Lacquer or Polyurethane (water or oil) would work. Just let them cure hard.

 

The hardest finish would be a phenolic-resin varnish like Waterlox or Behlen RockHard. Poly is much softer.

 

And then after you put on the good finish go to the nearest office supply house and purchase a pad to cover the desk topl

G

 

......Any suggestions for a top finish that would resist scratching and marks from pens and pencils?

First off, no finish will resist scratching/pen and pencil marks. Writing with a pen or pencil on paper directly on the surface of the desk will damage the finish. As for what finish to use, conversion varnish would be the most practical if you can spray.

 

I made a wood desk with a 3" wood edge on black high pressure laminate top. It looked rich and made a useful working desk top. On my sidebar I had the glass company make a nice finished edge on a 1/4" plate. That was a nice place to stick useless slogans and dead men's quotes from old books. I had a quick reference for words that I commonly misspell, like recieve and muntin . . .

 

:laughing: you better correct your reference, you spelled receive wrong again. :laughing:

The finishes that you put on the surface of wood is usually less than 5 mil thick. That basically means you are writing directly on the wood. Unless you get a pour on finish that is very thick you will need to have some sort of protection between the desk and the paper which you are writing on. A blotter or a pc of glass is best. If you go the glass root, make sure you get those little plastic spacers to keep the glass elevated above the surface of the wood. If you don't you may have warping problems.

 

how thick you need to make the surface to protect the wood if you wanted to go the poor on route? This desk is for children so Im sure it needs to be fairly thick. I dont want to use glass , just because the children could get ideas.

Thanks.

 

I think a 1/16" would be fine. But it isn't bulletproof either. I will deny with hard pen use. But the top can be sanded a bit to take out the marks and another coat poured over it. That way any stain underneath will not have to be redone.

 

Thanks all for the ideas. I think a writing pad appears the way to go for the area I intend to write on. Either that or have a laminate surface...something I was hoping to avoid. But the hard finished mentioned here will help me protect the rest of the desk from general use. Cheers.

 

......I think a writing pad appears the way to go for the area I intend to write on........

I generally use the calendar type writing pads.

 

Our highschool art teacher had two part epoxy he poured on our big wood tables that worked great.

 

I think you should use the plastic coated surface on it because it can prevent the pen, pencil marks and thats why the pad can be clean forever. I think you should use any soft surface and coat it with the poly.

 

Thank you for all the information. Unfortunately, I did not make myself clear. I am looking for the best material like plastic, glass, acrylic, etc. to go on top of a desk top. I have looked into glass but it is very costly so I am looking for other ideas. My desk top is 78 3/4 X 23 5/8.

 

You did notice that this thread was 8 years old?

Glass is the best top.

George

 

Although my desk was finished in polyurethane, I now prefer a water white lacquer. The poly has yellowed significantly over the years. The water white lacquer I now use remains clear.
If you have a beautiful desk, you will still want a desk pad for protection from ball point pens regardless of the finish used.

 

I have a mahogany roll top desk that was my great grandfather's. The desk top shows little wear or scuffing where a blotter has been used over the center writing area. However the finish wear and scuffing happen at the front of the desktop where one's forearms and elbows rub whilst writing or typing. It is time for a desk top re-finish an am trying to decide what would be the toughest finish to stand up to forearm shirt sleeves and skin oil.