Finish Decisions

[Toys4Boys]

Going into this I was more focused on the Eros and learning what I could absorb about it, hit the saturation point recently so I started putting thought into finish options, Oye Vey!

After a lot of googling and researching, gonna be a few weeks before my Eros 2 arrives, I am thinking of red dye, Mahogany stain followed by Danish Oil. I'm not even certain that this is a viable solution, but if it is I would think dye first then stain? Any further insights from the more seasoned finishers out there would be appreciated.

A shout out to hmbscott for the link to Lincoln St. Woodworks, love the straight forward, simple but thorough presentation, kinda like Doc.

[Natural Sound]

I prefer a natural wood color over stains. Typically I'll just do a light sanding and then apply "Tried And True" wood finish such as the varnish oil. They make stain and finish products as well.

https://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com/

[Toys4Boys]

I agree that the Alder with an oil finish is very nice, just doesn't work in my environment.

[oguinn]

I had walnut bases custom made by the same woodworker who supplies the alder bases to Bottlehead. I agree with Natural Sound - I prefer a clear finish over a stain, and my attempts at staining alder have turned out ok but not nearly as nice as if I had just gotten the wood I wanted in the first place.

Depending on your budget, you could see about getting mahogany bases made and then finishing them similar to how Paul described. The great thing about bases is that you can upgrade them later with zero surgery.

[oztayls]

For top coats over stains or just bare wood, I’ve had great success on my timber turntable plinth projects with Krylon or Dulux Matt Clear Coat products. These are the clear UV resistant types used for clear coating various projects including dried flower arrangements etc. They dry super fast so that you can lay down 4 or 5 coats per hour.

After fine sanding, I usually lay down about 8-10 coats in about 2 hrs, then denib with some 1200 wet/dry paper before a final coat. It produces a tough and lustrous, silky looking professional finish. The technique is to lay down the coats “wet on wet”. It’s a technique used for finishing boat building projects where the following coats go on when the last coat has “tacked up”. Pay no attention to the recoating times on the can. You hit the next coat when I the previous coat is still slightly tacky. This creates a strong bond between coats and the solvent is still able to evaporate through subsequent coats.