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How do I smooth out an new oil finish

For the best finish using Watco;

If you are not applying to new/raw wood, make sure previous finish is oil compatible. Do not apply over lacquer, varnish, poly or Howards.

Wipe surface with Naptha and a 3M pad to remove any wax or oil build up.

Sand surface by hand with 220 paper on a block. Vacuum/blow dust off.

Wipe again with Naptha on a rag.

Apply Watco with 400 grit paper on a small (2x3) block. Use just enough oil to allow the block to slide without sticking. Work the oil until a light slurry covers the entire surface. Wipe off and move on to the next surface. You should be able to do an entire speaker cabinet with a teaspoon of oil. There is no advantage to saturating the veneer with oil. The slurry will fill the open pores and give porous wood like walnut, ash and oak a very smooth surface.

Let dry for 24-48 hours. If you like how if looks and feels you are done. If you want a little more sheen/build, apply another very light coat with 400 paper again.

Repeat every couple of years if necessary, just wipe with Naptha / 3M pad and apply the Watco as above. No need to put any wax, oil or polish on the Watco, all it will do is attract dust.
 
Vint_age is absolutely correct about allowing each coat of Danish oil to dry for 24 to 48 hours. That's one I learned the hard way a few weeks ago. Otherwise, I have to agree with suggestions of using 0000 steel wool or 3m/Scotch pads to apply the oil.
 
I normally avoid these threads on finishing mostly because I'll disagree with 90% of what I read. Like I said 35 years in the trade and running my own business. Working side by side with all the top designer, cabinet makers, contractors & architects in the SF bay area. My finished Furniture ends up in all the exclusive homes in the states from Hawaii to Main. On site architectural finishes are done like a piece of furniture none of witch in tale just staining and clear coat. One thing I must say is a finisher needs to be able to control there color and finish in a constant manor. Whipping a stain onto wood and clear coating does not achieve this nor dose buying your colors in a can.

As a finisher I could achieve a color and finish with just about anything but is it professional? How about a can of nail left to rust in water thats a stain, Old school floor wax that will clear coat wood, Pine sap dissolved in turpentine, fly $hit dissolved in alcohol this one is shellac. That said and with all do respect and not directed any individual. As a finisher I love all the home brooded handyman, Home improver finishing projects. I make money on them! Sure some work out and made what ever was worked on better and useable. I would like to see one of the posters who has a wife and a finely finished Dinning Room table go rub it out . Ya with a Scotch Bright pad after all it will look better when done right?

About three months ago a designer came into the shop. He had some cabinets built and finished by the same shop. Yep a cabinet maker that thinks he is a finisher also. My friend did this also he said the cabinet build was great but the finish was a mess. All I could do was say I told you so, I did offer to finish his kitchen prior. Anyway the designer had all his cabinets installed and when he inspected them they were ruff with overspray all over them. He brought it to the attention of the shop owner who got paid to do a job, his job. This guy tells him that overspray is uncontrollable and all he needs to do is rub the ruff areas off with a brown bag. WHAT I said!! Ok tell the customer to do your work and pay you! Not to mention this was the very first time in 35 years I heard of rubbing overspray off with a bag. lol. No you spray it right in the first place and you will have no overspray.

Anyway thats my rant and I didn't bother with the rest of the Home Depot buy off the shelf crap home brooded. As said not directed at anyone just a professionals observation.:scratch2:
 
No disrespect taken. I too worked my way into the top finishing world and having to massage out imperfections (in others work) was part of it. Keeping a tight lip and just magically making it all perfect kept me there and put me into some very demanding environments both in respect to quality and politics.

Standard industry "full tilt" oil finishing is this:

1. Full absorbing coat with a wipe after wood absorbs what it will. Full dry.
2. 2nd coat and wipe dry.
3. 3rd coat wet sand with grain 400 grit and let dry 48hrs. (Open grain wood fall back and wipe "oil bleed" from pores before it dries.)
4. 4th coat wet sand 600 and fall back to wipe "pore bleed" in open grained woods before it dries. (Close grain....only monitor for this.)

Satin Wax (Watco) or furniture grade Carnuba as topper. It is perfect,allows for easy touchup and maintenance. I personally don't use oil as a finish for my own use unless it's an exterior one for railings or deck furniture.

I keep it simpler and tougher these days for interior projects. Tung oil to give the grain depth and 2 thin coats of Epifane Varnish from Holland....ultra thin shellac after an ultra thin first coat of tung oil/then thin coats of Epifane if I want to "truly" max it out. My standard finish,it is perfect,tough, and fast procedures with no drama either one. (Epifane is $46.00 for 1000ml....worth every American cent.)
 
bd1886 said:
No disrespect taken. I too worked my way into the top finishing world and having to massage out imperfections (in others work) was part of it. Keeping a tight lip and just magically making it all perfect kept me there and put me into some very demanding environments both in respect to quality and politics.

Standard industry "full tilt" oil finishing is this:

1. Full absorbing coat with a wipe after wood absorbs what it will. Full dry.
2. 2nd coat and wipe dry.
3. 3rd coat wet sand with grain 400 grit and let dry 48hrs. (Open grain wood fall back and wipe "oil bleed" from pores before it dries.)
4. 4th coat wet sand 600 and fall back to wipe "pore bleed" in open grained woods before it dries. (Close grain....only monitor for this.)

Satin Wax (Watco) or furniture grade Carnuba as topper. It is perfect,allows for easy touchup and maintenance. I personally don't use oil as a finish for my own use unless it's an exterior one for railings or deck furniture.

I keep it simpler and tougher these days for interior projects. Tung oil to give the grain depth and 2 thin coats of Epifane Varnish from Holland....ultra thin shellac after an ultra thin first coat of tung oil/then thin coats of Epifane if I want to "truly" max it out. My standard finish,it is perfect,tough, and fast procedures with no drama either one. (Epifane is $46.00 for 1000ml....worth every American cent.)
Click to expand...

I hardly use Watco type oils. once in a while I get a danish piece to refinish and they may want it instead of lacquer. Other wise reserved thinned down to refresh walls and doors in old San Francisco homes.

Have you tried Mohawk Pour n wipe? It's a wipe on polly, it's a charm. It gets very hard, dry's in 4 hours for other coats best to wait a day though. It builds up fast, pretty much three coats. I have used my touch-up kit with light use of lacquer cans on it. We have started using this more on high end kitchen tables. You know the rich eat off solid walnut,teak,elm unlike us glass and formica. Well they beat up Pre-cat lacquer and other dupable finishes wood is wood and it gets damaged. So now instead of them messing it up in a year and asking us to redo it because our finish failed lol They beat it up dropping thing,sliding plates around,Hot things, leave it wet and dirty, ha ha ha any finish is going to fail. Anyway now all we have to do is go to the site clean it, sand it, pour n wipe good by.

Really guys and galls put the watco down and step away from that can. Pour and wipe is almost like putting a cream polish on your furniture very easy for the novice to use and master.

Mohawk Home Page http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/

Pour and wipe http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=215
 
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Mohawk means easy quality.

4-2-7 said:
I hardly use Watco type oils. once in a while I get a danish piece to refinish and they may want it instead of lacquer. Other wise reserved thinned down to refresh walls and doors in old San Francisco homes.

Have you tried Mohawk Pour n wipe? It's a wipe on polly, it's a charm. It gets very hard, dry's in 4 hours for other coats best to wait a day though. It builds up fast, pretty much three coats. I have used my touch-up kit with light use of lacquer cans on it. We have started using this more on high end kitchen tables. You know the rich eat off solid walnut,teak,elm unlike us glass and formica. Well they beat up Pre-cat lacquer and other dupable finishes wood is wood and it gets damaged. So now instead of them messing it up in a year and asking us to redo it because our finish failed lol They beat it up dropping thing,sliding plates around,Hot things, leave it wet and dirty, ha ha ha any finish is going to fail. Anyway now all we have to do is go to the site clean it, sand it, pour n wipe good by.

Really guys and galls put the watco down and step away from that can. Pour and wipe is almost like putting a cream polish on your furniture very easy for the novice to use and master.

Mohawk Home Page http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/

Pour and wipe http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=215
Click to expand...


I'm with you. Oil is perfect for easy too, but there is no substitute for a high quality varnish resin/modified poly resin on things that see moisture and use/abuse. They simply repair easy. (Full blown polys' and urethanes are just the opposite...PITA.)

In my whole finishing career, there was one huge exception. We used to work with 2 major cruise ship companies keeping their boats in top shape and would fly to wherever the boats were in dry dock. (Two weeks of guaranteed sweating your tail off.) At first we'd use the best of the best in urethanes and varnishes....hell to strip and redo after sustaining a 6 month on-slot of hands covered in suntan lotion. We decided to go with one of the cheap QD synthetics to see how easy it would be for us on the next rotation back onto the same boat. Finish looked to be the same degree of horrible (a wash) but the man hours to bring them back to life fell 70%! (A total win as teak and mahogany are the most forgiving woods to put though a large range of quick procedures in a hurry.)
Mokawk now....even though I've left finishing to make a living, I still have kept all the Mohawk gear (that doesn't go bad) and it is heaven to work with!

Even though I don't tend to use oils for my own stuff, it is one of the perfect choices....and always Howard's products of course. (Paraffin based finishing at it's best, and designed to be easy in every way....just need to respect it's delicate nature and keep those dang plants off it!) Never overlook the judicious use of a rattle can of lacquer (like you said) for a misting or even just spraying into the lid and going into it with an artists brush to fill in a missing piece of finish....perfect consistency for blending in and not showing "the patch".
Caveat: Play by it's rules in not allowing the wet millage to be thick....it'll pucker a repair and open up a can of worms you don't want opened if it doesn't dry fast enough! Think,thin,thin,thin...so it dries fast before it can do anything nasty to your work.....it will if you don't. (It's a friend an enemy in one can!)
 
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bd1886 said:
I'm with you. Oil is perfect for easy too, but there is no substitute for a high quality varnish resin/modified poly resin on things that see moisture and use/abuse. They simply repair easy. (Full blown polys' and urethanes are just the opposite...PITA.)

In my whole finishing career, there was one huge exception. We used to work with 2 major cruise ship companies keeping their boats in top shape and would fly to wherever the boats were in dry dock. (Two weeks of guaranteed sweating your tail off.) At first we'd use the best of the best in urethanes and varnishes....hell to strip and redo after sustaining a 6 month on-slot of hands covered in suntan lotion. We decided to go with one of the cheap QD synthetics to see how easy it would be for us on the next rotation back onto the same boat. Finish looked to be the same degree of horrible (a wash) but the man hours to bring them back to life fell 70%! (A total win as teak and mahogany are the most forgiving woods to though a large range of quick procedures at.)
Mokawk now....even though I've left finishing to make a living, I still have kept all the Mohawk gear (that doesn't go bad) and it is heaven to work with!

Even though I don't tend to use oils for my own stuff, it is one of the perfect choices....and always Howard's products of course. (Paraffin based finishing at it's best, and designed to be easy in every way....just need to respect it's delicate nature and keep those dang plants off it!)
Click to expand...

Exactly we do the same thing not ships but The Fore Seasons hotels in Nantucket Hawaii & Lani. We were on Lani for 6 week this summer 3 trips total Nantucket 2weeks. That's how we decided on the pour n wipe easy use and maintenance

We do a lot of Teak Patio furniture for mansions on Hawaii and really all over. Finish it like we would indoor color wise but use Sikens that holds up well. They live outside there making there yards multiple rooms here and there. One house might have 70 or more pieces.

You know what I hardly ever do my own stuff, Like the plumber doesn't fix his leaky sink tap.:D
 
I stepped away from the thread and came back to some gold.

I'd like to state why I use the Watco Oils or the even older and more traditional boiled linseed oil and turpentine. My uses in speaker restoration are all for interior use and I do not want a varnish, shellac, lacquer, "poly" or isocyanate cured polyurethane on my speaker cabinets. While I'd like to think I'm careful with my equipment, !@#$ happens sometimes. If I have a coating on there, other than an oil or wax, I find it an tougher to do a repair and have it come out NOT looking like a repair. I don't have the skill set to to feather in a repair nicely with polyurethanes or varnishes. I'll get better over time, maybe.

Biggles
 
Makes sense to me, but I'm also still learning. Using poly on old speakers that originally had oil just seems wrong to me.

What's the best way gently to strip off a Watco oil finish? I have an area on one speaker that has some crud (white polish) trapped just under the top layer of Teak Oil. I'd like to just strip off that layer (approximately) and lay down some fresh oil on it.
 
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I have a long history as a truly horrible finisher. The usual combination of stain and polycrap never looked good, worse when it was me doing it, nor could I ever get the colors in the Minwax commercials. The only finish I get good results with is tung oil, preferably modified with driers and varnish, like Formby's. It's tough and easily repaired in the event of damage. About 5 or more rubbed in layers gives a nice build. It may not be the best finish, but it seems ideal for the incompetent wood butcher. Stain I've yet to master at all.

Q.- I have a piece of hard maple I'd like to get a white looking finish on, no color at all, but not paint! I still want to see the grain. What do people use for that?
 
Search for a "pickled" finish. Way back when, my grandfather mixed white oil-based paint with varnish to achieve the opacity he wanted.
 
Good search terms, thanks. After reading a bunch I think I'll stick with something more tried and true. Too many issues with undesired tints. Sorry for the hijack.
 
ConradH said:
Good search terms, thanks. After reading a bunch I think I'll stick with something more tried and true. Too many issues with undesired tints. Sorry for the hijack.
Click to expand...

Conrad why don't you bleach the wood. Maple is light you just need to pull the yellow out of it.

You use A B wood bleach, it's a two part bleach you mix together. Do that twice but let it dry between apps.

Light sanding with 220

Then use Oxalic acid mixed with denatured alcohol and apply that and keep working it in. then take clean rages and strait alcohol wash it down good. It evaporates fast so then sand it lightly again.

If you like the way it looked wet with the alcohol your done with color. just clear coat.
 
Zonker Im staining and clear coating tonight using the product below that I recommended in an earlier post


I hardly use Watco type oils. once in a while I get a danish piece to refinish and they may want it instead of lacquer. Other wise reserved thinned down to refresh walls and doors in old San Francisco homes.

Have you tried Mohawk Pour n wipe? It's a wipe on polly, it's a charm. It gets very hard, dry's in 4 hours for other coats best to wait a day though. It builds up fast, pretty much three coats. I have used my touch-up kit with light use of lacquer cans on it. We have started using this more on high end kitchen tables. You know the rich eat off solid walnut,teak,elm unlike us glass and formica. Well they beat up Pre-cat lacquer and other dupable finishes wood is wood and it gets damaged. So now instead of them messing it up in a year and asking us to redo it because our finish failed lol They beat it up dropping thing,sliding plates around,Hot things, leave it wet and dirty, ha ha ha any finish is going to fail. Anyway now all we have to do is go to the site clean it, sand it, pour n wipe good by.

Really guys and galls put the watco down and step away from that can. Pour and wipe is almost like putting a cream polish on your furniture very easy for the novice to use and master.

Mohawk Home Page http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/

Pour and wipe http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/cata...asp?ictNbr=215
 
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