# Final coat over min wax wood finish



## RetiredJake (Jun 25, 2013)

I am building a headboard for our bed out of walnut harvested from my mother-in-law's farm. I stained the panel with minwax dark walnut to blend in the lighter colored wood. That part came out pretty good. My question relates to the next stage.

What do I use over the minwax? I do not want a hard shiny finish like poly, I enjoy the silky feel of an oil finish. Can I recoat the minwax with something like tung oil? Are there better choices?

TIA for any and all suggestions.

Jake


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

Have you used Min Wax's Poly Satin Finish before? It gave me a finish that I think you described.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Jake, if you can remove the poly you could use Watco Danish oil; this is the finish you are looking for.


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## Willway (Aug 16, 2012)

Jake I think you had better try a satin poly. The problem is the Minwax stain has a sealer in it. Any oil finish will just lay on the top, it cannot soak in and give you an oil finnish like you are thinking of. I refuse to use Minwax stains for that reason. I prefer plain oil stain that you can lighten with mineray spirits, or darken by adding another coat. You cannot do this with Minwax. It seals so well even another coat of MInwax stain just lays on top.


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## Bradleytavares (Feb 25, 2012)

I use Minwax Natural most of the time and recently went back to Minwax Golden Oak. My clear finish of preference is Deft Satin, sprayed from a rattle can for small jobs or shot from an HVLP sprayer. This gives me the look and feel that I prefer to poly. On it's own, Poly creates a "build" since it's a plastic and lays on in layers whereas a lacquer blends into the previous layer with only a light sanding of 220 or higher. Give the lacquer a few days to totally gas off after the last coat and it is smooth and shows almost no depth of the clear finish, only the enhanced appearance of the wood. I have used polys for wet areas like kitchens, bathrooms and wet areas but always return to lacquer for the majority of my woodwork. Just registered for some classes at my local community college, first choice was "Wood Finishing" but the class was full. It was my hope to learn more in an academic atmosphere but seems it'll have to wait for next semester.


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