Oh did I mess up!

[Pete Staehling]

Interesting...I wonder if the oils they use are drying oils or have to be renewed occasionally. And I agree that could explain the behavior over the resin.

My friend that uses it says that it catalyzes. If he is correct, I'd consider that to be a drying oil. One thing he said, if I understood and remember correctly, was that the one way he found to screw it up was to put it on too heavy and then not buff off the excess allowing it to catalyze with excess on the surface.

He also said he sands to finer grits than he does with other finishes, not skipping any steps and sanding to the level of matt or gloss he wanted the finish to be

FWIW the one and only little piece I did with Odie's was sanded to 600 grit and had one application of oil. It looks really nice. It doesn't have a gloss, but brings out all the figure and color of the wood. It looks like someone spent a lot of time lovingly rubbing oil into it, when I actually spent a few seconds rubbing oil in and a few more buffing it off.

I will be getting some in stock and testing it out to see if it suits my needs, but i am optimistic based on first impressions. I may follow up with more impressions when i actually have some real experience with it.

[Jim Becker]

"Amen" to that religious thing about cherry and staining/dying.

[Joseph Skoler]

You guys are great!

So, my understanding is that Odie's is indeed a drying oil. And, that the finer/higher grit one sands, the glossier the finish.

That's why I went to 1200 -- hoping the gloss level on the non-epoxied part would come closer to the epoxied area.

I tried scraping and sanding quite a bit, but the main divot in the pre-characterized area (love it!) is a solid 1/8" (maybe 3/16") deep (I won't make that mistake again), so cutting down the entire surface and reflattening was not something I was up to doing.

But, I have a Grizzly 12" Jointer/planer on order, and already have a 22/44 drum sander, so I'll know for next time what to do (and what not to do).

Regarding the 22/44 sander: I wouldn't know how to feed 94"x38" table top through it (that is, I wouldn't know how to keep it from falling over and messing up).

As for staining Cherry: I repeatedly begged my friend to accept it without staining, but she insisted. And it looks pretty good (except for the pre-characterized area).

As for using Odie's vs. an oil-based varnish: I have tried various varnishes and techniques and have almost always been able to mess up, resulting in streaks or other imperfections.

Lastly, my decision to fill the dimple with epoxy was clearly a bad one. It was a hell of a learning experience. One that could have been avoided by asking here first.

Thank you so much to everyone!

[Pete Staehling]

Odies has a dark oil and an oil that is supposed to age the wood. I have zero experience with either, but they might be an option in lieu of other products for staining the cherry. I guess the dark is essentially stain, but the aging stuff may darken it to the rich dark natural brown quickly like UV exposure does. It sounds interesting for those not willing to wait.

Again no first hand experience.

[Tom Bender]

Can you flip the top over and start again? Otherwise it might be time to call it an expensive lesson and buy some more wood.

[Carl Beckett]

As for staining Cherry: I repeatedly begged my friend to accept it without staining, but she insisted. And it looks pretty good (except for the pre-characterized area).

What is the feedback from your client? Do the imperfections bother her? Often I find things that really bug me, nobody else notices or cares about.