Tonight's chat - finishing - the basics

How can it be finishing when it hasn't started =o)

RonZ

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Finished before I'm started

David

>Can't make it tonight, but I do have a question.

The ventilation in my basement shop is non-existent, and I can't afford an exhaust system (I'm also not that interested in hooking up a fan to a big hose and shoving it out the side wall of the house). This affects what I use to finish pieces - typically I use Minwax Tung Oil and Parrafin Wax. It doesn't give an incredible shine, but it is ok. Any suggestions for a non-lethal finish for an enclosed environment? Polyeurethane stinks up the whole entire house, for example, and is pretty nasty stuff I think.

Re: Finished before I'm started

Russ Fairfield

>You could sand to 1000 grit, burnish with grocery-bag paper, and then apply a coat of wax. The wax will last longer if you buff it with a natural bristle (no synthetic) scrub brush to compact the wax and give it a better shine.

If you use the Lavender wax by Talk O The Town, available from Craft Supplies, you will have a good carnauba wax and a nice lavender smell that your wife will appreciate.

Everything else has solvents or thinners that have to evaporate, and all of them stink.

Re: Finished before I'm started

JL

>You are using a finish that has a relatively low vapor pressure already. Linseed oil (boiled) and walnut oil would be among your other choices. The oils such as these don't have hardly any vapor pressure to speak of and they polymerize by oxidation to form the finish surface. Polyurethane, shellac and others are typically "carried" in solvents, which evaporate to leave the finish. They "pack down" as the solvents evaporate.

You could try some of the water "based" finishes, I haven't tried them as I can alway open the garage door (except in extreme cold).

Re: Finished before I'm started

David

>Thanks for these great responses - I'm already searching the web for materials to try - and anxiously awaiting even more responses!!

Speaking of cold garages. I live in Buffalo. It gets cold here, perhaps you have heard. Bought a $10 goodwill dresser for my daughter's bedroom, that I have fixed up. Painting has been kind of laborious - every night this week freezing to death in the garage. Tonight I'll finally have it done. I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to apply primer or paint in 30-degree temps, but it seems to be working.

Re: Finished before I'm started

RonZ

>Well it ain't purdy but I'm knocking holes in the walls [cement here in Israel] in order to put my dust extractor outside and an exhaust fan for the whole studio. Reason? Wood dust. These last few months I wake up feeling like I used to when I smoked. The finishes I use like tung oil, malamine, friction polish, sanding sealer, etc. only kill what's left of my brain cells from my teen years in California. =o) In short, you shuld think of some sort of filter/ventilation system anyways.