Eric Jacobson
01-12-2014, 12:26 PM
I opened my big mouth and offered to fix my grandmother's 80-year-old 16" diameter cracked bowl. For the crack, which goes from rim to base, I'll fill it with CA glue and sawdust. That's the easy part. However, during the whole process, I removed the finish my grandfather had used. It was some kind of varnish, I suspect spar varnish because he was a boater. Anyway, it needed refinishing so I soaked it with CitriStrip for 24 hours. The finish came off but left some nasty stains (see photos).
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Are there any easy practices to deal with this?
The best I can come up with is:
Use a tinted oil to darken the whole bowl, hopefully hiding the stains. I normally use clear Watco Danish Oil, but I noticed they sell a Dark Walnut Tint Danish Oil. I could try that.
Use another Varnish. Possibly a varnish would also hide the stains. I would probably use some Minwax Wipe-on Poly.
My grandmother didn't seem to mind the shiny spar varnish and it probably held up pretty well to her lack of care. However, something tells me I should convince her an oil finish is nicer.
279674279675279676
Are there any easy practices to deal with this?
The best I can come up with is:
Use a tinted oil to darken the whole bowl, hopefully hiding the stains. I normally use clear Watco Danish Oil, but I noticed they sell a Dark Walnut Tint Danish Oil. I could try that.
Use another Varnish. Possibly a varnish would also hide the stains. I would probably use some Minwax Wipe-on Poly.
My grandmother didn't seem to mind the shiny spar varnish and it probably held up pretty well to her lack of care. However, something tells me I should convince her an oil finish is nicer.