Re: Has anyone finished elm?
Sam Simpson
>Hi Y'all,
Erik, in my opinion elm is the wood that offers the greatest improvement in appearance between it's fresh worked state and it's fully mature state. As a fresh worked wood it's colour is uniform and that wonderful grain you talked about is not very well defined. As the wood matures it darkens to a warm chocolate brown which is easily worn off or masked from appearing. So utilitarian objects naturally develop a wonderful variety of colours that are light and honey coloured around areas of handling and dark chocolate coloured in around protected areas.
To gain this look early in the items history it is best to oil the item and leave it exposed to good light and air flow for a few weeks. Following that, use a burnt umber or vandyke brown glaze to approximate the colour variance pattern. Then instead of blond shellac, use garnet or button shellac. During the application of the shellac, you will be able to further manipulate the colour variations by rubbing more or less in an area, and deliver a very convincing aged patina to the work.
I sure wish there where more of this wood still alive in the world.
Regards Sam Simpson.