# Finishing for Camphor wood?



## horc00 (Sep 17, 2017)

Hello everyone.

First off, I am not a woodworker nor do I have any experience making any wooden items.

The thing is, I recently purchased a beautiful camphor wood coffee table for my living room. It came unfinished (I'm not sure if that's the right word but the seller basically said that they did not apply any form of finishing onto it) and I was instantly attracted to the "natural" look and camphor fragrance. It is now proudly displayed in the middle of my living room and guests have nothing but compliments for it.

However, I noticed that it seems to absorb any water spillage quite rapidly unlike most other wooden furniture I have. I am especially concerned of spilling any coffee or oily stuff onto the table, to the point that I'm afraid to even place glasses with chilled water onto the table (because condensation...). 

I tried googling for information on the types of finishing I can use for camphor, and while I have found a few suggestions in here and on another forum, so far none have specifically mentioned that the finishing will still allow the wood to emit its fragrance.

Hence I would like to ask what finishing would be recommended if I would really like it to maintain its "natural" look and fragrance.

Thanks!


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

For what you want I would not use any finish. I would put a sheet of glass on the top. Us the little felt pads under the glass.

George


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Even if you do nothing to it the fragrance is going to go away anyway in time. It's like lining a closet with cedar. When it is fresh it is very fragrant. Then after a while you can open the closet and there is no cedar smell. You might as well go ahead and finish the table and be sure to finish the underside of the top. This would cover up the smell but you could brush some camphor oil on the underside of the top from time to time. 

About the finish to use, an oil based polyurethane would be a good product to seal out water however oil based finishes tend to yellow as they age and may look bad as light as the wood is. You could use a water based polyurethane. It's not as water resistant but will remain clear. If you have the means of spraying a finish an easy finish to use would be a cab acrylic lacquer. It dries so fast you could do all the finishing work in one day.


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## horc00 (Sep 17, 2017)

GeorgeC said:


> For what you want I would not use any finish. I would put a sheet of glass on the top. Us the little felt pads under the glass.
> 
> George


Actually it already has a glass on it. It looks something like this except that it's supported by legs as the wood does not go all the way to the floor.



Steve Neul said:


> Even if you do nothing to it the fragrance is going to go away anyway in time. It's like lining a closet with cedar. When it is fresh it is very fragrant. Then after a while you can open the closet and there is no cedar smell. You might as well go ahead and finish the table and be sure to finish the underside of the top. This would cover up the smell but you could brush some camphor oil on the underside of the top from time to time.
> 
> About the finish to use, an oil based polyurethane would be a good product to seal out water however oil based finishes tend to yellow as they age and may look bad as light as the wood is. You could use a water based polyurethane. It's not as water resistant but will remain clear. If you have the means of spraying a finish an easy finish to use would be a cab acrylic lacquer. It dries so fast you could do all the finishing work in one day.


Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into the water-based polyurethane and the acrylic lacquer.

I contacted the seller regarding a finishing and he recommended me Harrell's traditional wax polish. I would like to point out that the seller is a Chinese based in China, so I'm concerned that our communication might be lost in translation. 

Considering that I have accepted my fate that any finish will cover up the fragrance, what do you think about Harrell's or any wax polish in general? Will it retain the natural wood look and feel? How does it compare to water-based polyurethane or acrylic lacquer?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I've never used the Harrell's finish but if it is the same as any other wax finish it will give you no protection from water. It would be necessary to put a piece of glass on the top of the table to use it. It would though otherwise provide a more natural look to the finish. Polyurethane and lacquer both are film finishes.


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