Hi,
I'm brand-new to the forum. I am about to refinish my kitchen table and I will use a stain. What do you recommend as the best waterproof clear surface over the stain? My daughter has an autoimmune disease so I do lots of cleaning. I want the surface to stand up to regular cleaning and also the regular spills and condensation from glasses. I wasn't sure whether to use Polyurethane, Waterlox, Shellac, etc. Any thoughts would be much appreciated! I'm not super concerned about the plasticy look of Polyurethane. I just want to make sure its waterproof. Thanks!
Forums
KarinP
Fri, 05/30/2014 - 07:25
?
any thoughts?
JeremyFox
Wed, 06/11/2014 - 07:39
Finishes
Hi,
I wouldn't use shellac for a variety of reasons - 2 reasons are that it's not great at resisting heat or water.
Waterlox - it depends which one of their products you mean. I've not used their stuff but looks like a traditional oil varnish, which can take a long time to dry (3 or 4 weeks to fully harden). It gives a beautiful and hardwearing finish when properly applied though (4 or 5 coats would do).
Polyurethane (or polyurethane varnish) is great for low maintenance applications but can have adhesion problems - it depends on what type of stain you used. Good at heat and scratch resistance but might appear cloudy.
I used wax finish acrylic lacquer for a pair of oak bookcases recently. They had twin 5 year old boys climbing on them and didn't get a scratch. Not sure if you're US based or not but here's the link for their US shop (I've no affiliation with Polyvine, I just use their stuff) http://us.polyvine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100…
Hope that helps.
Jeremy