Splotchy finish on curly cherry

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

Dave Mount

>I guess one man's trash is another man's treasure. While blotching of stain is unappealing in my view, the differential absorption of oil by curly cherry doesn't bother me -- to me, it's just part of the beauty of curly cherry. But clearly that's not a shared opinion.

In curly woods the "curl" is caused by wood fibers that are in fact undulating, so in certain parts of the curl you are dealing with pseudo-end grain. A spit coat of 1 lb shellac would probably reduce the blotchy appearance, but I wouldn't apply the BLO over the shellac -- without being absorbed by the wood I would expect it would take a century to dry (haven't tried that, just opinion). Also, I wouldn't really soak the surface with the 1 lb shellac, I'd just give it a quick going over and leave it to dry. Those same areas will continue to suck up thinned shellac if you keep overbrushing and give you the same look. Just put on a quick coat and let it dry.

Without the oil, there may be slightly less amber tone to the finish, but you could probably compensate by choosing your shellac color(s) carefully.

Test pieces are in order, of course.

Good luck,

Dave

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

Alan Hamilton

>Ted,

I agree with Dave: a thin wash--or spit--coat of shellac will go far to eliminate the blotchies; but shellac is also a sealer, and I don't think BLO on top of shellac is a good idea.

My very favorite finish for blotch-prone wood (and other kinds of wood too) is shellac with wax on top. I put on a couple very thin coats, 1lb or even 1/2lb cut. After that I find it's usually okay to use a heavier cut. A 2lb cut is about as heavy as I ever use. Patience is required when using shellac--though if you use BLO you obviously have the necessary virtues. Six or seven coats is about the minimum for me.

After the last coat I rub out the surface in the usual way. I generally stop after rubbing out with wool lube and 0000 steel wool, using lots and lots of lube and very little pressure.

I brew up my own wax out of beeswax and carnuba wax. I try to use as much carnuba as I can while keeping it soft enough to apply and buff. Carnuba is very hard stuff! To my bedimmed eyes a shellac and wax finish looks very much like an oil finish. Others will disagree.

Remember too that there should be no surprises when you're finishing. All those little cut-offs that are good for nothing else are perfect for experimenting.

Alan

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

les winter

>Forgive me. What's BLO?

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>Boiled Linseed Oil. BLO is a very common TLA around here...

Ted

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>Dave and Alan,

Thanks for the response. Looks like I will forget about the BLO on the top of this chest and give it a coat of 1/2 pound blond shellac before doing anything else. Sounds like it is a better idea to try to match the color with multiple coats of orange/garnet shellac after getting it sealed.

Thanks,

Ted

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

les winter

>Thanks. Now what's tla?

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

Dan Donaldson

>Three Letter acronym;-)

Others that you might see are:

RAS-radial arm saw

cms-compound miter saw

scms-sliding compound miter saw

ros-random orbital sander

dc-dust collector

You can look up many of them here

Re: Splotchy finish on curly cherry

les winter

>duh.

Thanks for the reply.

Les