Smoothing cherry end grain for oil finish

[Jules Dominguez]

Does anyone have suggestions for smoothing the end grain of cherry which will be exposed prominently and have an oil finish? I've always sanded the devil out of it but have never been satisfied with the appearance.

[Steve Jenkins]

Just sand it untill all the cloudy looking areas are gone. If it looks hazy or cloudy you aren't done sanding yet. 220 is fine enough but I know a lot of people go finer

[Jim Becker]

Just sand it untill all the cloudy looking areas are gone. If it looks hazy or cloudy you aren't done sanding yet. 220 is fine enough but I know a lot of people go finer

I agree with Steve...although for an oil finish (where the oil IS the finish and no top coat other than maybe wax will be used) I'm one of those folks who prefer to sand finer for a silky surface.

[Martin Shupe]

Here's my rule of thumb. I think I read this somewhere...

If you sand the top and long grain to 220, then sand the end grain to 320.

Perhaps someone else can tell you if this is a good idea, but it works for me.

[Jules Dominguez]

THanks, guys, I apparently just wasn't sanding long enough or fine enough.

[Hunter Wallace]

I tend to use a well sharpened hand plane of some sort...
I also tend not to be a big fan of sanding;)

[Russ Filtz]

I think the rule is as you go finer and finer with sanding, you are basically burnishing the end grain which prevents any type of finish from penetrating the grain too far. This prevents the wood from darkening as much. Sorry if this is too basic for most here.

However, depending on the design and location of the end grain piece, I sometimes LIKE the contrast in shades.

[Jules Dominguez]

Hunter, I would think that hand planing would leave the end grain pores open and subject to absorbing too much finish and getting darker than the face grain, regardless of the sharpness of the plane and skill of the user. Is that correct, and if so, how do you deal with it?

A question for those that sand the end grain, do you do it by hand or with a power sander such as a palm sander? When I use a palm sander, the wood seems to glaze over, even with the coarser first grit, making any further sanding more difficult.

[Steve Cox]

Jules, a well tuned hand plane will leave the smoothest finish of all the methods precisely because it does cut rather than abrade the wood. And yes, that will allow the wood to absorb more oil and darken more than the long grain sides. Are you trying to avoid that darkening? If so, then a better method might be to seal the end grain with something like shellac before oiling the piece. That will prevent the uneven absorption between the two. For myself, end grain is just darker than face grain. That is the nature of wood.

[Hunter Wallace]

Yeah, what Steve said:p

[Norman Gallaher]

Sand and sand some more until you can't take it anymore. Orbital sander works best.

[Tim Sproul]

Seal the end grain with shellac. I've found that "soaking" the end grain with a very wet rag of 1# cut for a bit works well. Then plane or sand to the smoothness you want. Obviously...don't plane or sand too deeply.

If I seal with shellac first and the finish prep the surface.....it keeps the end grain from soaking up as much oil and keeps the color more in line with long grain oiled surface.

[Steven Wilson]

Instead of sealing with shellac you can also try flooding the endgrain with solvent before applying the oil; turpentine is what I would use.

[Tim Sproul]

Instead of sealing with shellac you can also try flooding the endgrain with solvent before applying the oil; turpentine is what I would use.

Steve,


How has this worked for you?

I had a hard time keeping the solvent off the long grain and hence ended up with uneven oil application on the long grain at the junction between longgrain and end grain surfaces.

With Cherry being a closed-grain wood, a bit of shellac spill over onto long grain is easily cleaned up with a plane, scraper or sandpaper before oiling.

[Steven Wilson]

I would normally use shellac (or thin hide glue) for sealing end grain but flooding solvent is another way. I've flooded solvent on before applying a witches brew in order to control blotchies. Cherry plywood for me blotches quickly and I find that applying a liberal coat of turpentine first helps control it. I did finish one clock with Tried and True oil and I did coat the end grain with turpentine first. You don't need to be perfect in your application, a little spill in the long grain area isn't going to have much effect because the long grain is going to absorb less anyhow. I just applied the turpentine until the end grain was saturated, then I wiped down the piece lightly with my turp soaked rag and then applied the oil as usual. As always try on scrap first.