Hand planing and film finishes (long)

Final passes: planes and scrapers

David Barnett - Venice, FL

>It's probably more obsession than craftsmanship, but I set my Primus smoother incrementally finer until it takes away only those crests left by previous smoothing passes. I follow that with card scrapers looking for any residual stripes. These often are only 1/8" to 1/4" wisps when they curl off the scraper (at this point that's a very thin scraper with no turned burr). Depending on the wood and demands of the piece, I may burnish the wood before applying the finish or after a very light coat of oil.

Re: Final passes: planes and scrapers

miami

>This is an interesting topic - What do you use to burnish after the scraper, and what factors dictate whether you do or don't take this step?

TIA

Clay

Re: Final passes: planes and scrapers

Sam Simpson

>Hi Y'all,

For those interested in leaving the scalloped markings of hand tools, but also finishing with a film finish, there is a way with shellac that requires no sanding and thus avoids the problems of sand through.

It is the traditional method of French polishing. Whereby the shellac is added with a rubber (tampon) and laid down in such a manner as to require no sanding whatsoever.

There are many different descriptions of how to do it (a google search will turn up a half a dozen) so I won't go into it here.

Regards Sam Simpson.

Re: Hand planing and film finishes (long)

Alan Bierbaum

>From your post:"The ideal coat of Magnalac is 4 to 5 mils thick � essentially .004" to .005". So when I go to level my first coat of the finish (which sands very easily, by the way) I can usually level the finish without cutting through the film at all."

I also use a lot of Magnalac and really like it. However; to clarify what you wrote: Your 4-5 mills is wet thickness (I hope, as it will run or sag on vertical runs at more than 6 mills wet). At about 30% solids, this is 1 to 1.5 mils of dry film thickness.

I do think that your conclusion is correct.

Regards,

Alan

Good point

Christopher Schwarz

>Thanks for reminding me about the dry thickness issue. Maybe I shouldn't post before I've had my third cup of coffee.

Another point I forgot to make is that I usually don't sand until after the second coat of lacquer, especially when I've added color to the wood. This is both to avoid sand-throughs and for scalloping.

Chris

Re: Final passes: planes and scrapers

Steve knight

>another solution is to have a blade with a slight curver over the whole length to make the final passes this would not leave any ridges.

Burnishers and burnishing

David Barnett - Venice, FL

>"What do you use to burnish after the scraper, and what factors dictate whether you do or don't take this step?"

Let me answer your second question first: aesthetics. I just like the way it looks on some woods and some pieces. I wish I still had pictures of my work (when I was, for a brief moment, almost prolific), but Hurricane Floyd took care of that.

Anyway, I always liked the slightly scalloped surfaces left by planes and wanted the same effects on a smaller scale for boxes and other small cabinets, so I started experimenting with burnishing, something I did during my years as a hand bookbinder & restorer. The tools I used in that trade were polished agate* and bone, so I tried those first. Depending on the hardness and other characteristics of the wood (natural oiliness, grain, etc.), the curvature, smoothness and pressure of the burnishers, the length, style and pattern of the stroke, whether long straight strokes or short arched stokes, and so on, I was able to get the various shimmering effects I found pleasing. I found also that these effects were equally interesting on larger surfaces. Wide burnishers with a broad arc in long overlapping strokes can be quite pretty on tabletops, especially when dry beeswax is rubbed over it, then buffed out by hand with a piece of hard linen. (This is pretty darned aerobic, by the way, and not therapeutic for carpal tunnel syndrome or torn rotator cuffs.)

As for burnishers, look around and see what you have, of course. Many metals can leave residues and streaks. Don't try non-stainless steel on wet oak, for example. Any smooth or polished stone can do the trick. I have largish pieces of agates, jasper and jade that I favor, especially as their weight and size has ergonomic advantages for my hands and arms. You could use a polished stone egg or sphere (cheap on eBay), but I like a broader curve for larger pieces. Nylon and acetal (delrin) work, as does paper or 'bone' micarta.

When I burnish something small, whether metal or wood, I sometimes use a tumbled agate mounted in Jett Sett (covered in the archives), which makes it easy to grip and press. I also have some pieces of glass that work nicely. Bottles are okay for some things (coopered surfaces) but you'd usually be better off with something spherical or curved in such manner so that no abrupt edge touches the surfaces.

Experiment. I once hammered a fish-scale pattern onto some fairly plain but very white holly (talk about dense). Great effect. I also used narrow strokes with great pressure on a turned pink ivory object giving a subtle yet jewel-like shimmer. Go crazy.

*These were often houndstooth shapes mounted on long handles that allowed shoulder pressure; not really so useful on wood, though.

Re: Final passes: planes and scrapers

David Barnett - Venice, FL

>French polish is simply gorgeous, fun to do, easy to maintain. These days, when I polish I'm apt to knock it down and satinize (a friend of mine considers it 'Satanizing') it with steel wool or fine pumice for an eggshell finish. Love that Liberon steel wool, by the way (no affiliation).

Satin finishes

Ellis Walentine

>Nice post, Chris. Since I never looked closely enough to witness the type of dull streaks you're talking about, I was wondering if I did anything different when finishing hand-planed panels, even ones with more pronounced scalloped surfaces.

Seems to me there are a few variables here, one of which is film thickness, as you've mentioned. But another would be the method of sanding. If you use a lightweight paper in a fine grit, with a very soft backing pad, rubbing with the grain rather than using a ROS or other hand-held sander, I think this would help, too.

One other note regarding your satin finishing regime: I find that satin finishes obscure the grain more and more with each coat, so I always build film thickness with gloss product and use the satin version just for the final thin coat.

I think the cumulative obscuring effect varies from one satin product to the next, depending on the amount of stearates or other flatteners in the mixture. If in doubt, you can make a "test strip" and see how it looks after one, two, three, four, etc. coats of satin, so you know what to expect.

Ellis

Re: Satin finishes

Christopher Schwarz

>Ellis,

You're right that the flatting paste does obscure the grain. Another finishing schedule I'm fond of is a couple coats of dewaxed shellac followed by the satin lacquer.

I always hand-sand my finishes with 320-grit sterated paper. I've never used a RO sander on a finish (my boss uses it to rub out finishes with the 3M micromesh stuff).

I use my fingers as a backer for mouldings and curves (now that's soft) and a cork block for flattening large surfaces. I'll give the cloth backing a try next time.

Chris

Series of Articles

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>In the series that David is writing about in the March issue he talks about finish's aging gracefully and one's that simply degrade. He show's picture of a Edward Barnsley origional and a copy of the chair he made to complete the set with 2 different finishes on them. If you read April's article he explains how exactly how to sand your work far more complex that what I am used to doing. For me the interest in the articles is finishing furniture that will age gracefully and be able to pass it on for generations.

Keep me posted on that one, too!

Ellis Walentine

>

Re: Satin finishes

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>Good Point, Ellis. I had this point made to me, and I promptly forgot it. My first lacquer-coated piece ended up with the characteristics of the wood vaguely obscured. I went over and over and over what I had done, and then realized that I had skipped using gloss for the first coats.

Re: Burnishers and burnishing

Bill Lowrance

>A large optical lens, such as many available as military surplus, also can serve as a good, smooth, robust burnisher.

My preference is for a thick lens of fairly large diameter, say at least 3 inches, so I can really lean on it (perhaps mounting or backing it), with a convex enough surface to concentrate the pressure on the surface being burnished. (Too "flat" a lens will just slide around without compressing anything.)

Hey, that's a great idea!

David Barnett - Venice, FL

>I looked all over for just the right piece of glass for my largest burnisher and now I realize I could've used a spare lens from an opaque projector that's been lying about. Boy, would that have saved some effort. The burnisher I use now is attached with red chaser's pitch to a horizontal wooden handle I shaped to let me really bear down without making my wrist any worse than it already is.

Re: wood burnishing and synonyms

paul womack

> I may burnish the wood before applying the finish

Long ago I made a short (ash) combat stave for a friend who's into martial arts. Since it was to be used for contact (on other staves) I wanted it to be tough. After some research, I ran across the concept of "boning" as applied to baseball bats.

I used a glass bottle to compress the (planed) surface, and was rewarded not only with superior impact resistance, but a very glossy finish. I then (Danish) oiled it.

He loved it.

BugBear