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I have some old greyed barn wood that I'm turning into shelves. I'd like to put some sort of protective finish on them. I tried danish oil on a test board, but that left the wood much darker.
Any sort of finish (wax? shellac? poly?) that wouldn't discolor the wood?
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(12-18-2017, 11:21 AM)camp10 Wrote: I have some old greyed barn wood that I'm turning into shelves. I'd like to put some sort of protective finish on them. I tried danish oil on a test board, but that left the wood much darker.
Any sort of finish (wax? shellac? poly?) that wouldn't discolor the wood?
You could try a water-based varnish - be sure you do it on a test piece, as I have not tried it on naturally weathered wood.
I have applied both water-based and oil-based varnishes on wood that I have artificially weathered. The oil-based varnishes always darken the wood. The water-based finish that I used was a General Finishes varnish, glossy (although after one coat it did not look glossy). It did not darken the wood at all.
True power makes no noise - Albert Schweitzer. It's obvious he was referring to hand tools
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Matte or flat WB acrylic or poly/acrylic blends like GF's HP Poly won't change the color.
John
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(12-18-2017, 11:21 AM)camp10 Wrote: I have some old greyed barn wood that I'm turning into shelves. I'd like to put some sort of protective finish on them. I tried danish oil on a test board, but that left the wood much darker.
Any sort of finish (wax? shellac? poly?) that wouldn't discolor the wood?
How about some untinted base paint? I use it on outdoor projects regularly and while there may be a slight yellowing (in white oak), I've not found it noticeable in a way that detracts at all. No reason it couldn't work similarly in your application.