I will definitely post a pic when I'm done, thanks
I will definitely post a pic when I'm done, thanks
BLO will do the grain popping..Be sure to let it dry thoroughly before next coat.
Jerry
Yeah ... give it at least 30-40 years before calling it dry ... (it still won't be dry though)
Nope .. not at all referring to raw linseed oil ... in fact, I don't even think you can buy it easily anymore. I'm talking about the same old crap you get at the home stores ... BLO. It never really dries ... in fact ... put some on a piece of wood ... let it attempt to dry for your standard 24 hours ... then, warm it with a heat gun ... it IS dry, right ??? Odds are it will liquify, and come running out of the pores at the surface. All it does is migrate deeper into the wood and sit there ... it never really dries/cures/hardens or whatever you want to call it. I've stripped antiques and left them sitting on the bench ... afternoon sun came around through the window, and the piece got so warm that the oil was dripping from it ! Nasty stuff that has NO place in a modern shop. Exactly WHAT does this crap do for you that can't be accomplished in a safer & more sane technique ??
I'm sure you're right, Bob, in many cases; and I defer to your experience. But in my short experience, if you wipe it off (as if you are applying an oil/varnish finish) it dries 'enough' to be a perfectly obedient substrate to most hard finishes, including polyurethene. I agree that the benefits of BLO are debatable, but so too is the magnitude of its negatives.
Last edited by Prashun Patel; 10-14-2014 at 3:30 PM.
I've used BLO since I first started woodworking for "grain popping" and have never had an issue with it...very thin coating to just do the job and then on to the next steps the next day. I've even used Jewitt's method of BLO, shellac and top coat in the same day with zero issues. One of the candle stands in my great room was finished that way. Modern BLO has either metallic dryers (non lead) or some other method for promoting drying, such as the polymerization that T&T uses with it's metallic dryer free formula.
The bottom line is use the method you prefer and that works for you...
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Been doing various phases of woodworking/finishing/refinishing for 55 years ... old nasty linseed oil is like marijuana ... once you know the smell, you will always recognize it. And, before you ask ... I know the smell of weed because of a career in law enforcement.
Think about BLO this way ... ANY liquid, when in contact with a dry substrate, will always try to migrate from an area of high concentration to an area of less concentration. That is the ONLY reason you are able to topcoat blo successfully. It migrates deep into the body of the wood, and then, just sits there. Years later, if you strip the finish and give it a clear path to the outside, along with some heat to reduce it's viscosity, IT WILL MOVE and try to go towards the heat and it's escape path. That is what I experienced while refinishing some antiques ... the blo got warm from the sunlight and moved towards the surface. You would not believe how much acetone and paper towels it takes to dry up the surface of something like that.
So the Waterlox OSF would be better than Danish Oil? For the cherry blanket chest?
My finishing experience is very limited. What has turned out well has been just dumb luck.
Pretty much everything looks better with Danish Oil, but it has to cure a long time to not get into blankets, etc, right?
True, but to put a finer point on it.. 'poly' just refers to "more than one". Mono-mers (monomers, with mono meaning "one", "mer" would be a "unit") are the raw materials to synthesize into poly-mers (polymers, = "many mers", "many units"). Then comes the various polymeric chemistries. Polyurethane, polystyrene, polyacrylic, polyurethane-acrylic, polystyrene-acrylics, polycarbonate, polysulfide..........etc.
Coatings formulations can then be solvent based or water based, with 'based' indicating the carrier. Solvents reduce the viscosity of solvent based resins (polymers), among other things. Water based polymers exist as basically very tiny (nanometer range) billard balls stabilized in water by surfactants (soaps). Solvents (coalescing agents) are added to water based finish formulations to help in film formation. You lay down a coating of a water based finish, the water evaporates prior to the solvents, the remaining liquid increasingly becomes richer in solvents, the billard-balls start to dissolve, a film forms, solvents evaporate and your done.
All that is a simple description of how it all works..there are many finer points, exceptions, hybrids..... beyond this..
I'm an old polymer chemist..habits die hard. Someone refers to a coat of 'poly' and it always throws me..poly(what)?
Kevin, in context, "poly" generally refers to finish with polyurethane resins here, but you are absolutely correct that there are more detailed meanings in chemistry!
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...