Andrew Pitonyak
08-10-2015, 9:18 AM
Money is tight (so I did not want to purchase new wood) and I wanted a small letter organizer. I have a few Walnut boards so I used those. I have not done much work with walnut, and I am not an experienced finisher. Last time I used walnut, I slapped on a coat of shellac and called it good. It looked for its purpose but was not the least bit interesting. I decided to experiment and I spent time reading walnut finishing threads on the forum here and then I used what I have sitting around.
First, I slapped on a single coat of Watkin's Danish Oil (since I have a can just sitting around). I put it on let it sit, then I wiped it mostly dry.
I let the parts sit for about a week
I then rubbed with a cloth to make sure it really was as dry as I thought it was.
I took some yellow shellac flakes and added some alcohol.
I slapped a few coats of shellac onto the parts.
319299319301
My primary intent was functional, and I toyed with rounding the corners and cutting a pattern out of the inside of the boards.
I used a single board.
If I laid the "separator" boards end to end, they would show a continuous patterns.
This is my first piece that I finished before assembly. It made it much easier to clean-up glue squeeze out. I created some shorter sacrificial "separator" boards that I put in place when I applied finish. I removed them while the finish dried so that I did not end up with a bond between them. I applied a thin strip of painters tape along the bottom of the separator board so that there is a small area with no finish so that there can be a glue surface. I was a bit nervous about this, but it worked well.
I cut the dadoes for the separator boards on the table saw using flat topped rip blade using multiple passes. I just crept up on a tight fit. One side I did not check properly so it was to tight. I figured this out before I applied any finish but after I had already moved my fence and changed the blade on the saw, so I fixed that using some course sandpaper wrapped around some thin plywood. It is a tight fit for all of the boards. I did end up with some shellac at the mating surface, so it took a wee bit of persuasion to get the boards in the place as it peeled a small amount of shellac off as the board slid into place (translation, I hit it with a hammer and a block of wood).
For those of you with a bunch of experience, you already knew how much of a difference a bit of oil would make. For me, it was enlightening. I built a computer desk using African mahogany a while back and I finished it using Waterlox original sealer and finish. Later, i used some of that left over wood and I built a small chest with two drawers (about 14" square) that I finished using only shellac. The difference in the finish was striking. No comparison between how good the Waterlox finish is compared to the boring shellac. It seems that I could have jazzed that one up a bit if I had hit it with a coat of oil first. I was trying to avoid the excessive dry time that I gave the desk with the Waterlox (I let some parts sit finished for a month or two before I used them).
First, I slapped on a single coat of Watkin's Danish Oil (since I have a can just sitting around). I put it on let it sit, then I wiped it mostly dry.
I let the parts sit for about a week
I then rubbed with a cloth to make sure it really was as dry as I thought it was.
I took some yellow shellac flakes and added some alcohol.
I slapped a few coats of shellac onto the parts.
319299319301
My primary intent was functional, and I toyed with rounding the corners and cutting a pattern out of the inside of the boards.
I used a single board.
If I laid the "separator" boards end to end, they would show a continuous patterns.
This is my first piece that I finished before assembly. It made it much easier to clean-up glue squeeze out. I created some shorter sacrificial "separator" boards that I put in place when I applied finish. I removed them while the finish dried so that I did not end up with a bond between them. I applied a thin strip of painters tape along the bottom of the separator board so that there is a small area with no finish so that there can be a glue surface. I was a bit nervous about this, but it worked well.
I cut the dadoes for the separator boards on the table saw using flat topped rip blade using multiple passes. I just crept up on a tight fit. One side I did not check properly so it was to tight. I figured this out before I applied any finish but after I had already moved my fence and changed the blade on the saw, so I fixed that using some course sandpaper wrapped around some thin plywood. It is a tight fit for all of the boards. I did end up with some shellac at the mating surface, so it took a wee bit of persuasion to get the boards in the place as it peeled a small amount of shellac off as the board slid into place (translation, I hit it with a hammer and a block of wood).
For those of you with a bunch of experience, you already knew how much of a difference a bit of oil would make. For me, it was enlightening. I built a computer desk using African mahogany a while back and I finished it using Waterlox original sealer and finish. Later, i used some of that left over wood and I built a small chest with two drawers (about 14" square) that I finished using only shellac. The difference in the finish was striking. No comparison between how good the Waterlox finish is compared to the boring shellac. It seems that I could have jazzed that one up a bit if I had hit it with a coat of oil first. I was trying to avoid the excessive dry time that I gave the desk with the Waterlox (I let some parts sit finished for a month or two before I used them).