Silky Oak Table - Best natural finish?

G'day all,

I have an old silky oak dining table, that I just sanded back the polyurathane finish that someone had done in the 70's and then applied 3x coats of a product called Bee Pure Polish, which is bees wax, white spirits and some other wax starting with C (sorry don't have it in front of me right now), which was a thin smelly product.

The polish was applied with fine 0000 steelwool and each coat just got dried completely, then I sanded with 400 grit paper before applying the next coat...after three coats I started using another product called Gilly Stevenson's Old Fashioned Furniture polish - applied with a soft cloth, then polished off, I applied 3 coats of this polish, it looked OK, never got that lovely waxy sheen I was after though.

My major issue is, that this morning the table feels very very dry, and it has obviously just soaked all that goodness up... is there anything better, or should I just keep applying more and more coats?

Also.. someone (not saying who!) put a glass of water on the table this morning and it marked it quite a bit, but I managed to dry it out and polish it up again.. is there anything not chemically that will seal a little better? Or is this just symptomatic of the table being too dry?

Any advice appreciated!

Hi Mh,
You could try taking all that stuff off, then burnishing with Wattyl Teak (Scandinavian) Oil as per here. You will get fluid resistance and heat resistance with a great shine.
Here's an example of Silky Oak done this way. Antiphile and Timbertom can tell you all about it.

Regards,

Rob

Wow, that cabinet looks gorgeous. Love that natural sheen.

Can this effect be achieved with hand sanding, as I don't have an orbital sander, and don't want to invest in one right now.

Is the Wattyl brand Scandinavian Oil a natural product do you know? Pps in the household are super sensitive to chemicals, so I want to keep it as natural as possible.

Forgot to add that I am not sure removing the previously applied bees wax based polishes is going to be possible without chemicals or really deep sanding, as they have totally soaked in, the table feels very dry and thirsty to the touch

Can the Oil be applied over the top of the Wax based products (which are not full on thick bees wax) ?

If you are after a natural Oil finish, then Tung Oil would be the go. Once cured (say 48 hrs), it is considered food safe and safe for use on toys and chopping boards. Just don't drink it raw!
This can be applied without a sander, though using grits over 400 to wet sand by hand may improve the final finish. I can't say what effect the existing wax will have on the finish, maybe you could try it out on an inconspicuous part of the table and see.

A product you could consider for removal of the wax (through several treatments) is Citrus Terpine. This is an all natural alternative to Turps. Wiping the table down with this a number of times would help remove the wax.

Both pure Tung Oil and Citrus Terpine are available from Organoil and sold at Carbatec. (See here)
You can get good effect with the oil by diluting the pure product 1:1 or even 1:2 in Terpine for the first few coats. Probably 4 coats would give a good result. The first two diluted with Terpine and the last two as pure oil.

Coats should be 48 hours apart. A light sand with a high grit paper between the first two coats (and probably after the third)will help with the final finish. Give the final coat a few days to fully harden, then try using UBeaut EEE cream as a final cutting agent followed by UBeaut Traditional Wax for the final coat. You will get the lustre you are looking for and probably liquid resistance as well.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.

Regards,

Rob

Howdy MovieHeretic

I'd like to comment on a few quick points.

Firstly, I can't see any problems with you sanding off any of those coverings (wax, furniture polish or polyurethane) without chemicals. Sanding disks can be bought quite inexpensively (especially in a packet with a 60, 80, 120 and 180 disk for about $6 or $7).

Secondly, the method LGS describes and uses does require a random orbital sander, but you truly don't need to spend heaps for one that gives a fantastically amazing result. I fortunately was lucky enough to borrow one for a while, but until I can save enough to purchase one of similar RRP, I spent $49 at Bunnings and bought an Ozito 450 watt ROS. It gives results that are at least as good (and I think is much better) than the borrowed "famous brand name" 125 watt ROS that retails at nearly 4 times the price as the Ozito. I'm pretty certain the correct technique (as per LGS's website) is much more important for a good burnished oil finish than an expensive sander.

I'm certain if you give it a try and follow his technique, you will not be disappointed!

Cheers
Phil

If you're going to remove the wax finish and start again, you could try doing so with white spirits. You'll probably need to give it a couple of goes, and use plenty of paper towels.
I suggest you use a coat of shellac before applying the next finish. Sand the silky oak (I go to 800 grit, but you may not wish to go that far), apply shellac, allow to dry for a couple of hours, sand lightly again with the finest grit you used previously, wipe over with white spirits and allow to dry. Then apply the finish of your choice. The shellac acts as a sanding sealer, gives a beautiful feel to the timber and makes for more even absorption of oil finishes.

Hi all,

Rob, Phil, Alex thanks very much for the advice, I am a bit confused which way to go now though lol! :U

I think it sounds like I need to sand it back and begin again, which is no drama, I love this old table even though it is not valuable, it has been in the family for years after it was found in a garage being used to hold a dismantled car engine block thing and bought for $2 off the guy!!!

Being a total newbie to woodworking I do appreciate the advice guys! Hubby (whose forum account this is!) is overseas with work, and I would love to surprise him with this table all gorgeous at Chrissy!

I could probably borrow an orbital sander off a neighbour, but I will go and check out Bunnings for a cheapie Ozito, just didn't want to spend hundreds on something I will possibly never use again, although I have several "restoration projects" in the garage that hubby was going to do but hasn't gotten too yet lol!

Cheers me dears!

Kim

Hi again,

Alex makes an excellent point. Silky Oak is thirsty at the best of times, so coating it with Shellac makes sense. You could then just hand apply the Tung Oil as I described.
If you do want to go the hard burnishing route, make sure you get (borrow or buy) a Random Orbital Sander. An Orbital sander will not give you the finish you want.

Regards,

Rob

Ahhh Thanks for the clarification Rob, I would have overlooked that part, not having any idea there are two different kinds.. Random and just Orbital!!

Shellac scares the bejebus out of me... What do you have to do with that???

Make sure you take the advice of all the experienced people in here very seriously (unfortunately I'm nowhere nearly as experienced or skilled as LGS or Alex). I have learnt a lot from these guys, and it they have saved me a huge amount of grief and frustration.

I can assure you the $49 Ozito 450 Watt ROS at Bunnings is a true Random Orbital Sander. I have many types of sanders, but since I used a ROS I now turn to it first for about 90% of my work. It is easy to use and does a fantastic job. The only drawback of the Ozito is that the variable speed setting isn't quite as accurate as the one on the Bosch or Makita professional models, and though I've can't even afford to dream about one, the Festool which one smarty-pants Evil Savant in this thread can afford :U! Though since that particular unamed person is a professional furniture maker he can well and truly justify it.

As for shellac, it is much easier to use than you think. To save a lot of hassles for a one off job, I'd suggest you buy a small bottle of premixd shellac, and to use as a sealer, apply it with a paintbrush according to Alex's technique. It really is amazing stuff.

Cheers
Phil

Quote:

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Originally Posted by antiphile

As for shellac, it is much easier to use than you think. To save a lot of hassles for a one off job, I'd suggest you buy a small bottle of premixd shellac, and to use as a sealer, apply it with a paintbrush according to Alex's technique. It really is amazing stuff.

Cheers
Phil

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Since you're using the shellac as a sanding sealer, rather than french polishing with it, the strength of the mixture isn't so critical. If you use our sponsor's white shellac, you can cut it about 1 part shellac to 2 parts metholated spirits. With shellac flakes, I put some in a jar to about 1/4 of its depth, then fill the jar with meths, and let it dissolve for about 24 hours. Orange shellac will darken the wood slightly more than white (AKA blonde) shellac. The purists will probably tell me I'm not precise enough, but it works for me. If I won't have quite enough to finish a job I'm quite happy to add a bit more meths to stretch it a bit. Shellac is one of the easiest and best finishes to use.
And don't worry about the speed of the ROS - mine stays on the highest speed.

Looking forward to seeing the results!

Hi Alex,
So is 95% (standard. off the shelf) Metho OK to use when making sanding sealer from Shellac?

Regards,

Rob

PS. My ROS stays at max speed also.