Greetings!
I’m relativlly knew to woodworking and recently built a jewelery box for my wife. Up until I applied the finish, I was very happy with my work. The problem that I have is I made a dumb mistake by appling an oil based finished inside and outside the box. Well, as you might expect, everytime the box is opened you get a nice whiff of oil. To complicate matters further, I thought I was helping the situation by applying a couple of cots of varnish. So, my question is this – does anyone have any ideas on how to “cover up” the smell? My assumption is that stripping will not work since the oil has seeped into the wood.
Thanks in advance for your help!
-David
Replies
Pilgrim,
Saw that once back in '63 ... I made a hidden drawer trinket box and oil was my solution to prevent the drawer from sticking when the weather changed. And it worked, but the smell... phew. Yeah, you make your mistakes to better remember that they are mistakes.
But, Mom had a soft spot in her heart for that box. So Mom had a solution to the oily smell no one had thought about. She masked the smell with another; used camphor (smells like "winter-green") oil. She didn't confess this until I got out of the service and saw it setting opened next to the lamp on her bedroom table. She said the smell cleared her sinuses at night in the winter. She closed it during the day to help "keep" the smell. She has re-applied the oil several times a winter, every winter since 1964.
It would be a nice comforting story, if it was true.
Instead, Mom complained... I tried cleaning with Alchol. But, that only made it swell and when it dried out, it dried out too much & the wood cracked. I wound up throwing it out and starting over from scratch.
Sure woulda been nicer for my developing childhood (translation: ego) if Mom had fallen for it. But, that woulda been ducking the lesson to be learned.
William
Thanks William for the great story! You made me laugh!!!
I suppose you're right, maybe the best thing to do would be to scrap the project and do another - it's not like I don't enjoy making stuff. For me, I've learned from my mistake and now use shellac on the inside of boxes, with no stain or oil or anything else. I think that the lessons best learned come from mistakes you make, they tend to sink in a little deeper and are harder to forget. And of course, if I knew everything about woodworking, I probably wood not find it so enjoyable.
Regards, and have a good day!
-David
Before you chuck the box, let the varnish cure for a few weeks, scuff sand the interior and apply a couple of coats of shellac. There is a decent chance, though not a certainty, that the shellac can seal in the odors.
From a woman's perspective, I'm sure your wife is very happy you even made her the jewelry box. My ex-husband, the woodworker, never got around to making me anything when we were married. So, good for you, smell or no smell, she's a lucky girl.
Marianne
So now she's selling all his wood! Ha, that's what he gets for not even making the effort.
MarinChicago,
As a matter of fact, just this morning I was telling my wife how I was looking into finding a solution to the smell when she told me she couldn't even smell the oil. Maybe she was being nice, or maybe she really didn't mind about the odor? Maybe I'm just too picky and I should leave things alone?
I really didn't intend for my post to go down the road of making stuff for my wife and how that makes her feel, but I wanted to at least say that I find it important to strike a balance in my life. That even includes woodworking: the projects I build, the amount of time I spend in the shop, etc. Although woodworking is very important to me, it's not the only thing in my life. And if I can't share that with someone, what good is it? Anyway, I really didn't mean to go down this road, but you made me think about it... Thanks!
-David
Sharing it goes a long way and I'm sure she appreciates it, whether there's a smell or not. Kudos for doing something that matters to you; everybody should do this and maybe the world wouldn't be such a fast-paced stressed-out place.
Thanks for posting your views and I wish you success with all your projects.
Marianne
What Steve said. Let it cure--open. Sand a little and apply shellac. It will be fine.
Thank You Steven and Gretchen!
I will try the scuff sanding and two coats of shellac this weekend and post my results next week.
-David
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled