Lately I have been doing most of my flying mounts on diagonal cross cut sections of black walnut with the bark on. I did one for myself and everybody who comes in likes it so much they ask to have thier birds mounted on that too. I have been getting these slabs of black walnut for 2 to 5 bucks each rough cut on a circular mill. I think thats cheap. The problem I have is that they take so much urethane to finish them. I usually finish up about 8 to 10 slabs at a time, and it takes a good quart to every 4 or 5 slabs to get them sealed and looking good. Is there a product I can use to minimize the amount of finish I need to put on these. I gets spendy using urethane. These slabs suck this stuff up like a sponge.
One other thing. Does anyone finish the drift wood they use on mounts? I like to spray mine with a satin finish. What do you use?
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Metal, wood and fish all have one thing in common. The gloss coat will not be any better than the sealer used.
Wood sealer will swell the grain together, this allows the gloss to lay on top instead of soaking into the wood. I use a shellac based sealer, its cheap at $10.00 a gallon made by Martin Senour, Sherwin Williams also has one, a lacquer base may also work for you.
It could help if you can sand the plaques after sealing.
For driftwood, give it two or three coats of sealer.