Finishing Woes

[TripleJScroller]

Since I discovered this wonderful hobby just a short time ago I've discovered that I absolutely love spending long hours at my saw cutting away.  While I'm far from an expert at the saw, I've steadily seen improvement in my cutting and have even produced a few items that I'm quite proud of.  The problem is once I'm done cutting I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to finishing.  So far my attempts could easily be labeled as complete failures.  There is nothing worse to me than spending hours at the saw creating something nice and then ruining it in the finishing stage.  I've watched many youtube videos and read more tutorials than I can count and for some reason I'm just not getting the results.  To be honest it's led me to develop a bit of a fear of the whole finnishing process and my Wife keeps pointing out the stack of projects I've got sitting waiting for finishing.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips for me to help me get over this fear and maybe improve my finishing.  I will tell you that spray lacquer that I see people use in the Youtube videos seems to be my enemy.  I've ruined more than one project with that stuff...lol

 

Thanks,

 

Josh

Edited April 2, 2015 by TripleJScroller

[Scrolling Steve]

Josh, I am not a fantastic finisher myself...as a matter of fact my dear wife did a lot of finishing on my early projects. One of my problems was i was in too big of a hurry! It does not matter what you are using, Varnish or stain or paint , you must let it dry! ... Once i learned this lesson i have made progress....I still never turn down help from the wife.

[LarryEA]

Absorb what you read. Have patience.

Every manufacture has instructions on how to apply their product..

What you didn't do was tell us where your problem is.

What the bad results are.

Is it runs? splatters? Cracking?

Does your work have a smoothe sanded surface...........?

[TripleJScroller]

Absorb what you read. Have patience.

Every manufacture has instructions on how to apply their product..

What you didn't do was tell us where your problem is.

What the bad results are.

Is it runs? splatters? Cracking?

Does your work have a smoothe sanded surface...........?

 

As far as the bad results it's kind of hard for me to pin point.  Most of my problems seem to be in the lacquer stage.  For instance I dipped one sign I made in a mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits.  It looked real good.  Then I applied some spray on lacquer and even gave a couple days between coats due to the humidity here in Florida.  When it was done it has kind of a rough finish.  It looks good from a distance, but up close you can see the roughness.  Another project at the lacquer stage came out looking like I'd put glitter on it.  It looked like little crystals on the surface.

 

 

Josh, I am not a fantastic finisher myself...as a matter of fact my dear wife did a lot of finishing on my early projects. One of my problems was i was in too big of a hurry! It does not matter what you are using, Varnish or stain or paint , you must let it dry! ... Once i learned this lesson i have made progress....I still never turn down help from the wife.

 

Haha.  Steve my Wife is dying to get her hands on some of my projects.  Problem is I prefer the look of wood in its natural state.  She wants to slap paint on everything...lol.  I had to compromise and cut her out some stuff she could paint just to keep her away from the stuff I don't want to paint...lol

[Jim Finn]

What are you trying to finish?  Fretwork? intarsia? inlay? compound cuttings? toys? What kind of wood?  Plywood?  I finish my inlay work with a wipe on poly after extensive sanding and shellac undercoat.  When I used lacquer I use just lacquer over lacquer. Sand to 500 grit before and between coats of finish.

[amazingkevin]

Spray cans have been a down fall since  i started scrolling. But as larryEA stated the instructions are on the containers ,which i never read.I'd spray close up to get a nice wet look but that was the down fall.The cans are loaded with thinners just to get it out of the cans.So holding them at the recommended distance works out great .The thinner drys on its way to the project and basically the paint and a little thinner goes on the project with out runs .It took me 50 years to learn that trick.Hope this helps part of your problems finishing thing!

[TripleJScroller]

What are you trying to finish?  Fretwork? intarsia? inlay? compound cuttings? toys? What kind of wood?  Plywood?  I finish my inlay work with a wipe on poly after extensive sanding and shellac undercoat.  When I used lacquer I use just lacquer over lacquer. Sand to 500 grit before and between coats of fini

 

Most of what I cut I guess would fall under fretwork.  I use mostly baltic birch plywood.  Also some signs with inside cuts using either red oak, or popular.  I need to find some finer grit sand paper I think, the finest I've found is 220 grit at Lowes. 

[oldhudson]

I really think you need to provide specific info before anyone can help. What problems are you having and what are your expectations. And of course pictures....

[jamminjack]

Hey there and welcome.

 

For my two cents worth, I like Steve Goode's way of finishing.   He uses a bath of Lemon Oil.   Get a tube or small container , dip your item in,

and let soak for a minute or two, and then let dry.  It puts a beautiful soft natural finish on the piece.

[TripleJScroller]

I really think you need to provide specific info before anyone can help. What problems are you having and what are your expectations. And of course pictures....

 

I tried to take some pictures, but unfortunately the issues just don't show up in the pictures.  Maybe I'm just being too picky.  My Grandfather was a finnishing carpenter and a perfectionist to say the least.  Maybe I inherited some of that from him...lol.

 

Hey there and welcome.

 

For my two cents worth, I like Steve Goode's way of finishing.   He uses a bath of Lemon Oil.   Get a tube or small container , dip your item in,

and let soak for a minute or two, and then let dry.  It puts a beautiful soft natural finish on the piece.

 

I'll have to look into something like that.  I'm starting to think I should just skip the lacquer as it's where I'm just not happy with the way it's turning out.

[Apache]

I just dip my projects in lemon oil and let them dry.  I use alot of redwood and it really works to bring out the deep colors in it.  Its just me but I don't like shinny wood......

[courdorygirl]

I don't generally use laquer. I bought some polycrilic spray and like you, I didn't like the way it dried. It was either too rough or made my paper wrinkle. I find high gloss photo paper doesn't need finishing, and for paint if I'm going to finish it instead of just letting the paint day, I use 3M or Alene's craft finishing spray. It doesn't dry as badly as the polycrilic, probably because of the type of thinner in it.

[ike]

One thing about varnish and suck  you apply it with a brush let it dry then take 400 / 6000 grit emery and ssand it before the 2 coat let it dry and use 600 oly grit to finish it . one other t=hing about varnish which is all i use  yo thin it down by 10%  this allows the varnish to flow togather and leaves no brush marks , just don't put it on too heavy light coats does the job.

[LarryEA]

  I may be how it is drying. Too quick drying (85 degree +) lacquer might crackle

but a second coat would cover the crackling if it dries properly.

High humidity might cause fogging of the lacquer finish.

 

* Spray one light coat on a surface. spotty and spattered, too far away. Runny too close.

[Doug]

Josh

 

Everyone has their own preferences.  I am lazy and unskilled so I do what is almost impossible to screw up.  I put my finished piece in a bath of Natural Danish Oil, remove it to the paper Scot Shop Towel, wipe dry with another Scot Shop Towel, set on parchment paper, wipe dry again in about an hour, about 8 to 12 hours later do the same process, and then 8 to 12 hours later go over with 0000 steel wool and blow clean with the air compressor.  It would be no fun doing all of this for a single items so I usually wait until I have anywhere from 8 to 12 pieces to do it.  I just use a 9 x 11 cake pan to hold my Danish Oil and then pour in back in the can, wipe the pan dry and wait for next time.  I almost exclusively do fretwork and word art with 5/8ths inch hardwood and this achieve a result which is simple and satisfactory for me.

 

Good luck in finding what works best for you.

[Travis]

Oil finishes are used mostly to pop the grain on wood.  Baltic birch tends to be pretty plain.  Besides, with portraits, I prefer the portrait take center stage and not the wood grain.

 

Here's what I do and I've had good results.  Sand to 220.  Blow off the dust with an air compressor (or canned air).  Take it outside and give a light coat with a acrylic spray (Deft is a really good brand with great results).  Let that dry and give it another coat.  If there are dust nibs in your finish, knock them down with a quick 220 scuff (or steel wool), then one last coat.  The trick is to not to get each coat too thick.  Remember, you're going to put on several coats anyway, no need to put it all in one.

[TripleJScroller]

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions.  I've got some idea now on what I was doing wrong as well as some great ideas for what I can try in the future.  Once again I appreciate how helpful everyone here is, not to mention patient and understanding with us newbies!

[dgman]

Hey Joshua, sorry to come on so late, just got home from a long day working. Anyway, I use this method on every thing I scroll. First I sand the wood blank to finish grit, usually 220 grit. Then when I'm done cutting, I touch up with the 220 grit sandpaper.

Like you I use a 50/50 mixture of boild linseed oil and mineral spirits. Here in So. Ca., the humidity is moderate so it usually take 24 hours to dry. Then I apply the lacquer. Like everyone has said, spray a light even coat. With the Deft lacquer it drys very fast. I can usually apply three coats in about an hour. I don't like a shiny finish, so I use semi gloss or satin.

Now, here's my secret, well it's not so secret as a lot of folks do this, I use a folded piece of brown paper bag to sand off those little nubs that you see. It's like 2000 grit sand paper, but does not leave any sand dust. If there are any nubs between coats, sand them with the brown paper. I use a small soft brush to brush off the project between coats or you can use compressed air.

I do a final sanding with the brown paper. This evens out the final coat and buffs out any rough areas.

When I go grocery shoping, I always ask for paper bags!