Jon.1976
Established Member
A while ago, I made something from ash and wanted to keep it as pale as possible (avoid the yellowing from oils) so used cellulose sanding sealer and microcrystalline wax, both chestnut products. Normally, I'd use blond dewed shellac but I didn't have any.
The ash project ended up looking pretty good, so I thought I'd use up the remaining sealer on 2 projects. Both very simple, one was a tea light holder in an end grain chopping board style from purple heart and maple and the other was a 3"x3" cube hollowed out to hold a votive candle holder (basically a shot glass).
The purple heart/maple turned out really nice (for my standards anyway) but the walnut one looks terrible. The finish just looks, well, unfinished. Dull, patchy, lifeless and hazy are words that spring to mind. Also there appears to be small patches of cloudiness appearing. I thought this might be a heat issue from the candle, but the timber is barely warm.
Is this just something to be expected from walnut or I have done something wrong? The last time I used walnut, I used a thinned down poly to wipe on and that still looks fine, albeit with the yellowing I was trying to avoid this time.
Each project has had the same finishing procedures, sanding grits, etc
The ash project ended up looking pretty good, so I thought I'd use up the remaining sealer on 2 projects. Both very simple, one was a tea light holder in an end grain chopping board style from purple heart and maple and the other was a 3"x3" cube hollowed out to hold a votive candle holder (basically a shot glass).
The purple heart/maple turned out really nice (for my standards anyway) but the walnut one looks terrible. The finish just looks, well, unfinished. Dull, patchy, lifeless and hazy are words that spring to mind. Also there appears to be small patches of cloudiness appearing. I thought this might be a heat issue from the candle, but the timber is barely warm.
Is this just something to be expected from walnut or I have done something wrong? The last time I used walnut, I used a thinned down poly to wipe on and that still looks fine, albeit with the yellowing I was trying to avoid this time.
Each project has had the same finishing procedures, sanding grits, etc
