A couple of years ago I made my first serious attempt at fine furniture by building two blanket chests out of red oak, for my daughters, for Christmas. Dovetailed body, feet, breadboard top and small storage box inside each end was mortised in and it took me several months to complete.
I researched for a finish to use and read an article in FWW about “Tried and True” Oil being the best finish that author used and I though this is what I needed.
WRONG !!!!
I ordered the finish and because I had never finished a project of this importance, I followed the instructions to the letter. Long story, short …(to late for that,I guess) It has been 2 years and the finish has not cured. Anything placed on or inside the chest sticks.
Is there any way to fix this without stripping it down to bare wood?
I used a stain to even out the color before I used the finish, but it was the type recommended on the finish label.
Replies
Bg, Responses here will vary from those who are true believers in "Tried and True," to those like you who have had nothing but disaster with the stuff. Add me to the second category. I have decades of wood finishing experience. No matter, everytime I post about this, there are follow up messages about my not applying the product "correctly." I have gone through many different batches, from different suppliers, using every possible technique including heating the stuff, applying as thin as possible, etc., etc., etc. The stuff NEVER cures in my shop. Never. Chalk it up to terrible product quality control. It really doesn't matter if a few have had "success with it. The stuff is snake oil, and not worth the time to discuss it. Try scrubbing the surfaces down with a nylon abrasive pad and mineral spirits, or use steel wool and mineral spirits and scrub as clean as possible. Then follow with an oil-based varnish, thinned 25-50% with mineral spirits. The driers in the varnish should finish the polymerization process in the remaining Tried and True (raw) oil. Rich
Remove what you can with mineral spirits. Then for the inside apply a coat of shellac--not varnish. The shellac will seal off any remaining oil finish. For the outside you could use wipe on varnish (give a non-poly varnish a try for a really nice "in the wood" look), or you could also use shellac.
Do not put any oil based finish on the interior. It will always have some odor.
I had this same situation with a corner cabinet I built about 5 years ago. The finish was still sticky after 30 months. You can imagine how much the client complained, fortunately the client was my wife, that is why I tried a different finish.
My solution, wiped it down with Naphtha, outside. Then used 0000 steel wool to rub it down, dipped the wool in turps from time to time. Then another wipe down with Naphtha. I put it into the garage for a couple of days and then checked it. There were still some sticky places, so steel wool and turps again on those spots and a final wipe down with Naphtha. I used a course cloth with the Naphtha so as to get some scrubbing action.
As you might imagine the cabinet finish looked dull and flat at that point. All stickiness was gone, but it looked like I was going to have to paint it and use it in my shop. I asked my wife and she said she liked the piece and would like me to try something else. I wiped it down with General Urethane thinned 50% with Naphtha and wiped it dry. That helped and wasn't sticky after 12 hours, so I did a second and third coat of the mix. I gave it about a week to see what would happen.
For my top coat I used a mixture of 50% Pro Floor gloss varnish, 50% Naphtha and a tiny bit of Japan Drier, wiped on with a soft cloth. When that was dry, about 8 hours, I put on a second coat that was 2/3 Pro and 1/3 Naphtha, again with a tiny bit of Japan Drier. The second coat was wiped on like the first.
I left it in the garage, protected from damage, for a week and then asked my wife too check it out. She liked it, except for the gloss. That was cured with 0000 steel wool and wax. She told me to bring it back into the house and I haven't heard a single complaint since.
Edited 7/9/2007 9:26 am ET by BilWil
Whatever you do, don't put anything oil based on the inside. See the string I started, about putting oil based poly on drawers in a dresser (Baltic birch drawers...). It never cures. Shellac seems to be the most common answer to seal anything.
Good luck.
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