a bit extreme of course, so I would recommend using coasters.

If you are not staining the project, I recommend Seal-a-cell and Arm-r-seal. If you are staining, just use wipe on poly.