Finishing a Backgammon Board?

[moore.m]

Hi,

I have a backgammon board which I've made and am just about to the finishing stage. The board itself is made of wenge and zebrawood, made of solid wood with the pattern from the 1982 woodworking magazine. There's also a frame around it made of walnut to hold the pieces, dice, and to fold up into a case.

My question is what's the best way to finish it? I read one thread about doing a multi-step process involving oil, pore-filler and shellac... I believe I've read elsewhere someone suggested spray-on Minwax... does anyone have any experience and ideas on the matter? This is the first real woodworking project I've taken on so it's all new to me.

Thanks.

[professorpaul]

Let the flames begin....

I like to keep things simple. I've had the best general results with things like Formby's tung oil -- gloss or matte. Thin coats, smooth things out with 0000 steel wool, use a tack cloth, etc. Gun stocks, some furniture projects, etc. For stuff like tables, I go for the urethane varnishes myself, especially if they are going to be subject to water, glasses, heat, etc.

I think the only problem I can see is the fact that you have 3 different kinds of wood that might behave slightly differently.

Let us know what you end up doing. For an experiment, to test things, could you work on the back??

[Bonehenge (B A R R Y)]

What look are you wanting to achieve?

There's no wrong answer...

Glass smooth, like a gym floor?

Shiny with a bit of grain texture?

Matte with a bit of texture?

Do you own spray gear, or would you like a hand applied solution.

GREAT for a glass smooth look, with a tick of a French Polish look...

This can also work perfectly, if your desired result isn't a gym floor and you don't mind waiting longer, protecting the wet finish from dust, and possibly rubbing out some dust nibs.

Lots of folks here do!

1.) Set aside as much scrap from the project as you can. 2.) Decide on the final look you'd like. 3.) Post the desired look from #2 here 4.) Practice the suggested solutions on the scrap from #1. 5.) Finish your project confidently and stress free, and show off your fantastic work.

[moore.m]

Thanks for the reply.

I'd say the look I'm going for is shiny, maybe with a bit of grain. I don't think a gym floor-gloss is necessary. Just something that is first and foremost durable to stand up to the dice rolling on it and second to bring out the rich natural color and graining of the wood.

Sadly, I don't have much scrap left, just one piece of the walnut. I did the work at a friend's father's workshop half the country away and left all the rest of the scrap there. So I'm doing all the finishing work by hand; have sanded everything down and now just want to make sure that I do the final step right.

Any other thoughts? I appreciate the help so far.

[moore.m]

Can't even work on the back. The back we ended up covering with a brazilian cherry veneer that my friend had left over from a bookcase he did. And that was placed over the back of the board before the glue- up of the frame and transporting it to NYC which is where we live.

I ordered Flexner's Understanding Wood Finishing and am trying to read up as much as I can online, here and in other places, to get my arms around what it is I really want to do.

[SonomaProducts.com]

I would suggest a wipe-on-poly. Poly is the toughest finish and wipe- on it is pretty much fool proof and you can build it up to the gloss you want but still leave some feel of the wood. Put some oil on the item first to bring out the color.

1. Sand to 320.
2. Saturate with a mixture (1 to1) of Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) and mineral spirits.
3. Wipe down excess after 30 minutes.
4. Let dry at least 24 hrs.
5. Wipe on first coat of ploy. (I suggest buying pre-mixed wipe-on-poy and follow their directions) basically saturate and ring out a smooth rag and wipe it down, careful to just wet the surface with very, very thin coat, almost not a coat but no dry spots. Dry about 8 hours (or as the can says) then steel wool it to smooth out any dust nibs. Coat again. Repeat as many times as you need to get the look you want. The first few coats will hardley even look like you did anything (if you are doing it right) but then it will start to build up. Once it's done let it dry a week and use steel wool and apply a good furniture wax and buff that baby out per the can direction.

Careful with the wax, too much is a pain to deal with.

The biggest thing is to trty this entire process on a scrap, or even a

2x4, just make sure you experience all of the setps and the finish looks like you want it to (you can wax the samp,e after a day rather than waiting a week). Remember, one reason they call it finish is that once you put it on you are finished and you aint gonna get it back off. Not the time to make a mistake.