Red Wood Finish

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titan2

titan2

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Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
1,022
Location
North Highlands, Ca, USA.
Remember clocks and such made of redwood you see in gift shops......the shinny, high gloss looking ones?

I'm making my daughter a desk set from what's left of a horse trophy that went through a house fire a number of years ago. I'm using redwood......took awhile, but I found the perfect piece for the base.......this will be a one-off with no chance for do-overs! She has a horse farm (raising mini-horses) and I'll be re-doing the horse from the burned up trophy on the set. I want to get the best look from the redwood and would like to know the best approach to sanding it and the finish for it to get it to a high gloss.

I'll be making a redwood pen & pencil set for her with holders on the base.....maybe a letter opener also. Possibly a holder for business cards also. Her horse from the trophy will be prominately on it as well and her farm's name (don't know how I'll do the name yet.....brase plate or laser etching).

So, looking for some suggestions as to the best approach to this project.

TIA for any and all inputs........
 
redfishsc

redfishsc

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Joined
Feb 11, 2006
Messages
2,545
Location
North Charleston , SC
Spray it with lacquer (gloss).

You can buy aerosol cans of the stuff at Lowe's, and if you are lucky you might be able to find Mohawk Precatalyzed "precat" lacquer which is more durable and every bit as easy to use and pretty.

You'll need two cans: sanding sealer and gloss (you can skip the sanding sealer if you get precat even though the can says to use sealer, the precat hardens plenty to act as self-sealing).


Spray on LIGHT but wet coats, sanding with 320 sandpaper in between. You should be able to get a beautiful finish in 3-4 coats, more is fine but don't pile up 15 coats or it may get brittle.

The trick is in the sanding: let it fully cure for an hour or two and then gently but thoroughly sand it smooth, blow off the dust, and spray again. You could very easily get this done in the course of a day while making pens while it's curing between coats:biggrin:.
 
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