How to Get a Beautiful Wood Finish Every Time!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.พ. 2025
- The Holy Grail of woodworking finishes is stored in this little jar. The way it impacts wood and highlights the grain is unbelievable! It doesn’t take much of this secret ingredient, but it has a MASSIVE effect on a woodworking project.
To me, the perfect woodworking finish is easy to apply, doesn’t take forever to dry, and doesn’t look like a film is covering the project. Woodworking is about the beauty of the wood and the finish should highlight the figure as much as possible. In this video, I used shellac on walnut and cherry, but I also included a secret ingredient. I added walnut oil. Most woodworking finishes that involve oil call for boiled linseed oil or tung oil. I like the color walnut oil imparts on the wood. It’s completely natural and can be purchased at the grocery store. Walnut oil works great for a shellac finish because it provides character to the wood and it is a drying oil, unlike some other types of oils.
While this is my secret ingredient, some may want to stay away from walnut oil because they are afraid of nut allergies. Peanut and tree nut allergies are not the same thing. I recommend researching scientific studies so you can make the best decision for you, your family, and your workshop.
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•• Tools & Materials ••
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The walnut oil I used in the project: amzn.to/4awzDca
Shellac: amzn.to/4bpugwT
Denatured alcohol: amzn.to/4bIwcQS
Cheesecloth: amzn.to/4azT7wQ
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Great looking finish!
At 81, I can't imagine doing that to a piece of furniture. I'd be in the ground before I got all of the coats on.
Always enjoy the content. JimE
You have become my go-to for finishing. My last project was a small end table, and your process on the boxes turned out amazing!
ohhhhhh my THe divine is looking out for me today!! I have been searching and posting endless trying to find how to preserve the natural look of my soon to be countertop without getting that plastic shiny look. I love the walnut and grain and want that be to highlighed and I could not find out how. SO many oils, finish's etc and then boom saw this one!!!!!!!! SO simple. thank you I am going to find some scrapes to practice on first
Swap out the walnut oil with boiled linseed oil and you have shine juice. Also called friction polish. Used by wood turners, but not with the dust. Apply while spinning the lathe and with the friction of the cloth it dries really fast too. Apply several coats and it comes out nice and smooth.
I've done it plenty of time and it gets beautiful results for sure👍
That's the finish that my grandfather used to for almost everything. He apprenticed as a yacht joiner in the Glasgow shipyards just before World War I.
Our grandfathers considered this mixture “sanding sealer” long before we bought it ready mixed - except they too used boiled linseed oil (much cheaper than walnut oil - and assuming you can even find it).
@@G.I.JeffsWorkbench Yes, my grandfather used linseed oil.
Thanks for the tip with the sand paper now I'm gonna that all the time
Really beautiful finish, Billy! 😃
Thanks a bunch for all the tips!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Great tip thanks for sharing. It looks amazing definitely going to try this
Nice take on french polish. The criticism of shellac is often that it is not protective enough. I have used it on my dining room table and after a year it still looks great. The good thing is that if it does need some refurbishing you just have to sand it lightly with 320 and apply another coat. As far as the work applying the dining room table is 9 feet by 3 feet and it only took about a half an hour for each coat (top, edges, bottom and legs). The great bonus is that this stuff is totally natural and does not harm to the environment. Food products are coated with shellac and the alcohol evaporates without the environmental damage of most finish solvents. I have moved to using hot hide glue and shellac for almost all my shop projects as I try to reduce my carbon footprint.
you use straight up shellac> what kinda cut and which color flakes?
Luthiers (wooden instrument makers) love french polish vs nitricellulose lacquer, as lacquer tends to crack, especially if going from cold to hot or hot to cold. Very cool video.
By the way, I like your technique for French polish. Kind of takes some of the mystery out of it makes it more straightforward.
I am an allergist. Peanuts are not nuts - they are legumes. Patients with Walnut or Pecan allergies may have issues with Walnut Oil, which is made from Walnuts.
I smack my leg with the sandpaper too. You're not alone
0:20 One of the old tricks I learned in wood shop over 30 years ago was to mix the sawdust from your piece with the basic white/yellow wood glue and use that to fill in gaps or defects in the wood surface. Since the sawdust is the same color as the piece it came from when the glue dries clear the filled in portion will be a closer match to the piece and be less noticeable than the black glue.
I just use organic flax seed oil.
Makes a really 'soft' finish, wax & buff, the perfect finish because it can be refreshed (renewed?) as needed.
Great video. 🎉
I'm sure you've tried tung oil (my go to). What do you like about Walnut over (pure) Tung? or Linseed fot that matter?
Hi Good Polishing Tip Great VIDEO
I’m finishing the a dining room table right now. Shellac alone probably isn’t a good idea because of possible spills. I think I’ll have to do a polyurethane topcoat. But I like the idea of the shellac and sawdust slurry for making a very smooth surface to start with.
Hi there to a fellow clutz. I do stuff like this all the time. I told my kids that I feel like I am living in a Jerry Lewis movie.
Nice
What you are promoting here is the tried-and-true French Polish. Use a soft cotton cloth instead of a paper towel for better results. I use mineral oil or boiled linseed oil instead of the walnut oil. Takes a little more time and effort but can't beat the results for shine and smoothness.
🌲🍀🐾yeah, I liked the hesitation moment right after you dropped the cherry board, before you looked up at the camera 🤣 I know this moment too well😎. Nice finish. Not too shiny. But if it were, you could just go over it lightly with an S.O.S. pad, to make it a more satin like look😉🐾🍀🌲.
you can't get denatured alcohol is there a replacement you could use as an alternative ?
Also, each time you apply, the alcohol dissolves some of the previous application, shellac does layer one in another, it becomes part of the previous layer
Are you sitting r do you have a tall work surface?
For the last forty years I have used French Polish. I prefer Raw Linseed oil as my lubricant. Try it and you’ll see why!
Would this work on rattan? Looking for a good finish for a bar stool.
Wouldnt the paper towel leave fibers in the finish?
I actually laughed out loud when the cups went flying. So me... beautiful finish on the wood.
French Polish
Is there a reason that you like walnut oil over something like tung oil? I find that walnut oil is kind of soft when it hardens.
I really like tung oil and teak oil. They're fantastic. It seems like walnut oil doesn't make the wood as dark on some projects. I like to test finishes on off cuts beforehand.
What is the total cure time of walnut oil? Seems like a lot of work for the “perfect” finish.
Shellac alone is perfect for certain surfaces.
Walnut oil? The same I have in my Kitchen Cabnet for food use?
@@kevinthomas8667 no, not the same.. treated in some way to prevent it from going rancid
I do this with poly, Danish oil and thinner.
Fortune teller...foresees the future!
Plus, people with peanut or other nut allergies are only allergic if taken internally. Typical expose is rare, and even then, not usually more than a mild skin irritation. However, of course, we're on the side of what you think is necessary to protect yourself.
This is what is called a French polish except the paper towel was a lint free cloth
Nice Frank Zappa reference......
You are doing a form of french polishing. It works even better with extra fine pumice powder to fill the pores
I’m almost 76, I never knew anyone when I was growing up that had peanut allergies! That was almost a given if you ate the school lunch you were going to get some peanut butter, what’s up with that, also gluten allergies! What do you do about knots bleeding through?
It has to do with how peanuts are processed and the mold that grows on them. Take aflatoxin B2 for example, one of the 24 different molds commonly found on peanuts. After toxin B2 is more toxic than nerve gas
You should check out the English Polisher
Peanut allergies so can’t use walnut oil. Lactose intolerant so can’t use cheese cloth. 😂
:-)
You said you could “almost guarantee” your mystery liquid wasn’t urine. Walnut oil definitely looks like urine. My wife is a beginning wood turner, not super versed in finishes yet. She took somebody’s advice to put walnut oil on a spalted maple piece. The color pretty much ruined the look of it and she was pissed! So, for her walnut oil IS urine.
How did it ruin it? Too dark
@ too dark and too yellow.
@@iandodd7828 so something like untinted danish oil wouldnhave qorked better? I am far from an expert but most oils seems to have an amber tint.
@ yes, untinted Danish, or even boiled linseed oil, would have given her the look she would have liked.
Its really tough to beat the look of a French polish but too much work for me.
Same technique or similar method to French Polish
I missed the secret ingredient reveal. If it turned out to be urine, I'm going to be pissed.
😂
Walnuts are not nuts. They are the seed of a stone fruit. Similar to peaches and avocados.
Incorrect, walnuts are nuts.
In botany, nuts are a type of dry fruit with a single seed, a hard shell, and a protective husk. Walnuts meet this definition.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
My wife has a nut allergy, no walnuts, macadamia or Brazil nuts.
Peanuts are legumes and almonds being from the peach family are fine for her .
No mayonnaise?
As soon as you broke out the cheese cloth, I thought French polish. Too predictable lol.
Bill