Advice on spoiled finish please

Hello all,

I've been working on a burl (type unknown) as a clock for a friend. It was originally finished in poly and looked pretty beat up:

Attachment 383381

So I stripped it back, sanded it from 60 to 1500 grit and oiled it with Tung oil (not real Tung oil) to bring out the colour:

Attachment 383382

After a few coats and gently rubbing it down with 0000 steel wool, I used beeswax and built up a really nice finish on it. I think in the end I gave it seven coats and it wasn't getting any shinier, so left it at that:

Attachment 383383

All was well with the world. I checked back on it a few days later and can you imagine my upset when I saw the finish had now done this:

Attachment 383384

:no:

I don't know what's happened, it's as if the wax has somehow fouled and lost all shine. I polished it and it looked great again, this kept happening. I left it a few more days and now it's staying in this sorry state. My question is what's happened here and how could I have prevented it?

I know I'm going to have to strip it bare and start again but have no idea what I did wrong in the first place - any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi realysm4

Nice burl .. very well seasoned by the looks of it

Looks like it may be oxidising where there are exposed pores ... not in the tight knots ... perhaps reacting with the with the Tung oil?

Did you let the Tung Oil dry out thoroughly? It does take a fair while to dry.

Tung Oil is in itseld a finish ... Is there a particular reason for waxing on top of the oil?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tahlee

Hi realysm4

Nice burl .. very well seasoned by the looks of it

Looks like it may be oxidising where there are exposed pores ... not in the tight knots ... perhaps reacting with the with the Tung oil?

Did you let the Tung Oil dry out thoroughly? It does take a fair while to dry.

Tung Oil is in itseld a finish ... Is there a particular reason for waxing on top of the oil?

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Hi Tahlee,

Thanks for the reply. That's a fair question, I know Tung oil can vary greatly from one brand to the next (the one I used isn't premium). TBH I can't remember how long I left it to dry but my heating's been broken, so it's been pretty damp/cold in my house whilst working on it - so that could definitely be a factor?

I used wax afterwards because the Tung oil didn't give me the sheen I was hoping for (I'm a novice with woodwork). Is this necessarily a bad thing to do? After the application of the wax it looked beautiful and gave the wood a lovely warm lustre, so if I can I'd like to do this again.

I've stripped it back today to bare wood, I will sand it back to 1500 and oil it again. If I were to leave it 24 hours between oil coats would that suffice (my heating is fixed now so damp/cold will no longer be a factor)?

Hi,
If I remember correctly I think the oil manufacturers recommend waiting weeks after the last oil coat before waxing, if you like wax.
Regards

Quote:

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Originally Posted by A Duke

Hi,
If I remember correctly I think the oil manufacturers recommend waiting weeks after the last oil coat before waxing, if you like wax.
Regards

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Hi Duke,

That might explain it then :U

Thanks for the info; I'll get it back to where it was and wait a couple of weeks before waxing. I had no idea it could take that long.

G'day,

Before you start sanding and oiling again, you could have a look at this. The HBO is essentially Tung Oil (you could use quality Tung oil and get the same effect) with eleven secret herbs and spices. The finish is beautiful. You can PM me if you want more info.

Regards,

Rob

You got that effect because the tung oil didn't have enough time to dry or cure before you added layers of wax. Like others have mentioned here, tung oil in itself is a finish. Since it isn't pure tung oil you don't really know what else is in it.
Tung oil is usually used because it offers a low sheen finish but it does take a while to completely and thoroughly dry.
Ive done this exact thing to a few projects before I figured it out. Surprisingly some of them I left and they seemed to cure themselves but it took about a month. Not that I'm recommended that, just saying.

If you are looking for a high gloss finish then tung oil might not be for you ; polyurethane, vanish or shellac might be more suitable. Many woodworkers use a combination of substances in 33/33/33 ratio. It's worth researching into.

Good luck

i personally prefer using pure tung oil but you can get a real nice combination of pure tung oil and pure teak oil minwax. They also carry pure tung oil for a reasonable price.

Hi,

I am no expert on oil finishes but I support what others have said here. However, using beeswax has a lot of issues. For a start it is a soft and sticky wax that alters state with temperature and moisture, secondly it can be sticky enough to attract a lot of dust. The best furniture waxes have a very high Carnauba wax content, often with some beeswax and wood turpentine as carriers. Once applied you essentially remove the carriers and leave only a coating of Carnauba wax.

However, I also support Spiritwolfe's comments. I use shellac as my preferred finish and you can achieve the gloss level you want by the number of coats that you apply. Using a rubber (lint-free cloth around a wad of cotton wool or similar wadding) is actually pretty easy. Because it is metho based the carrier evaporates quickly even in Australian cool weather (although my ancient manual from the UK says it is best to have a "warm day" over 15 degrees!)

I agree with Xanthorrhoeas that the bees wax is the problem with the finish as said it is a very soft wax and the build up of many coats will leave a thick soft layer on the surface of you're piece and attract dust, much better to use a hard wax if you are going down the wax path for finish.
Regards Rod.

Excellent advice. So is ubeauts wax the thing I'm looking for?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by realysm42

Excellent advice. So is ubeauts wax the thing I'm looking for?

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The Ubeaut Traditional Wax is an excellent product and has some other hard waxes in it as well as polyethylene wax so you get a very tough finish. However, it is a very light colour so if your item has crevices/holes etc. you can end up with light-coloured marks where the wax has filled the holes. For antique furniture like cedar or Blackwood I always use a dark-coloured furniture wax. If a light colour wax is an issue for you then you could look in antique shops as they often sell good quality dark or black wax such as Liberon Black Bison wax, but there are many other good brands, just check the ingredients list. eBay is another possible source of a good black wax.

Hi,

I took on board the advice from the forum and I bought a book on the subject too:

http://www.rockler.com/understanding-wood-finishing-book<strike></strike>

This book is amazing for a relative noob like me. It squashes lots of rumours and explain things in a very plain English manner - if you're new like me it removes a lot of the stupid, time wasting (and potentially expensive) 'mystique' from this hobby. Anyway, this is what I've done since:

• Stripped it back to bare wood
• Sanded to 1500 grit (because I'm a perfectionist)
• Gave it 3 coats of 'Tung oil' (applied with 1500 grit sand paper)
• Left it to dry for a day between coats
• The finish was still far from optimal (probably not enough confidence/assertiveness with the sanding - it's a learning curve!) so I then sanded more with 1500, dried, repeated ad naseum and then realised I could just sand in small, localised spaces (instead of the whole thing each time and risk taking it back to bare wood). This tactical approach allowed me to get a beautifully smooth and even finish
• Used Ubeaut traditional wax (as recommended) and polished the bejesus out it of - repeated this 4 times.

Here are the results:

Attachment 392037

Catches the light (camera flash) nicely in this shot. I love the chaotic way burls cast the light this way and that.

Attachment 392038

The reflection is almost mirror like (I'm guessing it's not perfectly uniform because the wood itself isn't 100% flat and that's okay; adds to the character).

Attachment 392044

One more coat of wax for luck. It's silky smooth to the touch and just looks beautiful now. No more weird oily blotches. The white residue will be picked out with a dentists plaque scratcher (very useful) and any 'spillage' will be polished out.

I'll post back once the movement and clock hands are fitted.

Thanks for your advice guys, I'm sure my friend will love this house warming gift :U

That looks really good. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished clock.
David

You should be very pleased .... looks great ... and just as you first wanted it.

Congratulations

Rob