Hi,
I followed Jeff Jewitt’s recipe for a faux fumed oak on white oak finish. I used a med-red dye and let it dry for well over a week in low humidity. It was dry and no color rubbed off. I then applied 2 coats of walnut Watcos over 48 hours and let that sit for a few days. I applied the Watcos with a brush rather liberally and rubbed it in then let it sit outside( I’m in San Diego County it’s been in the 70’s with 30-50% humidity) After assembly I’m noticing that there are spots where the Watcos is oozing out of the wood and actually dripping slightly down the piece. My guess is some of the pores are deeper than I imagined and it collected in there and is now coming to the surface, but I’ve used Watcos before without that happening. Never on oak though.
Is this normal? Will it stop? Will it set up?
Please put my mind at ease.
N
Edited 1/27/2003 12:29:35 AM ET by notrix
Replies
This "bleeding" behavior is very common with Watco. That's why it's important to keep going back and wiping it off as the solution bleeds out. Oak is especially susceptible because of its large open pores.
It sounds like there may have been a temp and/or humidity change from the outside time and wherever you have the furniture now. You need to keep wiping it, being sure to wipe before any drips or oozes get thick and solid.
I've had oak that seemed fine (all wiping done and successful) and then bleed when I turned the wood upside-down. I recently tried the wet-sanding technique with Watco on oak and it worked great. For more details see BG's thread about Watco.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thanks!
Of all the times I used Watco I guess I never used it on porous wood so it made sense but I was concerned. Thanks again for helping me understand what's happening and how to deal with it.
N
Glad to help. Woodworking's tuff (that's "tough" for you spellcheckers out there) enough without having to deal with bleeding stock!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
If I was "in San Diego County" where "it's been in the 70's with 30-50% humidity," my mind would already be "at ease," and I wouldn't care less about Watco bleeding a little bit. I'd just wipe it off and go running on the beach. But, here in the Northeast . . .
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