Keyser Soze
Senior Member
- Messages
- 206
Wow, that is some awesome wood.
As far as sanding is concerned it does not look absolutely necessary from those pics. A simple test is to wet the surface of the wood with mineral spirits, this will help highlight any defects or scratches that need to be sanded out.
Even if there are no defects but you want a more silky feel and surface sheen then you could sand further. Starting with 320 and moving up to 400 (at which point you are really polishing more than sanding. I've gone all the way up to 800 on really hard dense woods like ebony and desert ironwood (pistol grips) - that's when they really begin to show chatoyance.
However, when you polish wood that much the wood often becomes very resistant to any type of surface finish or topcoating.
Ordinarily I'm not big on oil finishes but in this case they really are the best option for what you describe - they will provide something of a wetter/deeper look while also looking 'in the wood, not on the wood.'
I'd go with plain boiled linseed oil. It's cheap and easy, but does take some time.
For the first coat warm the oil in a pan or over a double boiler - no hotter than water you'd use to wash your hands. Apply generously to saturate the wood as much as possible - reapply as necessary over one hour to keep the wood saturated then wipe of the excess and leave it alone for a couple days.
After two days some of the excess oil may have popped back out of the grain. Lightly scuff sand the surface to an even texture with 320 grit paper, apply a thin coat of oil (no more need for heating) let it set for about an hour. After an hour wipe off any excess oil. Repeat this process daily for 3 more days using 400 grit paper then let it set for a week.
After a week apply a generous coat of oil and wet sand with 600 grit paper on a felt or firm sponge sanding block. Work in sections, wiping back to check your work to ensure an even surface sheen. Once the entire surface is sanded to an even sheen apply one last thin coat of oil - really thin.
Let the piece rest for at least a week. After that you can either burnish it out with clean cotton rags on a backing block (or a muslin wheel on a buffer) if you want a higher gloss, or knock back the sheen with 0000 steel wool (I prefer garnet synthetic.)
As far as sanding is concerned it does not look absolutely necessary from those pics. A simple test is to wet the surface of the wood with mineral spirits, this will help highlight any defects or scratches that need to be sanded out.
Even if there are no defects but you want a more silky feel and surface sheen then you could sand further. Starting with 320 and moving up to 400 (at which point you are really polishing more than sanding. I've gone all the way up to 800 on really hard dense woods like ebony and desert ironwood (pistol grips) - that's when they really begin to show chatoyance.
However, when you polish wood that much the wood often becomes very resistant to any type of surface finish or topcoating.
Ordinarily I'm not big on oil finishes but in this case they really are the best option for what you describe - they will provide something of a wetter/deeper look while also looking 'in the wood, not on the wood.'
I'd go with plain boiled linseed oil. It's cheap and easy, but does take some time.
For the first coat warm the oil in a pan or over a double boiler - no hotter than water you'd use to wash your hands. Apply generously to saturate the wood as much as possible - reapply as necessary over one hour to keep the wood saturated then wipe of the excess and leave it alone for a couple days.
After two days some of the excess oil may have popped back out of the grain. Lightly scuff sand the surface to an even texture with 320 grit paper, apply a thin coat of oil (no more need for heating) let it set for about an hour. After an hour wipe off any excess oil. Repeat this process daily for 3 more days using 400 grit paper then let it set for a week.
After a week apply a generous coat of oil and wet sand with 600 grit paper on a felt or firm sponge sanding block. Work in sections, wiping back to check your work to ensure an even surface sheen. Once the entire surface is sanded to an even sheen apply one last thin coat of oil - really thin.
Let the piece rest for at least a week. After that you can either burnish it out with clean cotton rags on a backing block (or a muslin wheel on a buffer) if you want a higher gloss, or knock back the sheen with 0000 steel wool (I prefer garnet synthetic.)
