Working With Wood

[speakerman1]

I really like High-Gloss finishes. But they show every mistake. I'll tell you some tricks that may help you.

Dents- Take a wet cloth and put it on the dent. Then put an iron on it on high. And hold it there for a few minutes and it will pull the dent out. If the grain is broken it takes longer.

Water rings - When you get to the bare wood put bleach on the rings and let it soak. It will bleach the rings out.

Now for a finish you can't mess up. Watco danish oil. If you get a mark of any kind. Just sand the mark out and then put more oil on it you can't tell there was anything ever wrong.

The reason I'm bringing it up is I'm going to do my Labs when every thing is done. There is no finish on them. So I will take 0000 steel wool and rough them up a little then I will wipe them down with a tac cloth. Then I will use use Watco natural oil on them. I will put the oil on with 600 grit sand paper. It will make the finish as smooth as a babies behind. Then ever so often I will wipe them down with more oil.

Larry

 

[Elite-ist]

Good tips, Larry. I have a few speaker cabinets I would like to restore. For the time being, I have been using diluted Murphy's Oil Soap for cleaning and Old English for preserving the wood on speaker cabinets.

Nando.

 

[Web Police]

Great tips Larry. I'll have to remember these.

 

[speakerman1]

If you use a stained Watco oil. It has to be a uniform hardwood or you will get dark and light spots. Use it on Oak or a hard wood like that. Do not use it on a soft wood like Pine or Aspen. I did a herringbone patterned that was oak and walnut dining room table. I did it in black walnut. It was gorgeous.

Larry

 

[Fast Forward]

I use a Damp towel heated in a Micro for dents,,,never thought about bleach,thanks I als use Min-Wax wipe on Poly in Satin or Gloss for my Finish Real thin stuff no Streaks,,Pics Of my Marantz 7s,,before and after

 

[laatsch55]

DAYAM!!!

 

[Fast Forward]

One of my better efforts

 

[speakerman1]

I use to use min-wax all the time. It is hard to mess up. Like you said just put it on with a rag. I used foam brushes. The way to keep them and not throw away every time you use them. Is put them in a sandwich bag and put them in the freezer. That way they don't dry out and you can reuse them.

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

The main reason I use Watco is because a finish gets scratched. With this I just sand it and pour more on. It doesn't have a gloss. I would one day like to try a Piano finish. Lacquer is such a hard finish to work with. There is no fixing one spot. But when done right it is nice.

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

Good tips, Larry. I have a few speaker cabinets I would like to restore. For the time being, I have been using diluted Murphy's Oil Soap for cleaning and Old English for preserving the wood on speaker cabinets.

Nando.

Nando
I never use any thing with water in it on wood. If you are using an oil finish. Then try the watco. You should just be able to dust the cabs to clean them. Water raises the grain.

The reason I know this stuff is when I was living in Dallas I worked in an unfinished furniture store. I did learn a few tricks. Then I started do customers furniture on the side. The only thing I hate doing is stripping wood. It is a pain in the butt.

Larry

 

[Fast Forward]

I use to use min-wax all the time. It is hard to mess up. Like you said just put it on with a rag. I used foam brushes. The way to keep them and not throw away every time you use them. Is put them in a sandwich bag and put them in the freezer. That way they don't dry out and you can reuse them.

Larry

Hard to Mess up ,,is why I use it,,,plus because it goes on thin ,it drys fast and I can just ultra fine steel wool it down and apply more coats,,,I just refinished the Stock on that Nasty looking Russian Army Rifle,I bought a Month ago Came out Beautiful

 

[speakerman1]

Also if you use a gloss and want satin. You can use the 0000 steel wool to make it a satin finish.

Larry

 

[rtp_burnsville]

Here are afew additional tips that I have picked up:

Mineral spirits works good to clean and also can be used to give you an idea what the finished wood will look like when it's wet.

If you want to add color to wood like maple, never use stain but rather dye. Dye particles are many times smaller than stain and can get into the tight grain cell pattern of maple. To maple stain is much like paint in that it moreless just sits on the surface and looks awful.

I really like Watco oil and use it on most everything I build these days. De-waxed Shellac is also a wonderful finishing material but not durable in some environments that use some types of cleaners.

Robert