Hi,
I just bought a red oak sofa table kit from Van Dyke Restorers. I’ve built a few pieces of furniture from kits, but I’ve always had the same problem: The glue will seep out from the joints so I wipe it off with a damp cloth. I sand the piece fully. Then I stain it and the stain reveals the glue spots that I thought I had wiped off and sanded.
Am I doing something wrong? Do I wait for the glue to dry and then scrape it off?
Finally, with red oak: I’m trying to get it to look like an old Mission piece of furniture. Besides fuming it, can someone recommend a Minwax stain color that will approximate old oak?
Many thanks,
Michael
Replies
i try never to wipe off glue...it gets further in the pores and tends to show through...i prefer to wait until it is solid all the way through, but not fully cured and then slice it off with a sharp chisel...i also like to use polyglue...the excess that foams out can be easily removed with a chisel after it dries...
i've never had very good luck with minwax stains... if you are looking for an off the shelf type stain, i used to have prety good luck with ZAR stains and i think they make a few colors that fall in that spectrum...
to get dark you may have to use multiple coats of stain or combine stains & dies for the desired affect...it's not as much of a challenge as you might think. just get some scrap wood and practice until you find the color combo you want...
when I stain I use ML Campbell stains & dies...you can make up just about any color you can dream of with their system...but you can't just run to the home depot to buy it...
Good morning (at least in my time zone),
Addressing the later first, check out http://homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/mission_oak.htm for some good info on mission oak finishes.
As to the former, I am no scientist or glue expert but I've had the most success using one of the following methods:
Use masking tape to shield the adjoining areas so that squeeze out never touches the wood and can be peeled off with the tape.
Do not over-glue the joint to minimize squeeze out and then allow what squeeze out that does occur to PARTIALLY set up and carefully remove it with a chisel.
Most all of the glues we use in common woodworking are water based and using a wet sponge or rag to wipe away excess only serves to dilute it and allows it to soak deeper into the wood fibers. In fact, watered down glue is often used as a sizing and has the effect of sealing the wood against stains.Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral. Frank Lloyd Wright
It never needs be a surprise that there is glue on the surface. Wiping down the piece with mineral spirits will reveal the glue so it can be corrected before staining. Besides, the wipe down is a good idea to eliminate dust from the surface.
I like the homestead finishing schedule for finishing mission oak. Sometimes multiple steps ends up being a lot easier than trying to find one product that almost never really gets the look you want.
What ever you do, make some samples of the finish from start to finish. If you don't have some similar red oak, undersides that won't be seen can be used.
Michael,
Just to go against the grain a little...
I have wiped away excess white PVA and Titebond I glue on oak furniture joints, when the glue is still wet. However, I do swamp the area 3 times with a very wet sponge, rinsed out thoroughly each time. This raises the grain but also seems to wash the glue out of the open grain too.
But the other recommendations in this thread for dealing with glue squeeze-out are the standard practice.
I only ever stain oak, for Mission or English arts & craft style pieces. I always use van dyke crystals, which provide an old, traditional, dark brown stain. These crystals are apparently made from walnut shells and can be dissolved in water. The dilution rate determines the darkness of the stain, which is often labelled as "Jacobean Oak" in more modern types of stain - ie quite a dark brown with no red in it.
Liberon sell van dyke crystals but you may find them from other manufacturers too. Being water based (you supply the water) they raise the grain, so you must resand a little before applying your sealer coat of oil or whatever.
You can also apply multiple coates of the stain to get the piece darker in stages, if you prefer. This usually gives a more even colour across the piece, as one coat of water based stain can be difficult to apply evenly.
Lataxe
A method that I learned from my woodworking instructor is to use paste wax to keep the glue from going into the wood. Here's the method:
1. Dry fit the joint.
2. Apply paste wax around the joint, whereever you think you'll get squeeze out. Make sure you don't get wax on the surfaces you intend to apply glue to. I usually go about 1 inch away from the joint.
3. Disassemble the joint and apply the glue.
4. Fit the joint.
5. When the glue is dry, scrape it away using a chisel or knife or whatever tool makes sense. The glue will just pop off even it it's totally dry. I've sometimes waited several days to scrape the glue off.
6. Remove the wax with paint thinner. Any glue that didn't come off in step 5 will easily show up and you can pop it off with a chisel.
7. Let the thinner dry and you're ready to move on to the next step.
Dave
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