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PZC Chatometry

A standard system to measure wood chatoyance

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Finishing Maple

What is the best finish to enhance Maple chatoyance?

Let’s use the PZC method and see what comes out.

We tested these finishes:
Blonde Dewaxed Shellac “Light” (1 part in 13 parts of Alcohol)
Blonde Dewaxed Shellac “Medium” (2 parts in 13 parts of Alcohol)
Blonde Dewaxed Shellac “Dense” (4 part in 13 parts of Alcohol)
“Blonde Oil” from a local brand
“Red Oil” from a local brand
Transparent Flooring Grain Filler from a known European brand.

Each test was carried out twice: one specimen starts with 180 grit sanding (PZC data in red below) and one specimen start with 800 grit sanding (PZC data in violet below). All samples were taken from a single sheet of plain European Maple veneer.

Tables below summarize the results of some different finishing sequences we tested.

Sequence 1PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.511.5
Light Shellac 13.916.6
Light Shellac15.618.2
Light Shellac16.618.5
Light Shellac16.618.7

No further enhancement is obtained after the third layer of light shellac; sanding to a finer grit prior to finishing yields better results.

Sequence 2PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.511.8
Medium Shellac15.918.6
Medium Shellac17.119.0
Medium Shellac17.619.3
Medium Shellac17.219.0

Again, layers after the third one appear to be of no use and sanding to a finer grit prior to finishing yields better results.

Sequence 3PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.313.0
Dense Shellac17.420.1
Dense Shellac17.519.7
Dense Shellac17.519.9

With Dense Shellac layers after the first one appear to be of no use. Again sanding to a finer grit prior to finishing yields better results.

Sequence 4PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.511.6
Light Shellac14.316.6
Medium Shellac17.517.8
Dense Shellac18.218.2
Dense Shellac18.117.8

A “progressive” approach like this one yielded some advantage on the 180-grit specimen, while results with the 800-grit specimen are even worse than those obtained with previous sequences.

Sequence 5PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.811.5
Blonde Oil17.117.8
Blonde Oil18.218.4
Blonde Oil18.918.5
Blonde Oil18.218.4

When using this oil, three coats are enough. In addition, sanding to a finer grit provides no advantage.

Sequence 6PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.211.3
Medium Shellac17.518.8
Red Oil17.919.2
Red Oil18.519.3
Red Oil18.319.3

Again three coats are enough, but here sanding to a finer grit provides some advantage.

Sequence 7PZC (180 grit initial sanding)PZC (800 grit initial sanding)
Sanding9.211.1
Grain Filler15.315.7
Grain Filler15.015.3
Grain Filler14.815.0

With this Grain filler layers after the first one have no positive effect on chatoyance, and initial sanding to a finer grit is also of little use.

Conclusions

Among the tested finishing sequences, the best ones for chatoyance appear to be Medium Shellac (3 coats) and Red Oil (3 coats), both providing better results with finer grit initial sanding.

Help us finding the best coat – get in touch (chatometry@gmail.com) and send us coated wood samples or finish samples.

Medium Shellac before coating – PZC 11.8
Medium Shellac three coats – PZC 19.3
Red Oil before coating – PZC 11.3
Red Oil three coats – PZC 19.3

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