final rubout of Waterlox question

[Josh Rudolph]

I built my second son a crib that I finished with Waterlox. He is of the age now that we want to move him into the crib and out of the bassinet.

However the crib still has the finish smell to it. The finish has been on the crib for 13 weeks now and it still has the curing finish smell. The smell is still strong enough that it would give me a headache if I were in the room too long.

I always thought the rule of thumb was to wait until you can't smell the finish any more and it has then cured. It could then be rubbed out.

Is this typical? What might I do help speed up the curing? We run the ceiling fan and the smell seems to go away, but in reality it is just moving it out and we can't smell it. When the fan is off, you can smell it.

Thanks,
Josh

[Scott Holmes]

13 weeks sounds a bit long for curing. You are corect, if you can still smell the varnish, it's still curing.

Try a fan blowing across it not a ceiling fan. What is the temp in the room? the warmer the better.

How many coats and how thick were they?

[Bob Wingard]

Keep it in a well ventilated warm area for several days BUT DO NOT put it in direct sunlight yet. The finish film acts much like a magnifying glass and will concentrate the sunlight enough that the whole thing could blister.

[Henry Ambrose]

I'd put it in the sun without hesitation.
Or anything else to help it cure.
I'm kinda surprised its not rock hard already.
I certainly would not put a child in it until I was sure it was OK.

[Harvey Pascoe]

13 weeks and still not cured? Wow, sounds like something is wrong there. I put as many as 6 coats of varnish on my products and there is no smell after one week or so. The only thing I know of that could possibly cause that is putting the varnish on too thick, but on a crib with mostly veritical surfaces, that sounds unlikely. Do you have a lot of sags in the varnish? Can you dent the finish with your fingernail? And are you sure the odor is coming from the varnish?

Thick varnish sags can take up to a month to cure in my experience but 13 weeks is beyond anything I know of. When I get runs or sags, I flat chisel them off rather than wait to try to sand them away.

I use the sun for curing varnish almost every day with surface temps getting up to 150* and it does not blister. However, it will blister if you have uncured shellac beneath varnish.

A final question is what kind of wood is the varnish on. There are a number of highly resinous woods that either retard or PREVENT varnish from curing.

[Josh Rudolph]

13 weeks and still not cured? Wow, sounds like something is wrong there. I put as many as 6 coats of varnish on my products and there is no smell after one week or so. The only thing I know of that could possibly cause that is putting the varnish on too thick, but on a crib with mostly veritical surfaces, that sounds unlikely. Do you have a lot of sags in the varnish? Can you dent the finish with your fingernail? And are you sure the odor is coming from the varnish?

Thick varnish sags can take up to a month to cure in my experience but 13 weeks is beyond anything I know of. When I get runs or sags, I flat chisel them off rather than wait to try to sand them away.

I use the sun for curing varnish almost every day with surface temps getting up to 150* and it does not blister. However, it will blister if you have uncured shellac beneath varnish.

A final question is what kind of wood is the varnish on. There are a number of highly resinous woods that either retard or PREVENT varnish from curing.

Harvey,

No sags that I have found on the varnish...I wiped on 4 coats of the varnish. I thought I was too thick also, but can't find any places where I was too thick. The wood is Curly Maple.

Thanks,
Josh

[Scott Holmes]

Josh,

Was this Waterlox a fresh new can of finish? Never before opened?
What did you do to the maple before you applied the Waterlox?
Did you by chance apply boiled linseed oil to pop the grain?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Scott.........Whatever Josh's answer is, I'm interested in the BLO point - I assume this is a no-no?

[Josh Rudolph]

Josh,

Was this Waterlox a fresh new can of finish? Never before opened?
What did you do to the maple before you applied the Waterlox?
Did you by chance apply boiled linseed oil to pop the grain?

Waterlox was bought about a month before I applied it from Woodcraft.

The Maple received a NGR-dye that I sanded back some and reapplied to get more contrast in the curl. I then went straight to the Waterlox.

No BLO at all.

[Harvey Pascoe]

Does anyone other than you detect this odor? Sometimes we smell what we expect to smell. The mind can do funny things that way. And no, I'm not being facetious. I've had it happen.

[Bob Wingard]

I use a LOT of Waterlox, and I've never had that happen. Have you contacted them ???

[Scott Holmes]

Kent,

Some say it's a no-go to use BLO at all.

I like the way it pops the grain; you MUST give it time to cure; 24 hours minimum, before top coating. I usually let it cure 48 hours. Some varnishes (especially poly) can have trouble adhering to wood treated with BLO, even if it's had time to cure. Others don't like what i does to the grain of the wood. Some call it pop or enhancement, others say blotchy mess... to each his own.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Some say it's a no-go to use BLO at all.
>> Some say the earth is flat.

I like the way it pops the grain;
>> Moi aussi

you MUST give it time to cure; 24 hours minimum, before top coating
>> Interesting. One thing I picked up from Jeff Jewitt was to just barely dampen a rag with BLO, and rub the surface with it.....just......barely.....enough to transfer to the surface, then wait a couple hours. I never had the guts to do that, so I've always waited overnight, but not necessarily 24 hours. QS sycamore followed by wipe-on poly [I know, I know....blanket chest for young niece with high potential for damage]; cherry followed by shellac. Never "soaked" a piece with BLO.


Thanks, as always, Obi-Wan.

[Scott Holmes]

I don't flood the surface with BLO; just a damp rag then let it soak a bit and then buff it dry; so Iagree with Jeff's approach on application.

I give it at least 24 hours to cure; the humidity in Houston can get up above 60% even in my shop with A/C.