Finishing chess pieces - rosewood and ash

[chris_t]

Hi all, thanks very much for taking the time to read this.

I am furiously working away to finish a set of chess pieces and a board in time for a friend's birthday this coming Friday.

The pieces are made from Indonesian rosewood and ash, and they are all pretty much at the stage where they need to be finished.

The original plan was:

1. Turn the pieces on the lathe
2. Sand with 120 grit
3. Sand with 240 grit
4. Apply acrylic sanding sealer (aerosol) and leave to dry
5. Finish with '0000' steel wool
6. Apply 2nd coat of acrylic sanding sealer and leave to dry
7. Finish with '0000' steel wool
8. Remove from lathe and buff each one against a loose-leaf cotton buffing wheel using Liberon wax filler stick (melt wax against wheel, then hold piece against wheel)

I tried this on a test piece and it came out with a lovely gloss, though it was possible to see white bits in the end of the grain of the rosewood, presumably caused by the wax and dust from the buffing wheel getting stuck in the grain.

Having got the first 'proper' rosewood piece as far as step 4 in the list above, I've noticed the grain is still quite visible and I'm worried it's going to get clogged with white stuff again.

Am I barking up the wrong tree with my method of finishing these pieces?

Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate it.

Chris

 

[adidat]

hi and welcome, i wont comment on your finishing process. but the way to get rid of the white lumps is using a heat gun gently on the spots then rub it in with a cloth. please post up some pictures t sounds great. although you have got your work cut out for friday.

adidat

 

[chris_t]

Thank you for the quick reply

I will definitely give the heat gun a go.

I've been taking pictures throughout the build, and after the weekend I hope to upload them to an online album in some meaningful order! Everything's all over the place at the moment :s

Chris

 

[chris_t]

Just a quick update in case anyone stumbles across this thread in the future - we finished all the pieces using the method I described earlier, and both the ash and rosewood sets of chessmen turned out great. The Liberon wax gave each piece a really deep shine and glass-like appearance.

I will post some photos soon.

Chris