Question for you wood workers out there?

[dummkauf]

When I was building my beer cases I got some good advice on wood finishes and am looking for some advice on this non-beer related project, or point me to a recommended wood working forum would work too

Since I was house sitting/dog sitting the soon to be in-laws house/dogs for the last week, and I am allergic to dogs, but only in large doses(my 2 don't bother me), and I had a pack of 6 large pooches to watch, I decided to make some good use of my fiance's father's garage to keep me out of the house as much as possible, which is also packed full of tools, most of which are geared towards wood working. I decided to build a cribbage board, which I figured I would get done in a few days(LOL), anyway, I am finishing up the wood inlays for the tracks now(reason this didn't get done in 2 days as planned) and am starting to look at finishes for the wood once I am done. The base of the board is cherry wood, I glued some maple around it to frame the wood, and the inlays for the tracks are walnut and maple. I have heard that cherry isn't great for staining and I am not sure I want to stain anyway, I'd kind of like to rub it with tung oil and then maybe finish with poly to protect it. I'm looking for suggestions on finishes for this and any input would be greatly appreciated.

Would just rubbing it down with some mineral oil and shellacing it be a good idea? or are there better alternatives for finishing it and keeping a natural look.

Here are a couple pics I snapped with my phone....had to send some pics to the fiance's father while he was out of town once he found out what I was up to Hence the cell phone pics.

Cutting out for the first inlay.

First inlays fit in, but not glued yet. They are sticking up on purpose, I will be planing them down level once they have all been glued in.

I will also be routing the edges of the board with some sort of curved router bit at some point too, haven't decided how exactly I am going to finish the edge yet either. I also have a solid cherry wood base that will be getting glued to the bottom of this board as well to give it some more depth so that I can cut out a compartment for sticking a deck of cards and the pegs.

 

[HairyDogBrewing]

Research 'french polish' or 'padding shellac', that's my favorite.
It would be easier to get a can of clear laquer from Home Depot.
Tung oil or Danish oil would work, too.

 

[Homercidal]

Research 'french polish' or 'padding shellac', that's my favorite.
It would be easier to get a can of clear laquer from Home Depot.
Tung oil or Danish oil would work, too.

+1 A nice French Polish would look good. But for this type of thing, almost any type of finish will do the job of sealing the wood. Oil would help to protect while leaving the texture if you like the feel of natural wood, as opposed to a smooth finish like Lacquer, or Poly.

Some finishes can make the grain of the wood "pop". Cherry, Maple and Walnut are often blessed with grain that catches the eye, depending on how it's cut.

 

[Hang Glider]

Love the look of 20 coats of rubbed in Tung Oil. As good as varnish when all done - hard and water resistant

 

[dummkauf]

Love the look of 20 coats of rubbed in Tung Oil. As good as varnish when all done - hard and water resistant

??? I thought the thing with the Tung oil was that it looked great but didn't really seal the wood? Or are you referring to the tung oil mixes, and not pure tung oil?

After doing some more research, I was thinking of using pure tung oil and then doing a french polish over it to seal it all up and hopefully prevent me from having to keep re-oiling the piece in the future.

 

[Hang Glider]

oops - I stand corrected.

Danish Oil....that's what I was thinking of...and of course, more like 4 coats...

here's a link to the process - http://woodworking.com/ww/Article/Super_Smooth_Oil_Finish_7507.aspx

 

[zadig39]

French polished or burnished is my fav on cherry. Labor intenseive but well worth it.

 

[dummkauf]

This project is coming along nicely. Now all I have to do is carve out the space on the bottom of the board that will hold a deck of cards and the pegs, and make a wood piece to cover the hole and then it's time to start finishing. I've decided I am going to put a few coats of tung oil on and then try a french polish over that(giving the oil a month to cure before even attempting the french polish).

The question I have is what do I do about the little corners and curved parts with the french polish. I know what I am doing with the pad and shellac for the flat parts, but how do I polish the curved sections on the edge where I routed it out?

Here it is: