Best Finish for Guanacaste Wood

What is the best finish for Guanacaste wood? Find it out on this page, a great woodworking resource showing tests for many different finishes.

A set of 12 samples (from “A” to “L”) were cut from a single board; these start from very similar PZC values. All samples were sanded to 1500-grit.

A special thanks goes to company Veleca for supporting us with finish samples.

We tested these finishes:
Sample A: Veleca Palkerol (water based anionic polyurethane – floor finish)
Sample B: Veleca Pinteco (acrylic emulsion – outdoor finish)
Sample C: Veleca Mobil H (water based acrylic – furniture finish)
Sample D: Veleca Nitrolux (thinner based ketone resin – classic furniture finish)
Sample E: Adler Soloplast (alkyd based finish)
Sample F: Veleca Olio per Teak (Tung oil based – exotic wood finish)
Sample G: Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO)
Sample H: Furniture restoring oil
Sample I: Nitrocellulose spray lacquer (NCL)
Sample J: Acrylic spray lacquer
Sample K: Blonde Dewaxed Shellac “Medium” (2 parts in 13 parts of Alcohol)
Sample L: Rubio Monocoat

It was concluded that:
1) Very high chatoyance can be achieved (above 30 PZC)
2) All these “clear” finishes significantly darken the surface

Tables below summarize the results in terms of chatoyance (PZC):