I made a mahogany counter top for a wet bar that turned out really well, glued up 6/4 planks about 13″ wide each to get the full width of about 25″. Now we are talking about doing mahogany in the kitchen. My question is, are we nuts? The bar counter really doesn’t get much use, the kitchen will get a lot of use. We are OK with getting dings and scratches, I want to be sure that the finish is right… used waterlox on the bar and it looks beautiful, will that hold up to the daily used-kitchen countertop, or should I be going for some epoxy or other more exotic finish? spar varnish? (I read that spar varnish stays a bit too soft..)
Any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks,
Hunter
Replies
Acrylic urethane, and be sure to use protective gear.
It is not your everyday DIY brush-on. It's a three part mix, consisting of a base, catalyst, and reducer. Spray it on.
On the second tier of performance are the moisture-curing urethanes. They are one part, and can be brushed.
Hunter,
My experience with Waterlox suggests that it will hold up pretty well. You have to use the thin original stuff until the wood's porosity is fully satisfied.
I haven't used the high tech finishes Gene recommended, so cannot compare them to the Waterlox.
Bill
Personally I would just oil the wood and enjoy the beauty of it.....wrap it up in a heavy finish it will lose it's character and look like formica...might as well save the money....
waiting on the revolution..............
I used Waterlox on a mohagany tub surrond that sees regular water. Only hard thing was that I think it took about 13 - 14 coats to satisfy the wood.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
A tub surround gets water, feet, wipedowns, and little else. A kitchen counter gets far more of the "else," but not much in the way of feet.
A counter in a kitchen is a lot like a bar top, and needs to be more resistant to abrasion than what Waterlox can offer.
I'm thinking that like BB counertopsa, it depenmds how much work an owner is willing to do refreshing the finish. Waterlox is an easy one to keep touching up.I'll agree that the lady's bare butt sliding across a layer of bubbles from the bubble bath probably isn't as abrasive as kitchen utensiles would be
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
can I put waterloc on the back of my bead board.
.
I talk politics because I hate to drink alone
That would be one of the most expensive ways to seal it, especiallly from a standpoint of time. bUt if you got it free it wouldn't hurt to use it up.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I would oil it.. it is a little more upkeep, but worth it.
Using any of the urethanes is wraping the wood in plastic, kinda like plastic slipcovers on the sofa.
exactly!Might as well have mahogany by Formica!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I have wide plank 8/4 teak in my kitchen, four planks each 7-8" wide. Maybe 18' total length, with an undermount sink.
I also have a 5" thick 4' square teak end-grain butcher block top that I do a lot of prep work on. It takes knife edges daily and shows virtually no wear, even after several years of use.
Because this is in a kitchen and because we cook and don't do take out, I knew the countertops would get dinged up here and there. Because of that, I didn't want a film finish, so I used food-safe mineral oil.
I didn't want to deal with repairs to a film finish, and plus, the teak is pretty durable. So mineral oil it is, it gets renewed once every several months. I clear the countertops at night, wipe it on, wipe it off in the morning, and reset things on the countertop.
With the use and abuse that my kitchen countertops get, I think a film finish would look fairly ratty after all these years. The mineral oil looks great.
In my master bath, where the countertops are not subject to abuse as in the kitchen, I also did teak. A couple of teak countertops and a teak tub deck. There I did use a film finish, a spar urethane. That also looks as good as day one.
So in my case I went "backwards". The more abused countertops in my house got the less protective surface treatment. But I had my reasons.
Mongo
Mongo