What did you you to finish your Gokstad style bed and the chests you made for Regia use?
Halv
Hey Bascot - finishes
Moderator: Glen K
Well, for turnings I use a mix of laquer, beeswax, and carnauba wax. I know its a more "modern" finish.. but most of my turnings arent meant to be "period" anyway. Its a friction polish..in that as you apply heat (or as the rag on the spinning wood applys heat) it evaporates the laquer, which is the "thinner" for wont of a better word, and just leaves the wax solids in a crystal clear mirror finish.
Theres a bunch of recipes online for home-brewed wood finishes.. a lot of them shellac based, and how to make your own dewaxed shellac with flakes and alcohol or turps.. I havent actually tried it yet.. but I have been very pleased with what i have made with boiled linseed. (unboiled will _NEVER_ dry and will remain sticky forever).
I simply plane/scrape to the smoothest finish I can, and put on 2 or 3 layers of linseed (make SURE you let the rags dry flat and outside.. linseed has burned down more shops than you would imagine!) and then use some paste wax (johnsons) applied with a french dauber.. which is basically a piece of pure cotton bedsheet wrapped around a damp (not soaked) piece of cheesecloth. You use that to apply.. the water causes the wax to friction just a bit when it is going on, which makes it "stick" and you do the whole piece in swirls, let it haze, then buff.. repeat as necessary.
Be aware, however, that anything finished in a beeswax or paste wax is _NOT_ waterproof.. it is merely water resistant.. (while it will resist humidity, it might not survive a night in the rain) and the finish _WILL_ need to be renewed occasionally.
Maeryk
Theres a bunch of recipes online for home-brewed wood finishes.. a lot of them shellac based, and how to make your own dewaxed shellac with flakes and alcohol or turps.. I havent actually tried it yet.. but I have been very pleased with what i have made with boiled linseed. (unboiled will _NEVER_ dry and will remain sticky forever).
I simply plane/scrape to the smoothest finish I can, and put on 2 or 3 layers of linseed (make SURE you let the rags dry flat and outside.. linseed has burned down more shops than you would imagine!) and then use some paste wax (johnsons) applied with a french dauber.. which is basically a piece of pure cotton bedsheet wrapped around a damp (not soaked) piece of cheesecloth. You use that to apply.. the water causes the wax to friction just a bit when it is going on, which makes it "stick" and you do the whole piece in swirls, let it haze, then buff.. repeat as necessary.
Be aware, however, that anything finished in a beeswax or paste wax is _NOT_ waterproof.. it is merely water resistant.. (while it will resist humidity, it might not survive a night in the rain) and the finish _WILL_ need to be renewed occasionally.
Maeryk
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JJ Shred
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Pretty much what he said. I use the miniwax-type stain, although I have been experimenting with walnut and turpentine, then brush on boiled linseed oil, let sit 10 to 15 minutes then wipe it off. Repeat as many times as you have patience for - at least 3, but the more the better. I generally only do one or two applications a day, letting it dry for 6 - 12 hours.
Then, with a double boiler over the gas grill (when Patty's not home, she has a fit) I bring the oil to a temperature hot enough to not only melt the wax, but get it to mix in and disappear. I brush that on, (it semi-congeals as it cools) then wipe/buff it off. The friction tends to force it into the grain better. Sometimes I repeat this step as well.
Once it is all done and has set for a week or so, I use lemon oil to shine it up a bit and clean up any residue.
I think tung oil works better, but I quit using it since it is eastern in origin, but on more modern furniture I substitute it for the boiled linseed oil and Johnson's paste wax for the beeswax.
That bed is made of beech, which is about as close to concrete as wood can get. I've never added anything to the original finish, and it is 5 or 6 years old. The tighter the grain structure of the wood, the harder the finish seems to be. The other stuff I made was of white oak, which works well, a lot better than red oak, which doesn't finish as well. The ash stuff seems more porous, and requires more maintainence. Yellow pine (Templar Bob's 6 board chest and benches) with lots of sap in it also forms a tougher finish than white pine (T.B.'s 13th C. chest).
By the way, he is right about the oily rags. I've had them spontaneously combust after dropping them on the concrete in the sun when the temperature was 85 degrees or hotter, in about 30 minutes.
Then, with a double boiler over the gas grill (when Patty's not home, she has a fit) I bring the oil to a temperature hot enough to not only melt the wax, but get it to mix in and disappear. I brush that on, (it semi-congeals as it cools) then wipe/buff it off. The friction tends to force it into the grain better. Sometimes I repeat this step as well.
Once it is all done and has set for a week or so, I use lemon oil to shine it up a bit and clean up any residue.
I think tung oil works better, but I quit using it since it is eastern in origin, but on more modern furniture I substitute it for the boiled linseed oil and Johnson's paste wax for the beeswax.
That bed is made of beech, which is about as close to concrete as wood can get. I've never added anything to the original finish, and it is 5 or 6 years old. The tighter the grain structure of the wood, the harder the finish seems to be. The other stuff I made was of white oak, which works well, a lot better than red oak, which doesn't finish as well. The ash stuff seems more porous, and requires more maintainence. Yellow pine (Templar Bob's 6 board chest and benches) with lots of sap in it also forms a tougher finish than white pine (T.B.'s 13th C. chest).
By the way, he is right about the oily rags. I've had them spontaneously combust after dropping them on the concrete in the sun when the temperature was 85 degrees or hotter, in about 30 minutes.
I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see.
Jimi Hendrix
On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone.
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone.
Janis Joplin
BTW: enough coats of wax applied right, and even a "rough" (well, to the sandpaper eye) surface (read: finely planed and possibly card scraped) can look really good.. and not at all torn up.
I highly reccomend learning how to use a card scraper.. they are cheap, once you learn to square it and turn an edge it is easy, and they dont wear out anything like sandpaper.. and they leave a very nice finish for the work.
You will always have subtle undulations.. thats the nature of handwork, unless you have a 24" or better plane and the space to work crossways.. but, a caution is that a really REALLY shiny finish A) marks more quickly, B) shows water much worse, and C) shows up uneveness in the wood.. which to the "modern" eye looks like bad workmanship.
(cause most modern eyes are attuned to machine made stuff that had widebelt sanders or thickness planers in its history)
Maeryk
I highly reccomend learning how to use a card scraper.. they are cheap, once you learn to square it and turn an edge it is easy, and they dont wear out anything like sandpaper.. and they leave a very nice finish for the work.
You will always have subtle undulations.. thats the nature of handwork, unless you have a 24" or better plane and the space to work crossways.. but, a caution is that a really REALLY shiny finish A) marks more quickly, B) shows water much worse, and C) shows up uneveness in the wood.. which to the "modern" eye looks like bad workmanship.
(cause most modern eyes are attuned to machine made stuff that had widebelt sanders or thickness planers in its history)
Maeryk
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Jeff J
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Concur on the card/cabinet scraper finish - it can come out smoother because sandpaper eats the softwood part of the grain faster than the harder.
I've used the boiled linseed & beeswax mix (available pre-mixed commercially) it comes out hard, yet has that waxy feel and sheds water nicely. It even works well over painted surfaces, making dull milk-painted colors much brighter & "alive".
I've used the boiled linseed & beeswax mix (available pre-mixed commercially) it comes out hard, yet has that waxy feel and sheds water nicely. It even works well over painted surfaces, making dull milk-painted colors much brighter & "alive".
BONANZA!!!
Thanks for the tips guys.
They are much appreciated.
Have fun.. make sawdust!
The nice part about woodworkign is even if you screw up as badly as humanly possible on the piece, you still have firewood!
I have found that modern tools and finishes are nice when I'm making modern pieces (like the high-chair I built).. but theres something incredibly soothing about hearing a well honed plane going schlick schlick as the wood smooths out. Being able to work _AND_ hear the birds outside at the same time is a good thing.
Maeryk