how do we finish white oak rift cut cabinets and preserve the nat

13 years ago

Hi--

Our cabinets are in, and they use a vertical grain white oak rift-cut veneer. We love the natural color which has a bit of gray in it, but most of the sample finishes we've checked out (even clear water-based acrylic) end up yellowing the finish a bit.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to preserve the natural color of the white oak? We just tried rubio monocoat (natural and 5% white) which has potential but I was hoping for a bit more sheen, and am a bit cautious about being the guinea pig on this product (our cabinet finisher hasn't used it before).

Here's a quick pic to show the color:

The floors are also oak and will be stained a bit darker. Counter is "River" by fuez and backsplash tile will be a large format (6" x 20") gray porcelain that matches the counter background color.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

mlez

10 years ago

How did this project end up? What did you use in the end and are you happy with the results? I'm looking for something now to tell my cabinet guy to use on our rift sawn white oak and I also don't want it to end up yellow.

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Comments (6)

ci_lantro
13 years ago
Try General Finishes High Performance Topcoat.

I'm experimenting with it on red oak. It very much preserves the natural color of the wood. So much so that I'm wondering how to enhance the grain just a wee bit before I topcoat w/ it. No yellowing (on red oak) whatsoever.

General Finishes contact phone # 800-783-8050. They're located in Wisconsin so Central Time Zone. I've called them before & will give them another call for suggestions on slightly enhancing the grain of red oak.

It's available in satin, semi-gloss and gloss. McFeeley's has the best price that I've found.

McFeeley's

Oh, the stuff is super easy to apply. (I'm using a foam brush but it's sposed to spray nicely, too.) The only complaints that I've read about it is that it maybe dries too fast. I ordered some extender but haven't tried it yet since I'm only doing small pieces so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: General Finishes High Performance Topcoat
chaparral
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion. How many coats do you think will be needed?
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ci_lantro
13 years ago
I think they suggest three coats so that's what I used. Two coats didn't look like enough so I added the third coat. Just so you know, I've used it only on the face frame of one cabinet so far but I did like the way the finish applies. (It sands really easily and doesn't load up the sandpaper.) I'm still vacillating on whether or not to enhance the wood & need to research how I can control it.
chaparral
Original Author
13 years ago
We just tried a sample of the clear poly topcoat in satin and I'm encouraged--it seems to be truer to the wood color than the other acrylic finish we looked at. The folks at General Finishes recommended 1 or 2 layers of gloss finished with a satin. I'll probably go get some gloss and try that on a sample as well.
susanrhill34
3 years ago
@miez

what did you end up doing? same quandry here