Slurry splash

Depends...

Ellis Walentine

>You haven't given us a description of the problem. If the sharpening slurry contains metal, you probably have black spots on your oak right about now. But, the slurry may also have filled up some of the open pores of the wood, which could come back to haunt you later depending on the sheen and open/closed pore effect you plan for your clock. Also, you didn't mention how much slurry or how extensive the damage.

My recommendation would be to dissolve a teaspoon of oxalic acid (sold as granular wood bleach in paint stores and home centers) in a cup of warm water and then wipe off the clock with a rag soaked in the solution. Dry it with a dry rag almost immediately after the black spots go away. Repeat if necessary. Wait a day or two and then sand or scrape the fuzzy surface to get rid of the raised grain.

I also recommend that you practice this on a test piece, spattered with the same slurry/swarf that has gotten on your clock. If my advice doesn't work properly, come back and tell us what happened so we can take it from there.

Ellis Walentine, Host

question....

Joe Burke

>Ellis

From my experience, I'd wipe the entire clock. Not just the splashed section or the piece containing the splashed section. Rather the entire clock. I'd assume the bleach mixture would change the appearance of the wood where applied, and it would be obvious after finish was applied.

I ran into a problem with veneer tape ghost, and household bleach solved the problem. But if I hadn't wiped the entire piece it would have shown. My problem was on doors, and I had to wipe 8' x 12' of extra case work.

This is more of a question than a reccommendation. Unless the answer's yes, of course.

That's where experimentation comes in

Ellis Walentine

>That is thoughtful advice, Joe, and it should certainly be checked out before proceeding with spot treatments. Oxalic acid, especially in dilute concentrations, is not a powerful color remover although it works like magic on the black iron stains, so I suspect the color difference in the oak itself would be small to negligible, especially if he were to dry it quickly once the black spots had disappeared. The re-sanding process on those areas would also help restore any lost wood color.

It's always better to be safe than sorry, but I wouldn't want to have to re-sand the whole clock if it isn't necessary.

Ellis

Re: That's where experimentation comes in

Franz Stuppe

>Ellis and Joe

Thanks for your valuable input!

Yes, the splash turned to dark spots, as I was sharpening a chisel(metal source) I will expirement on scrap piece with the Oxalic acid and let you know how it turns out.