finish on a box before assembly and blemish on walnut

[mickthetree]

Afternoon all

I've been working on this the last few evenings and need to check everything is right before glue up.

Its a maple box with continuous grain. The lid is solid walnut donated by a very kindly forum member.

I plan on bandsawing the lid off when it has been glued up and fitting some quality brass butt hinges.

Should I be putting a finish on the inside of the box before glue up? I've used sanding sealer and Chestnut 22 wood wax with great success in the past. I also have some liberon finishing oil but I've not used that on this maple before.

I'm guessing its going to be tricky applying a finish well once it is all together so maybe nows the time.

Also I seem to have got a grease spot on the walnut top. I've tried a light sanding and scraping, but it doesnt want to come out. Will this be an issue when it comes to applying a finish on top? I'm going to leave it to dry incase its water. Cant find where it came from.

I've worked really hard to get this very accurate so your advice at this stage would be much appreciated.

 

[mickthetree]

Can anyone confirm the order in which I should do this?

1.) Glue up everything
2.) Cut the lid off on the bandsaw
3.) Give everything a coat of Liberon Spirit Sanding Sealer
4.) Apply Shellac finish
5.) Apply Black Bison Wax

I'm not sure how to tackle the shellac though. Was going to use Liberon White Polish on the Maple, but I dont think this will be right on the Walnut. Any thoughts on that too?

 

[marcros]

Can anyone confirm the order in which I should do this?

1.) Glue up everything
2.) Cut the lid off on the bandsaw
3.) Give everything a coat of Liberon Spirit Sanding Sealer
4.) Apply Shellac finish
5.) Apply Black Bison Wax

I'm not sure how to tackle the shellac though. Was going to use Liberon White Polish on the Maple, but I dont think this will be right on the Walnut. Any thoughts on that too?

I only have limited experience, but would do it in that order. For the walnut, you may want to consider an oil to pop the grain. I did this over spirtit sanding sealer and it worked fine, although everything you read will tell you to put oil straight on to the timber without sealing. Test it all on offcuts first.

I think that if you used oil on the walnut, you may well get away with while polish everywhere and yet accentuate the walnut. i cant check your original picture whilst i type this so cant remember how the lid fits. if you can oil the walnut before glueup, it is probably easier than trying to keep it off the surrounding timber. In my limited experience I did this with all oiled walnut parts because I used a different oil to the main timber. It did not seem to affect glueup- I tried to avoid getting oil where the glue line would be, but there was some in places.

If you can scrape the surfices instead of sanding, it is a whole lot less dusty!

hth
mark

 

[mickthetree]

Many thanks Mark.

The Maple has some nice ripple in places which shows fairly well on the sample pieces I have just used sanding sealer on.

I'm going to test out some on the walnut scraps I have to see how that looks as well.

Kind regards

 

[mickthetree]

Evening all

I've progressed with this box, having glued it up after coating the inside with shellac.

I added some veneer keys to the corners to add some strength and for decorative effect. They turned out alright(ish) but the saw kerfs were not as straight as I'd hoped and I think this affects the quality I was aiming for.

Anyway, I've cut the lid off and morticed out for the hinges (nice brass ones which I've polished up). Here is where my problem lies.

I've drilled the holes for hinges and screwed them in for a test fit and the lid is now skew wiff!! I've corrected slightly by adding a tiny slither to the drill holes on the off side, but it hasn't really fixed it.

I was very careful marking and cutting out for these, but is there anything I can do to correct? I was thinking of adding some shims to the far edge of the mortises.

Any ideas?

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

How did the libron spirit sanding sealer cope with the shellac? Its label states its only used if a wax finish is required?

 

[marcros]

spirit sanding sealer is just a very weak cut of shellac polish isn't it?

 

[mickthetree]

I ended up buying some liberon shellac flakes and making up my own mix. I needent have stressed so much about it as there is a wealth of information on the web about it. I'm really really pleased with how it has turned out so far.

I made up a slightly weaker mix for the initial coat then a stronger mix for bodying up. The best advice I had was not to lay it on too thick and not to add too many coats. I'll take some good shots (rather than these mobile ones) when I've finished it.

I did lots of test bits before going to work on these final piece.

I made some furniture polish out of some bees wax and turps. I've tried some applied over the final coat of shellac to add some more protection and shine and it looks really good! Really makes any ripples pop out. Looks almost 3D.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you're making your own polish, try a bit of carnauba in with the beeswax and turpentine - it hardens the finished gloss. I assume you used turpentine, not turps. sub - it's much better, and worthwhile if only for the smell.

 

[mickthetree]

Hi Phil
Yes Turpentine. I actually assumed they were the same thing, but it does smell lovely doesnt it!

I was going to add some carnauba wax but its so pricy! The test pieces I have done all look really good, even in comparison to some briwax and chestnut 22 I have. Dead pleased with it. I picked up the wax from a honey farm in Wales on holiday earlier in the year for just such an application. Still got loads left. I found grating it to be very effective when mixed in a travel sweet tin with the turpentine. Heck of a job cleaning the grater after though! ;-)

 

[marcros]

Heck of a job cleaning the grater after though! ;-)

just pour boiling water over it.

 

[mickthetree]

just pour boiling water over it.

tried that. the best thing seemed to be the back of a finger nail, then rubbed down with some more turpentine. But for the cost of a cheese grater I think I'll pick one up for just such an occasion.

Anyone any thoughts on my hinge issue?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Just put the wax and the turps in a bain marie, or a glue kettle - it dissolves easily with a bit of warmth. Carnauba takes a bit more though. You don't need to grate the wax, although you would need to crush any carnauba.

 

[mickthetree]

I had read about warming it, but didn't fancy it. I just grated it into the tin, poured over some turpentine till it looked about the right amount then put the lid on and put it somewhere warm. Couldn't have been easier. Gave it a stir after a few days and added some more turpentine till it got to the right consistency. Dont think I'd bother warming it when I make some more.

Might give the Carnauba a go next time.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You'll have to warm it if you use carnauba - it won't dissolve otherwise.

 

[mickthetree]

Cool, thanks Phil

 

[mickthetree]

Evening all

Since cutting the lid off and fitting the brass hinges (which I polished first) I have been busy bodying up the shellac.

Looking at it in a raking light this evening as I applied the final coat I could see areas at the edges where the shellac has gathered and sort of pooled. That makes it sound worse than it is, but I think it needs adressing.

Do I go over these areas with a very weak shellac solution so the meths levels out these areas? I made a final pass with a weak solution on the walnut and that really helped to level everything out, but that didn't have these areas of pooling.

Any ideas?