Now for the timber finish!

I ended up using a clear varnish for the magazine rack. Being coachwood I thought that this would be a good choice for the finish as it is relatively hard wearing and needing little to no ongoing maintenance.

The clear varnish ending up being a great choice in regards to colour also. The timber colour has changed, however it is very ‘natural’ (hence being a clear) and actually matches a lot of the original shellac finishes on pieces from the same era – more on this in an upcoming blog post.

The first 2 coats were applied with a fine bristle brush with a light sanding in between. I applied the following 2 coats with a spray guy (in the above photo the 4th coat has not yet been applied).

The finish turned out great, and now this process has been completed I can get onto the final assembly making the 2 pieces whole again. May be a little tricky, with some custom brass brackets having to be made………we’ll see.