[aarggh]

Hi all,

I'm working on a small heirloom chest made out of Vic Ash and Southern Myrtle for my cousin and his wife who are expecting their first baby, and normally I like to finish virtually all my woodwork with numerous hand rubbed and buffed coats of Cabot's Danish Oil, but as this is for storing baby stuff and time is of the essence, I may not have time to finish it the way I like to, and also have a little time for the smell to dissipate.

Can anyone suggest a readily available oil-like finish in OZ (Bunnings, etc) that will allow me to rub in or build up a good and reasonably tough sheen, like Danish Oil does, but will dry faster and without too much odor, maybe even take some good buffing between coats to get the layers silky smooth. I don't want a pure poly-urethane that just sits on the exterior, something that soaks in and allows the character of the timber grain to come through would be great.

I have tried a can of (I think it's Wattyl) Tung Oil and I have to admit I really wasn't impressed with it, it seemed more like a poly-urethane gloss finish than an oil/poly-urethane mixture. Kinda gluggy and sat on the surface more than soaked in, and buffing to build up coats wasn't great in my opinion.

I'd appreciate any good ideas?

cheers, Ian

[ger21]

How about shellac?

[aarggh]

I like shellac, but it's been many years since I've used it (the flake variety, not ready mixed), and there's quite a lot of intricate carving which would make it hard to easily rub in with much effort. Unless do you know of a long wearing brushable shellac that doesn't need a large amount of coaxing with rub downs?

cheers, Ian

[Vestus]

Try Waterlox. It's Tung oil variant with high solid content. I'm not sure about non-US availability though.

[DJNPHOTO]

I like linseed oil for my had rubbed