I have read on the back of oil finishing products to rub the first coat on with sand paper to make a slurry and fill the grain of the wood. Does this work? If so how well? I am going to use some walnut and might give it a try. I will probably put lacquor over it after letting it dry a good while.
Jerry
Replies
That process is called "wetsanding" by many of us. I've used it on red oak and it produced a wonderful finish. I didn't want to go the whole route with a true grain filler, so I wetsanded Watco. I actually sanded the first 2 coats in. You'll get lots of different advice about which grits to start and stop with. Keep aside a few scraps to experiment on. With the oak, I started with 180 I think, and then went to 220. Could have gone to 320 but didn't. I've heard of people, especially finishing a closer-pored wood such as maple, going to to 600 grit.
forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Jerry,
The First Lady of the Forest is right on. Properly wet sanded oil--virtually any oil finish--will completely fill the pores and produce a lovely satin surface.
She said she sands in the first two coats. I've sanded in many more than that--but I also usually thin out my first few coats of oil--I believe (NB "believe") this helps it penetrate a bit better.
I've sanded in linseed oil, Danish oil, tung oil, and Tried and True (even though T&T says not to sand in their product; sometimes it pays to not read the instructions). They all worked the same: pores filled completely and a nice satin finish.
Alan
Alan;
When you speak of a "nice satin finish" can I still apply lacqor and buff it out to a gloss or semi-gloss finish? I used Tried and True some time ago and did not think much of it. I gave it a fair chanch and used it on several items but it is not for me.
Jerry
Jerry,
You can apply a film finish over an oil without problems. Lots of folks like to use boiled linseed oil under their film finish to "pop" the grain. So far as I know--and I know very little--you can apply lacquer, shellac or varnish over an oil so long as the oil has had time for its solvent to evaporate completely, and for it to do whatever curing it does.
Again, the great caveat is to make absitively, posilutely sure that the oil has completely dried and cured before putting on the film finish. If you use linseed oil this can take some time. I understand that you can add Japan drier to linseed oil to hasten its curing (I've never tried this). I find that BLO cures more quickly if I thin it with mineral spirits or turpentine.
You can use a different sort of tung oil to get a glossier finish. I believe it's called a "polymerized" (sp?) oil which does dry to a glossier finish than its less educated brethren. I've seen it in Garrett-Wade's catalog; it must surely be available elsewhere as well.
Alan
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