Replies

1. 
   dfletcher | Mar 01, 2007 06:20pm | #1

   Hi,

   I like using boiled linseed oil too, but found that if you use it on the inside of a box, the odor will linger, probably forever. 

   Something I'm interested in trying is to use linseed oil and then Shellac on top to seal the odor in.  I wonder how that would work?

   I've also used Poly on top of linseed oil, but still had the spell problem inside the box.  The poly is pretty tough and can be brought to a nice shine.

2. 
   user-83153 | Mar 01, 2007 08:09pm | #2

   dsmark,

      BLO is basically useless as a finish. It offers little if any protection or water vapor resistance and must be periodically renewed. If you want to use BLO to highlight the grain and or figure of a wood you only need to apply one heavy coat that is wiped off after 20 to 30 minutes and buffed dry. Then you must wait a couple of days for the BLO to fully cure before applying a top coat of another finish.

     Shellac would be a great finish for a jewelry box. It is optically clear, color stable over time, can be rubbed out to any sheen, is plenty durable for a jewelry box & is very easy to repair should it be damaged. It also works very well to block odors but I still don't know if I would put BLO inside of a box.

           Rob

3. 
   northhouguy | Mar 01, 2007 11:32pm | #3

   I have made several jewelry boxes and cases for the ladies I love.

   My finish of choice is Minwax wipe on poly.  I'm wary of shellac because if Madam puts the box on her dresser and then gets some hairspray or perfume on it the finish is shot.

   Poly stands up to chemicals and wear.  It's easy to apply and can be rubbed to any desired sheen. 

   What woods do you use for your boxes.  Where do you find good hardware, (hinges in particular)?  I use Brusso, but they are getting very hard to find in Houston and are very expensive from the manufacturer. 

   Good luck. 

    

1. 
   mapleman | Mar 02, 2007 12:37am | #4

   North,

   Where do you find good hardware, (hinges in particular)?  I use Brusso, but they are getting very hard to find in Houston and are very expensive from the manufacturer. 

   Pardon my intrusion, but the best prices I have found on Brusso box hinges (with the integral 95 degree stop) is from Lee Valley. Last order I got from them I paid $16.80 /pair (You have to buy 5 pair to get the price that low). Everyone else seems to be charging a minimum of $18, and I have seen them as high as $27 for the exact same Brusso hinge.

   Lee

2. 
   user-83153 | Mar 02, 2007 07:46am | #5

   northhouguy,

      I have to take exception with your post. In the first place you are comparing the finish of poly, minwax poly no less, to the finish of shellac. Make two jewelry boxes, you finish one with minwax anything and I'll finish one with shellac. Now see which one the ladies in your life would rather have. My bet is that they would be willing to exercise a basic amount of respect for the piece and not spray chemicals wildly around it in order to have the one finished in shellac.

      Secondly, if you get hairspray or perfume on shellac it isn't "shot". It can easily be repaired no matter what the damage is with a pad and a little alcohol. What do you have to do to repair poly? Now fast forward ten years. Your Minwax poly has yellowed considerably and is beginning to peel (especially if the piece is ever in direct sunlight), the shellac still looks the same as it did the first day. No wait the shellac piece looks better because the wood has developed some nice patina under a color stable, optically clear finish that will last an easy hundred years with only minimal care and common sense. And if after a hundred years it is starting to look a little worse for wear, anyone that knows anything about shellac can make it look brand new again with that same pad and alcohol.

                      Rob

3. 
   dsmark | Mar 02, 2007 11:11pm | #7

   I use a variety, and try to mix 2 contrasting woods on a box. Woods of choice are curly cherry, birdseye maple, padauk, walnut, bloodwood. I try to put some holly on the edges if I can find any, but it's really expensive.

1. 
   splintergroupie | Mar 05, 2007 08:30am | #20

   Occasionally paduak will react with BLO and produce a white powdery residue. I had a gallery return a box to me with this 'growth' inside it, as i used to oil the inside and lacquer the exterior. I now finish all the boxes inside and out with lacquer. Lacquer, like shellac, is also easy to repair, but hasn't the susceptibility to alcohol and water that shellac has. I've made at least a couple thousand boxes, so i know it works.

1. 
   dsmark | Mar 05, 2007 03:55pm | #21

   Do you have any photos of some of your boxes you could share?

1. 
   splintergroupie | Mar 05, 2007 08:31pm | #22

   Here are a couple styles:

   
4. 
   frenchy | Mar 03, 2007 12:38pm | #10

   northhouguy,

    First Most women keep jewery boxes on their dresser not on the sink in the bathroom..  Second, Any spray quickly wiped off will have no effect on shellac.  If it does shellac isn't difficult to repair since each new coat melts the previous coat. Thus no stripping or sanding needs to happen.   simply apply a little denatured alcohol on a rag and correct whatever blemish exists.. Worst possible case you simply add another coat of shellac.  Then this time put a coat of wax on it to protect it from happening again..  

    

4. 
   Woodrat1 | Mar 02, 2007 08:36pm | #6

   Hi,

   I made a jewelry box with curly maple and walnut burl. I applied three coats of varnish, lightly rubbing with 0000 steel wool between finishes. When fully cured I put a light coat of oil on
   the box and, using a felt block, buffed out the finish with rotten- stone and then with pumice (or pumice & then rottenstone, I forget the order)

   Pumice and rottenstone are powdered abrasives Much like sand paper, they are of two different grits. I forget which is more abrasive than the other. The powder, when mixed with the oil creates a slurry. Buffing with the felt block will give you an amazing finish with tremendous depth and clarity.

   It is a bit of messy work - but the results can't be beat. The oil will
   smell for a while (weeks if not longer) but will eventually go away. Just take the time to thoroughly clean the box when done and that will reduce the amout of time it takes for the smell to dissipate.

   You can buy the felt block, pumice and rottenstone via Wood Craft on-line or at their retail stores.

   Try it - you'll love the results (and so will your lady friends)

   Bill-

5. 
   gmoney | Mar 03, 2007 02:00am | #8

   i really like making small boxes of different sorts. almost always i use blo followed by shellac. i don't put oil inside the boxes except maybe the outer edges of the box or top. i do shellac the insides and the outsides. after the shellac i wax and buff. the boxes look nice and have a nice feel too because of the wax.

   the shellac is very fussy either. you can wait a few hours or days. i often shellac the following morning right over the oil. i used to put poly on everything and now it's rare for me to use it.

   if you really want to use poly you can make something similar to waterlox brand by combining a third each of blo, poly or varnish, and mineral spirits or turpentine.

   good luck

   ps i know it seems like each project needs the perfect finish, but when i began to experiment a bit i really enjoyed it. by the way, most boxes made will have almost no exposure to water other than atmospheric humidity. many very old boxes had only wax on them and they are still in musuems today.

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Mar 03, 2007 04:02pm | #11

   Just a small point about Waterlox.  There are three basic flavors of their core product, there is Original/Sealer which most people mean when they just say Waterlox but there are also Satin and Gloss varieties.  But you can't just mix up an equivalent product because none of the three is a oil/varnish mix, they are all straight varnish.  You can thin a regular varnish and get closer, though the resins in the Original/Sealer give a particularly nice mellowness to the gloss. 

1. 
   gmoney | Mar 04, 2007 08:05am | #14

   steve,

   you may be right, i'm not sure, but they sure make it look as though there is tung oil in the mix on their website. i don't have the can in front of me either, but i seem to remember that being the same on the can. as a matter of fact, i'm not even sure what constitutes pure varnish or resin as they all seem to be oil modified in some way.  now i'm kinda curious myself as to where the truth lies, no pun intended, at first.

   intereted,

   greg

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Mar 04, 2007 02:48pm | #15

   Tung oil was used to make the varnish.  The finish makers use the term modified when they are talking about a chemical reaction.  So varnish is oil "modified" with phenolic resin or with alkyd resin or with urethane resin, though with single part finishes there is often more alkyd resin than urethane resin.  All these resins are plastics, products of the petrochemical industry.  Waterlox uses phenolic resin, which is the hardest, though I believe there is another resin also encorporated with the Original/Sealer. 

   It is unfortunate, but manufacturers believe, probably correctly, that consumers endow tung oil with a special status.  Therefore they emphasize the fact that their product either uses tung oil as an ingredient, as with Waterlox, or that there product gives a finish something like a tung oil finish, which is the case with many "tung oil finish" products, only some of which contain any tung oil.   That's why you sometimes have to read manufacturers literature like a lawyer to tell whether the product contains tung oil, was manufactured using tung oil, or just looks like tung oil. 

   Edited 3/4/2007 12:00 pm ET by SteveSchoene

1. 
   gmoney | Mar 04, 2007 10:46pm | #17

   ok steve, thanks. i have read some previous posts talking about decoding the myths and mixes of various finishes. i knew it wasn't as straight forward as one would like it to be. i've also heard that "tung oil finish" is often mostly boiled linseed oil. in fact, even the "boiled" in blo is a misnomer almost all cases as i understand it. perhaps tried and true being the exception.

   as an aside with all that said: i've made finish with a third each of blo, varnish, and turpentine. it makes a very nice finish and even smells pretty good too.

2. 
   nikkiwood | Mar 05, 2007 04:48am | #18

   Steve,With the Waterlox products, is the "Original/Sealer" just a thinned out version of the Satin stuff?********************************************************
   "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

   John Wooden 1910-

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Mar 05, 2007 06:15am | #19

   No, the satin has "flatting" agents that you must keep stirred.  The Satin has a slightly higher solids content than the Original/Sealer so its not thinned out at all.  In my opinion, because of the flatting agents, satin finishes from any maker should be brush applied to let the surface level and the flatting materials work more uniformly. 

6. 
   boxboy | Mar 03, 2007 04:26am | #9

   A long time ago I built a Jewelry box that Woodsmith featured, I cannot remember the #, but it involved placing an inlay veneer on the top (a rose) and a mirror on the inside of the lid. I used equal parts of BLO, Turpentine and Spar Varnish. The varnish I believe could be satin or gloss, I chose satin, but it had to be "Spar" Varnish. I applied  with a square of cotton wrapped in cheesecloth letting it dry overnight. I ended up with 7 or 8 coats and it looked great. Now when I visit (about once a year) I add another coat and I must say it has really held up and looks great....

   Oh yeah, I made it for my Mother......I think she still likes me as opposed to Tony Sopranos' mother................

    

    

   
   

   ---

   Edited 3/2/2007 8:29 pm ET by boxboy

1. 
   Rich14 | Mar 03, 2007 07:42pm | #12

   boxboy,I have a little Cuban mahogany knick-knack shelf my father made in 1945. It is finished with shellac. He made it while recuperating in an Army hospital bed, so he had no woodworking equipment. He applied the shellac with a gauze pad. I don't think he had the opportunity to put on more than a thin wipe or two. It looked great then. Looks great today. Has never had any additional finish or any attention of any kind other than dusting once a week or so. It'll look just as good 50 years from now as it looks today.Shellac on wood. Priceless.Rich

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Mar 04, 2007 03:54am | #13

   Rich.  Isn't it really:  Shellac on wood excellent.  Made by my father--priceless. 

1. 
   Rich14 | Mar 04, 2007 05:52pm | #16

   Steve,Yes and yes.Rich