A friend of mine asked me to consider re-finishing an old turned bowl, that she would like to restore to use. Which would be massive green salads for church pot-luck suppers, mostly. I'm looking for guidance as to how to do this.
The bowl is about 25" in diameter and 9" tall; huge! Others at my woodturning club, Brasstown Woodturners Guild, think it might be chestnut. I have no opinion. I think it's probably a nice bowl, once you get past it's existing finish.
The existing finish on the bowl is what I would describe as 'gummy.' You can scrape a fingernail across it, and it gums up your fingernails. My guess is some sort of oil, perhaps also (or else) a wax. Press a fingertip to it, and you would say it is a bit sticky. But underneath that finish, there's some solid wood (chestnut?), and it's thick enough that removing a layer of finish, along with some wood, won't be a problem, structurally.
This (below) will give you an idea of the existing finish, and the underlying wood once the finish is removed.
Screenshot 2019-08-09 at 6.30.24 PM.png
Close-up of sanded area (test):
Screenshot 2019-08-09 at 6.39.37 PM.png
I'm considering 3 different approaches to removing the existing finish, prior to revealing the underlying wood and sanding out the implement scratches, and re-finishing the bowl. (Some previous owner paid no attention to the 'use wooden implements' advice, so the bottom of the bowl has some visible scratching that needs to be sanded out.)
Here are the 3 approaches, for which I'm soliciting comments and suggestions. Of course, if you think of other approaches, let me know:
- Forget about how much sandpaper costs, just do it. Throw away lots of gummed up rough grit paper in the early stages, and then get on with the finer grits, until it's done. This is something I know how to do, and from the photo above, you can see that I've given it a test. I used 3" hook-and-loop disks on a drill, but I'm wondering if a random-orbit sander (5" disc) might be better, at least initially.
- Use some sort of scraper to physically remove the top layer of gummy finish, then go to sandpaper. Save some money on sandpaper (but spend it on scrapers), and learn something new (to me, at least). If you think this is the way to go, give me some tips, please!
- Go 'Chemical Ali' on it, and use something liquid to remove the old finish. Like what, and how?
I appreciate your thoughts on this!
Robert