Oil-based finishes are typically the first type of finish we confront as woodworkers, be it straight oil or a can polyurethane. Although they are all derived from oil, these finishes can vary widely in terms of application method, durability, and maintenance. The key to understanding these finishes is to understand their ingredients. With that foundation in your tool belt, you can start looking at ingredients lists instead of brand names and labels, and you’ll know exactly what to expect from the finish. Since this is a live session, we have a bunch of viewer questions in the video as well.
December 1, 2009
I just wanted to be the first one to post. I’ll watch the video and come back. I sure it will be as good as all the others. Thanks for your work.
An fine overview of the basic oil finishes. I’d only add that in comparing boiled linseed oil to tung oil, the biggest difference between the two is that tung oil is quite a bit more water-resistant than linseed. So it would be a better choice where exposure to moisture is a consideration. However, neither, as you indicated, is a particularly durable or protective finish.
DD
Hey Marc,
Great episode on finishing – I’m generally a water-based finish guy, but do on occasion use oil-based finishes, so this was a great refresher.
I wanted to comment a bit on the new ads at the begining of the episode. I know you’re running a business here, and I guess I’d rather 30s of commercials at the beginning rather than spread throughout, but one of the things I really liked in the past was the lack of commercials in your work (except for the web site of course). Here’s my vote to keep videos commercial free (sponsors are OK).
Cheers,
Dan
Hey Dan. Its actually just a trial experiment. As long as we have strong sponsorship, we shouldn’t need to do things like pre-rolls. But keep in mind that sponsors are not exactly something we are in control of. So I need to have a full understanding of all of our advertising options, including pre-rolls. So don’t worry, its not permanent. But should we ever lose our big sponsors, it may be a viable option for us.
If given the choice between ads and no ads, of course we would all choose no ads. But if given the choice between Wood Whisperer with ads, and no Wood Whisperer at all, I would hope the choice is just as obvious. :)
Yep, it’s just as obvious :)
For what it’s worth Marc, I think you do a great job, and I hope that you can get Rockler and Powermatic and anyone else to pay you tons of money to keep doing it.
Wow! 36 minutes of pure information! Thanks Marc for the very informative video. You definitely removed a lot of gray areas for me, as well as made me aware of things I don’t know about. I hope the pre-roll doesn’t “drive” everyone crazy :)
The live session was excellent – and the little DJ Marks trick which was communicated – FINALLY, I was so frustrated with the Tung Oil deal – turning out to be arm-R – i can now see the world, the grass is greener, the birds – they fly… LOL – all joking aside – good stuff and informative. Death to the misrepresenting marketers!!!
No one mentioned the shirt yet? Maybe I’m just a nerd but Marc, I love the Link shirt. One of my favorites in your wardrobe now.
what do you think of walnut oil from lee valley
I consider it pretty close to BLO and tung oil. I kind of lump them all into the same family of oils that actually do dry. Lots of folks like using walnut oil on food items, as a nice alternative to mineral oil, which never dries.
Thanks for the crash course. I am planning on doing a varnish on my current project, so it was good to have a refresher on the subject.
Marc,
Keep the commercials if it helps you out. With all of the commercial messages we each are bombarded with each day another 30 seconds is not a big deal. Who else do you know that responds to your questions with solid advice for free? The reality is that each email Marc responds to, or activity he undertakes costs him time and time is money. So Marc, if you can make more I say go for it!
Thanks dude. Fortunately we aren’t at the point where we need to pull revenue from every possible source. But its nice to know what our options are.
Marc,
Your the expert when it comes to this!
Marc,
Great video. A lot of info in just 30 min. You stated that you like to stay away from varnishes in drawers. What finish do you use for the inside of drawers?
Thanks again for another good video.
On the inside of drawers, I usually just seal it up with a couple coats of shellac. Its just the inside of a drawer so as long as the drawer is sealed, I am happy. I should also add that if its a drawer on a coffee table or end table, I might just use varnish. But its when the drawer contains clothing, blankets, or maybe even food items, that I will avoid using oil-based products.
I came up out of the garage to do a little research on oil finishes and found your new post. Thanks for being psychic.
Quick question: I picked up some boiled linseed oil on your suggestion for getting that shimmery-iridescent quality under the top coat. If I’m topping with Watco Danish oil, do I need to start with the straight BLO?
Also, it seems that the label on the BLO is really playing up flammability. Is it particularly dangerous compared to other oil based products? Thanks again.
If you are using with Danish oil, there is already oil in the mix. There will be pretty much no benefit to using straight BLO first. So I would just go with the Danish Oil alone.
Anything with oil in it is flammable. But oily rags, soaked with BLO or tung oil, can be particular problematic. They cure slowly and if a rag is folded over several times, the heat from the oxidation process can build up to such a high level that ignition can occur. With varnish, the curing process happens so quickly this is usually not as big of a concern. Regardless, any rag that touches oil-based finish of any kind gets spread out on the floor in a single layer to dry. Once completely dry and stiff, they are safe to throw away. So yes, please take heed of the flammability concerns.
You mentioned other uses for shellac. shellac is also used in the food industry to give a shine to the surface of something. like for instance m&m’s or skittles etc. the shiny glaze is called confectioners glaze but is nothing more than shellac.
Thanks for the vid. It is very timely for me, as I am about to finish a cabinet/stand I built for my wife. I just bought some finish components today and this helps me alot on how to combine and apply. Great job.
Ahh you’re a gnome! lol My main used to be a gnome, but I was lured over to the dark side. :)
So what’s the best finish for Oak? – Just kidding ;)
Keep the commercials. They are fine. If people won’t sit through 30 seconds of commercial for 30mins of free woodworking education, then they are crazy. But it might be worth reminding people that there are no ads in the downloaded versions.
You’re varnish DVD really does cover this in great detail so I think it’s a good resource for people wanting to use this type of finish.
It’s a shame my connection is so rubbish I can’t view the live sessions without constant interruptions, even when I do stay up late enough ;) Great that you provide the recording tho.
Keep it up man :D
Hi Marc,
Thanks for the video, and the commercial is a non-issue should it help you keep making quality pod-casts. Now the question:
Is there any difference between a straight oil coat followed by a varnish compared to multiple coats of an oil-varnish mixture?
Also, would you recommend a coat of pure varnish over an oil/varnish mixture such as Danish oil? Any benefit to this on a surface that won’t see much abuse?
Thanks,
Dan
From my experience, there is a difference between oil followed by varnish. The oil/varnish blend will be less durable since you are essentially putting less varnish on the surface. Also, once the surface is sealed, the oil in the mixture has a difficult time curing. Oil cures best when it can absorb into the wood. So you can’t really add coat after coat to build up the protection without running into curing issues at some point.
So if you are top-coating with an oil-based varnish, I usually recommend skipping the oil all-together. I find that adding oil to the wood first does very little to change the look, and only extends the finish time. Now this is very much a personal opinion since I know many folks who claim to see a dramatic difference. But I don’t.
And same thing goees with the Danish Oil question. If you are just going to topcoat with a varnish, I wouldn’t bother with the Danish oil. And if the piece is not going to see a lot of abuse, the Danish Oil should be more than adequate. At that point, I would only apply varnish to that piece if you like the look of varnish as opposed to the oil/varnish blend.
Marc -
Maybe you cover this in your DVD … but
It seems that most people will build, then stain, then apply varnish. You spoke of varnish as if it was a choice over oil or oil blend. Stains, for the most part, are a BLO base with a tint. So, if I have stained and then varnish, I am, in essence, doing an oil-varnish blend. Is that right??
Hey Chester. See my reply to Dan above. A varnish applied after a coat of oil will be stronger than a single coat of an oil/varnish blend.
Hey Marc
Great video..thanks for explaining all that for me. I never knew that poly and varnish were the same thing!I have been a lacquer guy for a long time, but recently i have discovered arm r seal, and I like it allot. One thing you said in the video that confused me was that when you apply arm r seal you put 2 or three coats on then wipe off the excess. That seems to be contradictory to the instructions on the can? Did I misunderstand you or did you develop some hybrid way of using the product?
Hey Marc! This was my first live chat that I participated in, and it was fantastic! Thanks for all that you do man! One quick question. I’m about to finish a small redwood box, and I’m wondering if redwood has any finishing issues. I’m probably going to use Watco Danish Oil Natural, and top that with a few coats of poly. Any tips would be much appreciated! Thanks again!
Hi Mark (and community),
You talked about Watco Danish Oil being an oil/varnish blend. I used Danish Oil for my first fine-woodworking project (a jewelry cabinet) based on the recommendation of a friend and was very pleased with the ‘natural wood’ look it gave.
My current project is a sofa table that will get a bit more abuse than a jewelry box, but nothing like a kitchen table. Would Danish Oil contain enough varnish to protect this type of furniture or would a more concentrated varnish be required?
Along the same lines, would Danish Oil and its brethren be sufficient for something like a kitchen table?
One last (hopefully quick) question, do Danish Oil and the other oil/varnish blends suffer from the same layer-buildup issue that pure varnish does?
Thank you so much for all of your informative videos! They have been an invaluable to me as I have ventured into this hobby.
- Adam
Great info. Really appreciate the fact that we can find “helpful” info and it doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg to get it. Just wanna say Thanks
Great video Marc!
I do have a quick question/thought though. You talked about thinning the varnish for a cutting board so that it travels all the way through the grain, and completely seals the wood. I though that the pores in the wood was what made them more sanitary – bacteria gets sucked into the board with other moisture, gets trapped and dies. If the wood is totally sealed, wouldn’t that allow bacteria to hang out on the surface, more like a plastic cutting board?
Hey Ryan. I suppose there is some logic to that. I have read conflicting studies concerning bacteria on cutting boards and its hard to know what to believe. Some say the natural anti-bacterial properties of wood make it more sanitary and some say plastic is more sanitary since it can go in the dishwasher and its easier to sanitize. I say, no matter what your board is made of and how you finish it, keep it clean and sanitize it occasionally and you have nothing to worry about.
Now here are my thoughts on the moisture. Keep in mind this is just my opinion and its how I choose to treat my own boards. As I see it, I would rather we never give the moisture and bacteria a chance to get into the wood at all. As we know, wood loves to pull in moisture and its pretty reluctant to let it go. Whether that moisture is from the atmosphere or from a raw piece of chicken, its going to pull it in and hold onto it for a while. And in general, where there’s moisture, there’s bacteria. So a sealed board never lets that moisture in and is able to dry faster and more thoroughly than one that isn’t sealed.
Now I do keep a plastic board in the house and I can see why some folks believe them to be less sanitary. After a while, the surface gets chewed up quite a bit with deep cuts and you wind up creating a lot of surface area for bacteria to get lodged into and thrive. But I find that the wood boards are much harder than plastic and it doesn’t gouge quite as easily. Furthermore, by the time your wood cutting board shows excessive wear, you can just take it into the shop, sand it down, apply a fresh coat of finish, and bring it right back into the kitchen.
Marc,
My wife is a Biology teacher, and one of the experiments they do is test which is more sanitary – wood or plastic cutting boards. The first time she did the experiment a few years ago my wife threw out all of our plastic cutting boards!
Basically, what they did is let some chicken sit out uncovered overnight on the cutting boards. The next day they swabbed the cutting boards and then a sterile petri dish for both wood and plastic cutting boards as a control. Then they cleaned and scrubbed some with soap and water, others with bleach water, and the rest with anti-bacterial soap, swabbed while wet and put all of the petri dishes in an incubator. They then repeated wetting the boards and swabbing them again two days later.
Long story short, even with fresh chicken juice on the wood cutting boards, there was not a lot of bacteria, and none grew at all from the wood boards that were washed. The plastic was a whole different story. Even the boards that were washed with bleach and anti-bacterial soap, dried for two days and re-wet grew bacteria.
It would have been interesting to see exactly what bacteria it was, but the high school doesn’t have the equipment. She also mentioned something else about not being allowed to breed enough bacteria – safety regulations…
The wood cutting boards were just the el-cheapo ones from the utensil aisle at the grocery store.
So, we only use wood now! My wife is teaching Earth Science this year, but if she does Biology next year, I’ll see if I can throw some endgrain cutting boards together with different finishes to see how different finishes affect the anti-bacterial properties.
Thanks for the great info. I was going to ask you about some of the info you put in this video last week but never got around to it. perfect timing.
Uh oh – I put 2 light coats of poly on the inside of a built-in dresser unit which you specifically say not to do. This was about a 6 weeks ago. I left the drawers in my garage for about 3 weeks to let them air out. So far, I’ve only noticed a very small odor. Will that eventually go away or should I be thinking about refinishing the inside of the drawers?
Hey Ryan. Giving it three weeks to air out was a very smart move. If there is still some odor, it will probably linger for quite some time. But if it doesn’t bother you, than don’t sweat it. If it does bother you, than try a coat of shellac to seal off the odor.
Incredibly informative episode, Marc. In my humble opinion, this is one of the “Must See” episodes of The Wood Whisperer.
Keep up the great work! Your videos and articles have probably given me more inspiration to get out in the shop than anything else.
Hey Marc,
I’m getting ready to begin a mahogany desk for my wife. What finish do you recommend for a very porous wood? And what do you recommend for the writing surface?
For a mahogany writing surface, you might consider doing a grain fill, not that you should be writing directly on the desk anyway, ;). But as far as a top coat goes, there are many options. What I would do is a wiping varnish. Plenty durable for a desk and very easy to apply.
Thanks for posting this…I dig the live format.
Yet another outstanding video. While Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” seems to be going in a strange direction of late, “The Wood Whisperer” just keep getting better.
Don’t dis AB. :)
Once again another awesome video especially for us newbie’s. Thanks mark
Thanks for the explanation of finishes. I also want to thank you for a tip I got from you some time back on making my own sanding sealer. I used to be able to buy sanding sealer in the hardware store but they don’t carry it any more and I really liked using it to get a smooth finish.
Marc…
Thanks for another great video. You explain everything in terms that beginners can understand, and for that, a big ‘Thank You!!’, from one beginner. I have learned, and more importantly, understood, the information that put out in these videos.
Great video! I have been very foggy as it relates to finishing. You have done a lot to help brighten my understanding. I am sure my finishes will be less foggy and much brighter.
Informative video – thanks! I’ll be watching this again to make sure it soaks in – heh!
Keep up the good work.
Great episode Mark! Also lots of good questions and answers here in the comments. I’ve learned a lot.
I would love to see an episode like this on the topic of shellac and lacquer finishes too. Or maybe there is already something you can point me to.
Thanks.
I was interested to hear you say you dilute with Mineral Spirits, as I’ve always used Turpentine in my home-made oil/varnish mixes. Then I picked up a recent Woodworking Magazine that had an article on testing Turpentine versus Mineral Spirits versus Low-Odor Mineral Spirits. The outcome is that it essentially doesn’t matter which you use.
Found that bit of news interesting.
Hey Marc,
Great video. (as usual) I have a question though if you’ve got time. I am making a couple of keepsake boxes for Christmas presents. I’m planning on using Arm-r seal and was wondering if you’d finish the inside as well? I was also toying with the idea of using flocking (sp?) material on the inside. What’s your opinion?
Also on another note the quick comercial in the begining is fine. As your site is free to check out your videos I would think that nobody should have a problem with them at all.
Also I loved the shirt!!! I was a big fan of The Legend of Zelda.
Thanks,
Larry
Hey Larry. I would at least put one coat of Arm-R-Seal inside the keepsake box. I would also let the box air out with the lid off for at least a week to help reduce any residual odor.
As for flocking, well, I don’t do much of that. But, I think it really adds a nice touch to a keepsake box. I would practice first, just to get the process down. But its certainly a viable option.
I would like to see a video on the water-based finishes. I have not used them in the past and your videos are very informative. My wife who can’t stand the smell of the oils, and I recently bought some water-based poly, but I am more confident in the how oils will look and continue to make the house smell.
Hey Mike. Someone requested something similar in another thread. here was my response:
Donâ
Hi Mark,
The finishing video is great and your current show on finishes fits in nicely.
Someone mentioned sander-sealer. where does this product fit with the rest of the finishes.
thanks for the help
In my work, sanding sealer doesn’t really fit in at all. I rarely use it. Think of sanding sealer as a thinned finish with some components added to make it easier to sand. But another product does this very well, and you probably (or should) already have this stuff in your shop: shellac. A thin coat (maybe 1 lb cut) of shellac is all the “sanding sealer” I need. So that’s one less can in the cabinet.
HI Marc,
Great episode, keep ‘em coming. For top coats I like Minwax Wipe-on-Poly. Gives a very serviceable finish. It worked very well over an Behlen “Solar-Lux” dye stain (which also let the grain stand out), bathroom vanities, kitchen cabinets and other small items.
I found this episode very informative. Thanks.
This is s great educational podcast. I was not aware of being able to seal an oily wood.
I have also began to use the Rockler brand General Arm-r Finish.
I was asked to finish a friend’s gun handle so I disassembled the handle lightly sanded it. I then sprayed several coats of Tru-oil. The neighbor was very pleased.
Great video as usual Marc. Finishing is definitely one of the biggest learning curves to the art. You could devote a whole section to it… The Finishing Whisperer ??? Just kidding. Keep up the great work. Just as a side note, I noticed that you keep your paper towel chained down. Rough neighbourhood I guess. haha
Don’t mean to be facetious, but my advice on the gun stock thing would be to not have a gun stock made out of wood. I just approach guns from a standpoint of complete functionality. Any wood has the potential of warping over time in any environment more or less humid than the one in which it was made. That’s one reason a lot of gun makers (especially tactical gun makers) no longer use wood. This is especially true in the case of sniper rifles. The military went from hunting rifles off the shelf which were then modified to fabricating from scratch their own rifles in the late 70′s, early 80′s for this reason. Wood just wasn’t going to cut it for the abuse those long guns would take and still fire true. I understand your question though, and you probably already know this, but I just wanted to throw it out there anyway.
Hi Marc, great job, now I am totally confused. I use pure tung oil on furniture like curio cabinets, does a great job, just need to apply several coats.
Gun stocks are best treated with linseed oil. I am a former USMC drill Instructor, and that is all we used on those precious rifles.
appreciate the info
hoppeman ( the hoppe woodworker)
Don’t get me wrong, those oil finishes will give the wood some protection. And for surfaces that receive a lot of wear and tear and will likely need to be refreshed (like a gun stock), oil is a good choice. Its also ok as a light duty finish for furniture. But my personal preference is to give the wood more protection by using varnish. So that’s not to say you can’t use oil. Its just pointing out that oil isn’t a very protective finish.
Have you used Penofine Verde finish? Any comments on that compared to your other oil/varnish finishes?
Hey Mark. I haven’t used that myself. But it looks like a pretty durable drying oil. Hard to tell exactly what it is but it looks like its similar to polymerized oil. It doesn’t say polymerized, but when an oil offers the protection level they are claiming, that usually indicated something else is going on. But it looks like its worth investigating. Wanna be the test subject? :)
I got the Penofine Verde cause I didn’t wanna deal with the strong smells I put it on my Adirondack chair. I’ve left it inside so far. It looks good to me so far.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh.....directlink
Great video Mark,
I just used an oil/varnish blend for the first time today. I mixed it using the third’s method you mentioned in this video. I wiped on the first coat and was wondering how long you should wait between coats? Also should I use the oil/varnish blend for the following coats or just use varnish? If I should just go with the varnish I’d like to be able to wipe it on. Do I just mix 50/50 minwax poly to mineral spirits?
Hey Thomas. Dry time between coats could be anywhere from 6-12 hours. If its cold and humid, it could be even longer. When it doesn’t feel cold and clammy to the touch, its ready for another coat. Whether you should switch to a wiping varnish just depends on how much protection you want and what kind of look you are going for. You can get away with probably another two coats of the oil/varnish blend, flooding on and wiping off the excess, and that will give you a decent film with a decent amount of protection. It will also be a relatively close to the wood look. But, if you want more protection and a thicker film, switch over to the wiping varnish.
And a 50/50 mix is a good way to go for a wiping varnish.
Cool, thanks for reply mark.
and…..
….Thank you for all you’re hard work and information you’ve made available to people like me.
I know that tung oil is used a lot lately. However it is a nut oil and can be DANGEROUS. My teenage grandson was in the hospital last night due to a reaction from using a project with tung oil on a project. If you or anyone in your family has a reaction to peanuts or tree nuts then it should not be used. There is a lot online about allergic reactions and tung oil.
Unbelievable information!
It is borderline creepy how many times I am having an issue I can’t figure out on my own that I find a solution for immediately by searching on thewoodwhisperer.com.
One slight question though Mark….I am relatively new to making furniture and am completely self-taught (using the internet as much as humanly possible) so I haven’t really strayed out of the “big box” stores yet for purchasing wood. For that reason, I have created several table tops (mostly children’s tables) out of the “select pine” 1x stock that the big stores carry. By applying a nice medium stain and several coats of sprayed on “wiping” lacquer (which says not to spray on the can but seems to work great), I get a very desirable looking finish. Obviously though, durability is my major problem. There is a wood supplier about 30 minutes away, but I don’t want to go in there blindly wandering the aisles. Can you recommend a better, more durable, but still affordable wood to try on my next table project?
Again, thanks for all you do for woodworking.
Glad you are finding the site useful Jason. We aim for “creepy” :)
As for woods to try, how about red oak. Its usually very fairly priced, very durable, and takes a stain very nicely. In my book, its a great entry-level hardwood that will get you used to dealing with a heavier denser wood.
Marc,
Nice compact flood of information about finishing, keep up the great work. I have a couple of questions. I really like using oil/varnish blends (I tend to make my own by mixing poly, tung and mineral spirits). I am curious to try Arm-R, which you say is already diluted. What mixture of oil and Arm-R would you use? Secondly, I am finishing a cutting board (the type that goes under the counter). I chose to use pure Tung Oil as it was food safe and offered protection. You mention you used a mixture BLO with mineral spirits on your cutting boards, but I was under the impression this was a bad idea as food will be touching the cutting board and mineral spirits is not food safe.
Hey Johnathon. The mixtures are rather flexible. I tend to favor the varnish more than the oil so I would probably add about 10-20% oil by volume. But experiment a little and see what you like.
As for the cutting board, check out this article I wrote on the subject: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.co.....rd-finish/
Great information-
I just bought a can of Sam Maloof’s poly/oil mix for use on a small cabinet. The back of the can encourages me to use another ‘wax’ mixture after the first mixture. Is that necessary? What is the function of the wax? Thanks.
Hey John. I believe that same brand has another mix with the wax in it, but you definitely don’t have to use it. I am not much a fan of wax and when you are working with varnish, I don’t feel it adds a whole lot to the party. So I’d say stick with the poly/oil mix.
Thanks for the speedy reply. That’s what I was hoping you would say. I didn’t want to spend the extra $.
Thanks for the video, it answered a lot of my question, but I still get confused with so many options. For example what is the difference between what you talked about (varnishes, shellac, urethane) and lacquer? Also where do food safe wax finishes fit in? Can I cover those with varnish or shellac. The other thing I wonder is when I use a stain from minwax or something can I just use any of those film finishes or do only certain things go over an oil-based stain.
Sorry for so many questions but I am just getting to the point where I am sick of ruining many of the beautifull things I have built.
Hey Isaac. I think what you need is a more comprehensive review of finishes in general. I would recommend you check out any of Flexner or Jewitt’s finishing books. It will help to put these things into perspective in the broader world of finishing products.
And honestly, the most important thing you can do is pick a finish and stick with it for a while. One failure doesn’t mean try something else. It means try again until you get good at it and keep the process as simple as possible. Avoid staining if you can, at least until you perfect adding the protective coat. And don’t worry about all the other options. Just about any finish will work for a normal piece of furniture.
As for “food safe”, any film finish is food safe when cured. And yes, you can pretty much use any film finish over a cured Minwax stain.
Thanks Marc thats good advice I just browsed for those two books and I definitly liked them better than some of the ones I’ve looked at. Anyway thanks for the tip and I really enjoy the blog!
Hi again, so if I stain my dinning table can I put some of polyurethane gloss on top not risk at all for food poisining after cure, talking about cure how long the polyurethane takes to cure to be safe thanks God blees you.
There really isn’t any risk of toxicity that I know of once the finish is cured. I’d give an oil-based poly at least a week. But if you are having direct food contact, I would wait until it no longer has an odor (several weeks).
Hi Marc – I was re-viewing your Oil-Based Finish video since I an finishing a small box (thanks for the great video). For the main box I am using Arm-R-Seal over some great looking curly maple. The sides of the box are cocobolo. I have read that the best finish for this wood is simply to wax it. What would you suggest?
Hey Skip. In my opinion, a wax finish is really one minor step above using nothing at all. Cocobolo is a very dense and naturally oily wood, so I can see why it might be tempting to simply wax it and call it a day. It might do just fine on a light-use item like a small box. But if you really want some protection on there, you probably want to apply a film-forming finish. A lacquer would be a good choice for something like this and can apply it straight from a rattle can. Varnish is ok too, but you are going to want to seal the wood first with some dewaxed shellac. That will block out the natural oils and allow your varnish to dry.
Thanks Marc – I appreciate the feedback and will give the lacquer a go…. I will send a picture or two when it is completed.
Hi Marc – The box is finished. I ended up just using wax. Mostly a time constraint and that it will be light use. Sending some pictures to the viewer projects.
I will try the lacquer another time.