finished failed

[bourbon]

Hi all, I made my very first band saw box with my cheapy aldi band saw. It is made of lovely spalted ash. I finished it with Lebron clear wax and buffed it with a cloth wheel. It looked so great, that when my girlfriend had a stall at a craft fair, I tried to sell it. Unfortunately, It rained, The box caught some of it, now the wax looks like it has all but gone and the grain has raised on it. Can I just lightly sand it and rewax. And how do I stop it happening again. Thanks in advance.

 

[sunnybob]

sand it back to bare wood with 220 grit. Then use 280 or 320 grit.
Then use either a waterproof wax (dont know, never used any) or wipe on poly oil based clear varnish for a true gloss shine.

 

[bourbon]

Thanks for that. for some reason, It didn't occur to me that the wax wouldn't be waterproof. I was thinking maybe that using a buffing wheel, I may have taken too much of the wax off.

 

[CHJ]

For something that is going to be handled regularly I would say you need to seal the wood first with a sanding sealer before applying the wax for starters.
Then use a microcrystalline wax which will not be so susceptible to water splash marks and dulling with handling as wax blends using beeswax.

Alternate if it's an item likely to get regular splashes try using a Hard Wax Oil, you can control the gloss level with number of coats, like all oil finishes wipe off surplus after a few minutes and allow the oil to polymerise before abrading.


If you have buffing facilities then Carnauba wax applied on the buffing wheel is better than Beeswax for splash resistance and handling but not as good as Microcrystalline.

 

[bourbon]

very informative reply, thank you. I'll look into that in the week

 

[ED65]

I was thinking maybe that using a buffing wheel, I may have taken too much of the wax off.

Wax as it's normally used is supposed to be buffed down to nearly nothing. As long as you're left with a nice gloss there's enough there because that's really all that wax is for normally.

Waxes are highly water-resistant but when used as a standalone finish leave the wood susceptible to water damage because the layer is so thin and sits on top of bare wood which is why most, or at least many, finishing guides recommend that the wood be 'sealed' before waxing using a little thin finish. This also makes the wood look better anyway most times.

You can still use the old recommendation for the sealer for things that aren't expected to get wet, which is dilute shellac, but to protect more against water a cellulose sanding sealer is a better choice and dries equally fast. If you don't mind a longer wait for drying you can do the job using wiping varnish which is just normal varnish thinned 1/3 or more and wiped on, with the excess wiped away.

 

[bourbon]

would sanding sealer affect the colour in any way? The wood is spalted ash with beautiful patterns and I wouldn't like to loose them

 

[CHJ]

would sanding sealer affect the colour in any way? The wood is spalted ash with beautiful patterns and I wouldn't like to loose them

Cellulose or Acrylic Sanding Sealer should not change the colour any more than you will see by wiping with white spirit or water.

In most woods it just enhances the contrast.

Shellac based Sealer used to seal may result in a warmer colour dependant on which specification, Garnet, Blond etc.

 

[Alexam]

It would be nice to see a phot of your work. Any chance you can put one up please?
Malcolm