doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Finishing Open Grain Walnut

This has to be the most open grained piece of walnut this side of my firewood stack. I have about 10 coats on it (thined, sanding in lightly) and it doesn't seem to want to close any more. I used a filler after alkanet stain and I knew it would take extra coats but this is getting absurd.....Any ideas?Thanks!

If you use tru oil for finishing, I saw a piece of advise on Pete Hyatt's site. Smear it thick, let it dry a little then wipe it off. May take a couple of applications in the same way. Also you can wet sand it with the oil on, pushing the "mud" into the pores, let it dry then reapply.
I am trying the first method myself as we speak.
I also heard about using shellac to fill in the pores.
One of my neighbors uses very thin layers of tru oil applied 30-40 times. He occasionally cuts it back by sanding it lightly.
I am no specialist!

Gil; I think your problem is in the "thinned" part of your process, thick is the answer here, as in Silver's post. I have in the past added very fine wood dust to the Truoil to make it thick and then applied it liberally, sometimes more than once, steel wooling off the dry access back to the wood between coats. I haven't tried it but perhaps you could add some stain to th mix? --- John Can.

I've had the same thing happen. You just have to keep at it and the pores WILL eventually fill.

Learning to "back down" your finish is paramount. Once you have a surface finish built up on your stock. It needs to be sanded in order to level out the finish . As the finish seals the stock it begins to pool in the pores and they do fill to a degree. However, you are still adding material to the surface of the stock thus creating high points (the stock surface) and low points (the pores). One quick way to level this all out is to sand between every few coat. Try sanding with a 800-1000 grit wet/dry paper lubricated with 2/3 linseed oil 1/3 mineral spirits.
Without the lube you will pull the finish form the pores and clog the paper. If you sand to heavily you will pull the finish form the pores. It takes a lot of practice to know how much to sand between coats and how many coats of finish between sanding. However, it is always better to sand to lightly than to much.

Do some experimenting with this process and it will all come together.

Dan

Gil

You can use some Rottenstone in a large salt shaker. Put a liberal coat of your finish on the stock and shake some rotten stone on. Sand this in to make a slurry. I use a circular motion with some 400 girt wet or dry paper. When you have a slurry sanded in you can squeege it off with a old credit card or I use a room key (plastic) form a motel. Squeege it across the grain and let it sit for 12 hours. Sand back to the wood and repeat for at least three times. Pushing the slurry into the pores can do wonders for open grain wood.

Just my two cents worth.

Regards, Gordon

I've used the sand/slurry method and the rottenstone method. Both work, but for very open grained wood, I've found that the rottenstone treament works better. One caveat on the rottenstone way, it's hard on checkering tools.

Gordon: Did you pinch that room key? Seriously, does the rottenstone affect the color of the finish? It has a dark color, sort of like graphite. Thanks for the ideas.

Yeah, that. I submit that filler is NEVER necessary and is an abomination to the checkerer. I've found even cloudy satin oils with flatteners in them will cost me twice as many cutters.

I start on bare wood with my finish thinned 50/50 with mineral spirits and a paint brush. I slop it on constantly in an effort to keep it soaking sloppy wet for 10-15 minutes, including all inletting. If I could afford it, I'd submerge the stock in this mixture. When it stays shiny wet everywhere for 5 minutes, I tackle the inletting with a Q-tip, making sure here are no puddles in tiny corners that will dry and create interference. I want it to dry dimensionless, and this is the only time I'll apply oil to the inletting. At this point, my finish has penetrated as deeply as it's ever going to. After this 30-minute task, I hang it to dry overnight.

Next morning, if there are significant dull areas, I may do another 50/50 saturation but, if so, it will only take 5 minutes this time. Usually, if I was thorough enough the first time, it has dried shiny on 95+% of the surface. Now I slop my finish on full strength and thick, avoiding the inletting. This is not pretty; it's thick and ugly but efficient. Twelve hours later, I'll slop on another thick coat and dry overnight.

Next morning, it's ready for a 320 wet sand back to the surface, but not so far as to open more pores, and I wipe the tacky mud off with not-too-absorbent paper towel and circular motions so as not to pull mud out of the pores. Then I glop on full strength and thick, and dry another 12 hours. For me, the only difference between the tightest English and the most open-pored Claro is the number (2-5) of 320 wet sands I have to do. I repeat this operation until the pores are filled; rarely does this take more than 4-5 wet sands with 320, or 3-4 days total. Only then do I move on to thin dry coats wet sanded with 400 and 600. No point in breaking out the 400 until a 320 wet sand leaves no shiny pore.

Gil
Yes I pinched the room keys. I have about two dozen of them. Do you need some? I travel every week so the supply is unlimited.

The rottenstone does effect the final color of the wood. I have never found this offensive though.

As to checkering, I put masking tape in the border line that is around the checkering. I use magnafiers and an X-acto knift to trim the tape and then I run my finger nail into the line. After my third layer of this slurry I remove the tape and use a tool around the border. This is usually all that is needed as the rest of the checkering is clean.

With the same magnifers you can actually look into the pores in the sunlight. I use the type that is about 10X.

Regards, Gordon