| | | |
| Leave it to the pro. Michael Dresdner, a nationally known wood finishing and woodworking expert, has answered hundreds of common wood finishing questions in Varathane’s Q&A library to help you successfully complete your project. Click on a link to the left for help and solid advice. |
| |
| | | |
| Q: We have pine trim and doors in our condo. If it is stained, it is very light, just enough to bring out the grain. The existing finish is starting to wear. We treated the doors and trim with Old English furniture oil a few months back and the wood looked great for a month or two but now it is back to its worn appearance. Can we restore it without stripping even though we don’t know what finish is on the wood currently?
A: If the finish is not peeling or cracking, you can go over it with another coat of finish without stripping, but you will have to remove the Old English furniture oil first. Clean the surface and remove the oil by scrubbing with mineral spirits on fine nylon abrasive pads. The solvent will remove any surface grease and the oil while the pad lightly abrades the surface. Wash several times, if need be, wiping with paper shop towels until they wipe clean. Once it is clean, let it dry overnight before added two or more coats of oil based polyurethane in whatever sheen you prefer, or if you would rather wipe instead of brush, use Watco Wipe-on Poly |  | |
| Q: Any idea how many brushed coats of shellac would be sufficient for a guitar?
A: Coats don’t mean much since one person’s light coat could be another’s heavy, and one coat by some might be equivalent to three of someone else. Typically, the finish on a guitar should be about six to eight mils thick after it is dried. To put that into perspective, that’s about twice the thickness of standard computer printer paper. The easiest way to keep tabs on how thick your finish is getting is to apply it to a sample stick each time you add a coat to the guitar. Measure the stick beforehand with calipers or micrometer, and measure it again after a few coats. | | |
| Q: I was given an unfinished cherry wood cutting board as a gift. Shall I soak it with vegetable or olive oil or use something else to preserve it?
A: Normally, cutting boards, like wooden spoons, are utility tools, and as such, I generally recommend they be left in the raw. However, if you want to keep it looking as pretty as possible, you can treat it, but not with vegetable oil (olive oil is a vegetable oil). Vegetable oils do not cure and will turn rancid over time.
You have two good options. The first is to treat it with mineral oil, which you can find at the pharmacy. It is edible and does not dry or go rancid. The problem is that since it does not dry, each time you wash the cutting board with soap and water you will remove much of it, necessitating frequent oiling. A better choice, in my opinion, is to treat the board with food safe butcher block oil. It will last longer and require less frequent oiling, though if the board is used for cutting rather than merely serving, it will take some wear. | | |
| Q: If I try mineral oil first on a cutting board, and if I find it doesn’t last, can I then switch over to butcher block oil?
A: It’s not a good idea. Mineral oil is a non-drying oil. Unless you get all of it back out of the wood, and that’s not easy, it can impede the cure of butcher block oil. You’d be much wiser to choose one or the other up front. If you want to test out the two, test them on scrap wood. |
| |
| | | | Page | | 1 | |  |
| |
|
|
