Christopher Charles
08-20-2014, 3:31 PM
Hello all,
Just finishing up an arts and crafts sofa table for a friend that I'll get posted in Projects in the next couple of days.
I decided to finish by traditional fuming and after experimenting with the garden variety cleaning strength ammonia (~5%), decided to go nuclear with 26%. Initial experiments with the 5% were promising after 24hrs with a test board in a plastic shoe box, shown here with a coat of BLO and 2 coats garnet shellac.
295298
However, the 5% ammonia did nada in the larger fuming tent that I cobbled together:
295299
295300
[Note that i found a great new use for dog holes--holding the compressed air nozzle at the end of the red hose that i used to clean off the dust prior to fuming ;)]
For anyone interested in trying the 26% ammonia, follow the advice that I did-- use all the appropriate safety gear and do outside if possible (I have a double car garage door that was open, with an additional window open, and was able to fume while only being in the garage for less than 30 seconds to place and remove the tub. Nonetheless, i wore a full face mask, respirator and gloves. And the tiny whiffs i got were beyond anything from the cleaning ammonia...)
After three hours, my extra test leg had a sickly grey cast that looked to be the right tone, shown with the unfinished table top, a coat of shellac only and a coat of BLO followed by shellac from left to right.
295304
The finish came out great, with a minor exception. I used old brown glue for all the glue ups and was careful to wipe off the excess with water. But, being hide glue, I didn't go completely OCD (as usual with yellow glue) and discovered that any excess creates a film that the gaseous ammonia does not penetrate. Nothing disastrous and not noticeable unless pointed out on the exterior of the piece. Did not (and will not) take pictures of the evidence :)
I offer my experience here as a word of caution to the Neander hide glue fans as I did not come across the issue during my research prior to fuming.
Overall, I found the fuming to be a great approach and provided a great tone after a finishing schedule of
-one coat BLO
-two coats garnet shellac
-one coat dark briwax
-one coat clear briwax
Cheers,
Chris C.
Just finishing up an arts and crafts sofa table for a friend that I'll get posted in Projects in the next couple of days.
I decided to finish by traditional fuming and after experimenting with the garden variety cleaning strength ammonia (~5%), decided to go nuclear with 26%. Initial experiments with the 5% were promising after 24hrs with a test board in a plastic shoe box, shown here with a coat of BLO and 2 coats garnet shellac.
295298
However, the 5% ammonia did nada in the larger fuming tent that I cobbled together:
295299
295300
[Note that i found a great new use for dog holes--holding the compressed air nozzle at the end of the red hose that i used to clean off the dust prior to fuming ;)]
For anyone interested in trying the 26% ammonia, follow the advice that I did-- use all the appropriate safety gear and do outside if possible (I have a double car garage door that was open, with an additional window open, and was able to fume while only being in the garage for less than 30 seconds to place and remove the tub. Nonetheless, i wore a full face mask, respirator and gloves. And the tiny whiffs i got were beyond anything from the cleaning ammonia...)
After three hours, my extra test leg had a sickly grey cast that looked to be the right tone, shown with the unfinished table top, a coat of shellac only and a coat of BLO followed by shellac from left to right.
295304
The finish came out great, with a minor exception. I used old brown glue for all the glue ups and was careful to wipe off the excess with water. But, being hide glue, I didn't go completely OCD (as usual with yellow glue) and discovered that any excess creates a film that the gaseous ammonia does not penetrate. Nothing disastrous and not noticeable unless pointed out on the exterior of the piece. Did not (and will not) take pictures of the evidence :)
I offer my experience here as a word of caution to the Neander hide glue fans as I did not come across the issue during my research prior to fuming.
Overall, I found the fuming to be a great approach and provided a great tone after a finishing schedule of
-one coat BLO
-two coats garnet shellac
-one coat dark briwax
-one coat clear briwax
Cheers,
Chris C.