Danish oil finishing error - advice sought

[HappyPixie]

Hi all
I turned a piece of burr elm with the lumpy bark side left lumpy.

The cut faces were sanded through the grits to 600 and I added four coats of Danish oil. The oil application was: wipe on generously, wipe off all excess after a minute or two, leave for two or more days, cut back gently with 0000 wire wool and apply next coat. The final coat was rubbed on with 2400 MicroMesh and wiped clear with a soft cloth but when it dried a smeary surface in a circular pattern is visible. It feels smooth so I suspected I could polish over and it would disappear. I applied a small amount of Microcrystalline wax and used a lambswool mop on a drill to smooth it and buff it. The streaks are still visible and the surface is now slightly more glossy.

Can anyone say what I did wrong? Do I need to remove the Microcrystalline wax before I take the 600 grit back to it? Or should I lightly use a furniture scraper to flatten the surface? Is there a chemical I could use to smooth out the surface?

Very frustrated! Here is what the sears look like:

Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Thanks

Steve

 

[Droogs]

Do the scratches appear to be in the surface or in the finish? If in hte surface you will probably need to take it all the way back. If in the finish you may be able to fill and polish out by adding more coats of micro and work up to a higher grit
hth

 

[CHJ]

General impression is that you did not remove the abrasive scratches before moving to the next finer grade.
This may not be the case though and I'm stuck to think what you may have done in oil application to form those dark/light shade lines resembling scratch marks.

If the piece was brought to me to sort I would strip it back with Tripoli abrasive buffing with appropriate linen wheel and then polish buff it with white diamond and soft cotton buffing wheel.

Cutting back an oiled surface with any depth through added coats with abrasives needs caution, if the surface has not polymerised to form a hard skin you risk breaking through the outer skin into un-cured areas.

I personally would not use a lambswool mop to buff the wax, soft cotton being more appropriate for high melting wax such as carnauba or even higher melting microcrystalline.

 

[Paul Hannaby]

I would cut it back with the 0000 wire wool and then re-coat with the danish oil.

 

[Beau]

If it's smeary I would guess you have left it too long before buffing off leaving a thick layer on the surface. Surprised if this was only a few minutes but it's how it looks. To fix do as Paul mentions above.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

As above ^^. It may well be in the oil or probably the wax - if you look closely about 75% of the way across the picture, the direction of the marks appears to vary. maybe a nylon scourer with some meths or cellulose thinners might be worth a try first, before stripping the oil in case it's just in the wax. A little optimistic, maybe, but worth a go.

 

[HappyPixie]

Many thanks all.

The oil had been left ages before I tried the MC wax, so I'm certain it was rock hard. The difference in direction of the smears is why I don't think there's any real depth to it. Also why I think the surface was OK before the final coat of Danish oil. The next time I opened the tin of oil it was positively gloopy and had dark brown jelly-ish lumps. I suspect the final smeary coat was as a result of the oil partially going off.

shall do some research on Tripoli, white diamonds and linen wheels but I suspect that'll be a shopping trip for the future. In the meantime I'm going to go with the 0000 wire wool and try to cut it back a layer or so. Since meths and thinners evaporate quickly, I might try that on a small area first just as a test, but I suspect the abrasive is the way to go.

Useful suggestion about cotton cloth rather than wool pad for MC application. Would the MC clog the wire wool during removal or will it be solid after all that buffing?

Very many thanks!

Steve

 

[CHJ]

MC wax should have ended up with a microscopic coating on your piece, I would not expect you to be able to detect it let alone clog your wirewool.
When applying MC wax the barest of smears is required, the finished coating is measured in microns or fractions thereof.