Woodworker with a small, badly ventilated shop here. I’ve been known to apply oil-based urethane outdoors. Some lower fume options for finishes:
Latex paint. Water based, emits less toxic fumes than you do.
Drying oils. Synthetics exist but go with linseed or tung oil, or if you’re extremely bougie, walnut oil. No solvents here; it’s a plant oil that soaks into the wood and then reacts with the oxygen in the air to polymerize.
Shellac. Old fashioned, not the most durable. Functions like a lacquer but it dissolves in denatured alcohol, one of the easier ones to tolerate. You can get stunning results though it’s not the most durable available, most notably if you spill booze on it it’ll dissolve the finish. Easy to repair though.
Acrylic. If you need a built up film finish, acrylic is perhaps a way to go. Dries crystal clear, doesn’t amber the wood like an oil-based poly does and isn’t quite as durable, but it’s water based.
Epoxy. Or some other catalyzing finish, usually fumeless, for when you need your projects entombed like a Reddit hot dog.
UV curing finishes. These can be a little pricey as they’re kind of new, but you paint it on the surface, and then shine a UV light on that surface for 2 minutes and it’s set and ready to install and use. Because there is zero solvent or carrier, no evaporation, you get more coverage per unit volume of product than a urethane or lacquer.
Woodworker with a small, badly ventilated shop here. I’ve been known to apply oil-based urethane outdoors. Some lower fume options for finishes:
Latex paint. Water based, emits less toxic fumes than you do.
Drying oils. Synthetics exist but go with linseed or tung oil, or if you’re extremely bougie, walnut oil. No solvents here; it’s a plant oil that soaks into the wood and then reacts with the oxygen in the air to polymerize.
Shellac. Old fashioned, not the most durable. Functions like a lacquer but it dissolves in denatured alcohol, one of the easier ones to tolerate. You can get stunning results though it’s not the most durable available, most notably if you spill booze on it it’ll dissolve the finish. Easy to repair though.
Acrylic. If you need a built up film finish, acrylic is perhaps a way to go. Dries crystal clear, doesn’t amber the wood like an oil-based poly does and isn’t quite as durable, but it’s water based.
Epoxy. Or some other catalyzing finish, usually fumeless, for when you need your projects entombed like a Reddit hot dog.
UV curing finishes. These can be a little pricey as they’re kind of new, but you paint it on the surface, and then shine a UV light on that surface for 2 minutes and it’s set and ready to install and use. Because there is zero solvent or carrier, no evaporation, you get more coverage per unit volume of product than a urethane or lacquer.