“I am building a bar top from 8/4 Walnut for my son’s new home, and he wants to have a very natural finish on it – no film finish allowed. My first thought was to use BLO, but some research has led me to think that Pure Tung Oil might provide better protection. Is Pure Tung Oil a better option than BLO for an open grained wood like Walnut?”

Tung Oil and BLO

When it comes to protection, boiled linseed oil (BLO) and pure tung oil are pretty similar. One important thing they have in common is that neither one offers a great deal of protection. If you have to choose between the two, I would say to go for the BLO since its cheaper. BLO does is said to “yellow” a little more over time when compared to tung oil, but that is a moot point with respect to walnut.

Now obviously your son is the boss here, right? But indulge me while I make a small suggestion. An pure oil finish will certainly be better than nothing at all, but for a bartop, your son might regret this decision after the first few spills. I can totally understand why he doesn’t want a film finish though. Personally, I hate the look of those super thick bartop finishes (epoxy). If someone wants that much protection, they should just put down a piece of glass or simply use something other than wood (can you smell the contempt? hehe). But keep in mind this isn’t an all or none proposition and you can achieve a compromise between the highly protective plastic look and the barely protected natural look.

The Oil/Varnish Compromise

So my suggestion would be to try to achieve the best of both worlds. Give the bar top a very natural-looking finish, while imparting a great deal more protection than what you would receive from an oil alone. There are a few products on the market today that contain oil and varnish together, like Watco Danish Oil. Because there is so much oil in the mix, you would have to put on about 4 or 5 coats before you really start to get an appreciable film. However, if you apply 2-3 coats, the wood will retain the natural look while protecting the surface with at least some varnish. If you go with a matte or satin formulas, I think your son will be even happier with the end result as it won’t have the eye-glaring reflective qualities of a typical gloss concoction.

One of the great advantages to using an oil/varnish blend is you can monitor the surface after each coat and simply stop when you have the look you want. Dilute the mix with mineral spirits if you want even more fine control. Also keep in mind that you can actually make your own oil/varnish blend by mixing 1/3 mineral spirits, 1/3 BLO (or tung oil), and 1/3 polyurethane.

Either way, make sure you sand lightly between coats to keep the finish nice and smooth. After the final coat, either sand with 1200 grit paper or buff with 0000 steel wool. The wood will not only look natural, but will easily repel the occasional spill.

Related Resources:

Oil Finish Basics (Video)
Make Your Own Oil/Varnish Blend

The second and final part of the series focuses on the calendar frame details. We start by creating the front loading slots, then move on to creating the curve in the top rail, and finally we create the small pencil groove in the bottom rail. The frame is then glued up, the back panel is cut and installed and the roundover profile is routed on the perimeter.

The finish for the maple frame is Sherwin Williams CAB Acrylic Lacquer (we’ll discuss the role of flatteners) and the finish for the white oak frame is Watco Teak Oil.

The calendar frame is made to fit calendars that are roughly 13 1/2″ x 24″ when opened.

Want To Build Along?

Download the SketchUp file
Download the PDF

Materials Used

Lumber supplied by Muterspaw Lumber
Rubber Sanding Pads
Lee Valley Drawing Bows
Up-Cut Spiral Bit
Round Nose Bit
Extra Thin Wall Mount

The rocking horse is a great project for new and experienced woodworkers alike so its perfect for our charity build. If you would like to build along, I suggest downloading the plan today while it is still free. You can also download full-size patterns here.

The second and final video in this series covers finishing and assembly. As with any project, you should always ask yourself if it might be better to pre-finish the parts. Since the rocking horse would be incredibly difficult to finish after assembly and all of our parts are screwed together, pre-finishing was a no-brainer.

I’ll show you some cool tricks for coloring the horses mane as well as how to effectively plug the counter-sink holes (after finishing). Here are some of the tools I used:

Tapered Plug Cutter
General Finishes Gel Stain
BullsEye Shellac

How the Charity Works

For each person who completes a rocking horse (one per person), I am donating $1 to Livestrong. We also have numerous corporate and individual sponsors who are matching my donation. With their help and yours, we are trying to reach our goal of $10,000! If you don’t want to build along you can always donate directly. And if you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please feel free to contact me. 100% of proceeds benefit Livestrong.

When you finish your rocking horse, simply send me a picture and your build will count toward our final tally. All pictures must be submitted by November 14th.

Our Sponsors

Special thanks to our individual sponsors: Erik Gilling, Joseph Buscemi, and Jason Small.

So let’s discuss some of the key areas where rushing will really bite you in the butt. I’ll go first. For me, most of these issues are toward the end of the project so that’s where I’ll focus. I will also provide some suggestions for avoiding these common pitfalls.

Surface Preparation

When getting parts ready for finish, I have a fairly standard sanding regimen: 80 grit – 120 grit – 180 grit. But there are sometimes when the evil dude on my shoulder tells me I can get away with just using 180 grit and calling it a day. Do you know what happens every dang time I do that? I regret it! If you use power tools to mill your stock, like jointers and planers, you are guaranteed to have milling marks on the surface that are barely discernible. Usually they appear as light and dark stripes across the width of the board. Sometimes you can actually feel the washboard effect and sometimes not. So its really important to sand the board thoroughly at a fairly low grit to ensure these marks are removed. To make matters worse, if you do just sand with 180, the surface might look great initially. That is, until you put several coats of finish on it. Sometimes you can’t even see it until the light hits it at just the right angle. Usually that angle happens to be from the most common vantage points in my house. So don’t skip grits. And even if a surface feels smooth, be sure to sand thoroughly with each grit in your regimen for the best results. Better yet, start using your card scraper and smoothing plane more. They are faster, cleaner, and you look cool using them!

Glueups

When its time for assembly, I sometimes dive in head first slathering the joints with glue and banging the parts together. Unfortunately, as soon as glue is involved, joints suddenly seem to tighten up and all hell breaks loose. The end result is a crooked project, open joints, and worse yet, busted project parts because you had to use a hammer to separate them. So instead of jumping in blindly, do at least one dry assembly. Work out your clamping strategy ahead of time and make sure all your clamps, glue, glue brushes, rollers, rags, and anything else you need are within arms reach. You don’t want to be running around the shop searching for a caul while your joints are swelling from the moisture in the glue. You should also consider using a glue with a longer open time on those really complicated glueups. No harm in giving yourself a little more breathing room.

Finishing

I probably don’t even need to go into detail on this one do I? We’ve all done it. Rushing any part of the finishing process is just a bad idea. Putting coats on before previous coats are dry, not sanding between coats, trying to cover problems with more finish instead of fixing them, using an inappropriate finish just because its easier or your more comfortable with it, and the list can go on and on. Do a little research, pick the right finish for the job, practice on scrap, and then finish your project.

Finishing the Finish

Nearly every project I make receives at least some post-finishing treatment to smooth the surface to perfection. I know my shop conditions are not perfect, nor are my spraying, brushing and wiping techniques. Fortunately, I know how to buff the surface after the fact so no one is the wiser. But the trick is, you need to give the finish some time to cure. If you can wait a few days before doing this final buffing, you’ll be rewarded with a nice smooth finish that will even make other woodworkers stop and wonder how you did it. I usually bring the project into the house for a couple weeks. This way I get the immediate gratification of seeing the completed project in my home, while buying myself some valuable curing time. A couple weekends later, I can bring the project back to the shop or simply do the post finishing treatment in the house.

There are many techniques for doing this final smoothing ranging from a complicated series of rubbing compounds to simply rubbing the surface with a brown paper bag. My favorite method involves abrading the surface with a Festool Platin abrasive pad and some lubricant (water, mineral spirits, mineral oil, etc..). Since this is more or less a “wet-sanding” method, you can actually get away with doing this procedure inside the home.

What areas of the woodworking process have you found yourself rushing though and how did you stop the madness??

So let’s break things down into the simplest terms possible. When it comes to outdoor finishes, you essentially have three broad general classes to consider.

Nothing

Believe it or not, some woods are perfectly happy aging naturally. Woods that have a high rot resistance like cypress, redwood, and cedar, can actually survive for quite a while in the buff. In fact, some folks really prefer the natural aged color that these woods take on after years of enduring the elements. This method is not one of my personal favorites, but it is certainly something to consider.

Advantages: Easy to apply, because there’s nothing to apply.
Disadvantages: Wood will gray quickly (may not be a disadvantage to some) and most likely won’t last as long as a comparable piece with finish on it.
Maintenance: None. Until you get a splinter in your butt. Then you’ll probably have to do something about it.

Film-Forming

On the opposite end of the scale, we have film-forming finishes. These concoctions attempt to envelop the entire project in a protective bubble, essentially blocking out the elements and preventing the absorption of moisture and deteriorating UV rays. Basically, its the finish taking the beating instead of the wood. Incidentally, paint would fit into this category along with clear coats.

Advantages: Thick protective barrier keeps the wood safe and offers a strong first line of defense against the elements.
Disadvantages: When film finishes fail, they tend to flake off and look like crap. So its not only bad for the wood, but the item can quickly become an eyesore if problems arise. Also, products in this category vary widely in cost and quality so its difficult to know which product is right for the job.
Maintenance: Re-coating every few years should keep the finish looking fresh, but continues to build the thickness of the film. And at some point, the finish may fail completely. The only option then is a complete re-finish. Yuck!

Oil

Oils represent something of a compromise. There are lots of different formulations out there but essentially the oil absorbs into the wood and dries within the fibers. After numerous coats, the wood has a decent amount of moisture protection while still maintaining a natural look and no film. If you don’t like the “deck rail” look of a thick film finish, oils are probably your best bet. Just keep in mind this finish will require more frequent attention in the future.

Advantages: Easy to apply. Wipe on, wipe off Daniel-san.
Disadvantages: Less protection and more frequent maintenance.
Maintenance: Possibly a yearly re-application. Fortunately though, you should never have to completely strip and refinish. Just clean up the surface and re-apply the oil.

So the point of this write-up is not necessarily to tell you what to use. Instead, I’d love to hear what specific products you’ve used in the past, what your climate is, and how the products have held up over time. I know there are lots of folks out there making outdoor projects who would LOVE to hear what you have had success with.

Want to learn more about outdoor finishes? Check these posts out:
The Global Warping Effect (Video)
Desert Outdoor Finish
Difference Between Spar Varnish and Regular Varnish
A Better Way to Apply Spar Urethane?

Title: Hand Finishing and Rubbing Out with Hendrik Varju
Run Time: 9 Hrs 52 Min
Production Date: 2010
Produced By: Passion For Wood
Price: $94.95 CDN (Buy Now)
Marc’s Score: 4.3 Grape Sodas out of 5
Matt”s Score: 3.5 Grape Sodas out of 5

From the Back of the Case:

“Full outline of finish types and characteristics. Step-by-step demonstration of hand finishing techniques. Learn the lost art of rubbing out the perfect finish. Steps to achieve the perfect polyurethane finish. Real time project finishing demonstration.”

Our Thoughts:

Matt: Hendrik Varju is an amazing woodworker and artisan with a reputation for building prized pieces for his clients and paying an amazing amount of detail to his work. As a teacher and instructor he brings a vast amount of information to his students and it shows in the extent of detail he dives into to make sure every topic is covered, no matter how big or small the detail is. It’s a great title for anyone who breaks out in a sweat when they think of hand finishing their projects. I’d recommend this to woodworkers all of levels of experience, but especially those for who spray finishing just isn’t an option and you want to be able to use a wide variety of finish types. But if you’re looking for a quick fix to your woodworking habit, or even just a refresher to a topic you already feel comfortable with or even if hand finishing isn’t your thing and you’re all about spray finishing, this title is not for you.

Marc: The best way to describe this DVD set is: a weekend seminar in a box. With nearly 10 hrs of footage, it really is like sitting in on a long seminar. That’s both good and bad. Hendrik delivers the information with the confidence of a college professor. And like most of the lectures I sat through in college, I was checking my eyelids for holes after about 20 minutes. Now I realize this is firmly in the realm of personal taste. But with all the presentation and visualization options available to us in the world of video, I hoped for a little less marker on the flip chart. All that said, this is an absolute treasure trove of finishing information. When new woodworkers ask me where they should start with finishing, I usually recommend one of the well-known books that grace most of our shelves. But from now on, I think I’ll be recommending this DVD set. Its a little pricey, but this is a resource you’ll be dipping back into repeatedly.

The Breakdown:

Entertainment Value: Marc 1.5/5 | Matt 2/5
Production Quality: Marc 3/5 | Matt 2.5/5
Information Quality: Marc 5/5 | Matt 5/5
Overall Value: Marc 5/5 | Matt 2.5/5
Keeps Its Promise: Marc 5/5 | Matt 4/5
Final Score: Marc 4.3/5 | Matt 3.5/5

And congratulations to last show’s DVD winners: Matt Meers, Matt O’Connell, and Jack Wilson.

I put two coats of General Finishes Seal-a-Cell on a piece of cocobolo, then a coat of Arm-r-Seal Urethane top coat (gloss). Three days later, it’s still slightly tacky. Will this ever cure enough that I can continue applying coats of Arm-r-Seal? What gives?

What a Mess!

Many exotic species, like cocobolo, have a certain amount of natural-occurring oils in them. When you coat them with an oil-based finish, the oil in the wood itself prevents the finish from curing properly. The end result is typically a gooey sticky mess.

Prevention

Fortunately, we do have options. First, you can use an evaporative finish, such as shellac or lacquer. These finishes don’t cure via oxidation and will usually have no problem curing on an oily wood. A second option would be to seal the natural oils in using something like dewaxed shellac. A 1-2 lb cut should do the trick. Start by freshly sanding the surface and remove the excess oil by wiping the surface down with either acetone, lacquer thinner, or denatured alcohol. Immediately follow up by wiping or brushing a light coat of shellac onto the surface. Once dry, sand lightly with 320, vacuum the dust, and proceed with your oil-based top coats.

Now keep in mind, its probably best at this stage to stick with straight varnish and avoid oil/varnish blends such as Danish Oil. An oil/varnish blend works best when it can absorb deeply into the grain, and the shellac sealer coat prevents this from happening. So if you insist on using a blend, be sure to apply very thin coats and wipe off all the excess. Or play it safe and just use a straight varnish that contains no raw oil.

How to Fix It

Now if you are in a situation like Schuyler here, and you have a sticky mess on your hands, here’s what I recommend. The first thing you can do is simply wait. In most cases, the finish will eventually cure. It can take weeks or even months, but it should get there. For most folks, this is not a reasonable time-frame. So another option would be to rub the surface down with some steel wool and mineral spirits. Buff the surface rather aggressively as you attempt to remove some of the uncured finish. Let this dry overnight and see if the tackiness is still present. If it feels fairly dry to the touch, give it a light coat of shellac as described above. If its still tacky, move on to option three: the do-over! Sometimes, the best course of action is to scrape or strip the old finish off, and start over again. It’s not my favorite solution, but sometimes you just have to do it.

Have you had experience with oily woods? How did you handle it?

The process begins with a simple base coat of color: green for the top and red for the base. I used General Finishes Milk Paint which, despite the name, is just a high quality acrylic paint. After two coats of base color, I applied two light coats of Minwax Polycrylic satin. Once the clear coat dried, I applied several coats of antique white paint. Time to get distressed!

The distressing is done using nothing more than sandpaper. The idea is to cut through the top white coat and expose the green base coat beneath. The intermediate clear coat acts as a protective layer that helps prevent sanding too far. So how much do you sand? Well I don’t think there is a right answer here. Its a matter of how much base color you want to see and how distressed you want the piece to look. My goal was to distress the top moderately, but go pretty heavy on the base. Everything went rather well so I stenciled the numbers, added my door knobs and a star, and applied a couple clear coats.

What wasn’t immediately obvious to me at the time was that I made a pretty bad mistake. In my haste to get this project filmed, I didn’t think to remove all the dust from the sanding. And I don’t just mean a little vacuuming or a blast of compressed air. I mean a full wipe-down with paper towels and water. If you don’t do this, any green paint dust left on the surface essentially tuns into green dye when it touches the water-based clear coat. This isn’t so bad if green is the only color we are worried about, but our top color is white. And the final result looked like it had been drug behind the lawnmower on a hot summer day. I wasn’t completely happy but the show must go on right? I filmed the end of the video and I expressed my concerns about the “grass stains”. But given the time-frame and the nature of the project, a little extra green color wasn’t going to hurt anything. After saying it several times in multiple takes, I almost had myself convinced. Who am I kidding?!?! That paint job was going to drive me nuts! So the Advent Calendar went back in the shop for Round 2.

I wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to do, but I knew it was going to start by removing the Polycrylic topcoat and the white paint. My rounded scraper and some sandpaper did the trick. At this point, I started thinking that if I could cover up the exposed wood with more green, and simply leave the remaining white flecks of paint, I might be in business. So I strategically applied green paint where needed, let it dry, and gave it a light sanding. And this time I was careful to wipe up all of my dust before applying the topcoat.

Although its not what I had originally planned, I like this version FAR more than the previous. In fact, I think showing more green in the front, while leaving the “roof” mostly white gives the piece more visual interest and a more festive look. Normally, I’m not into distressed finishes AT ALL. But some of my best learning experiences come from projects that don’t exactly suit my personal tastes. Over time, I not only expand my skill set, but I also find that my tastes change. And some day, I might just be thankful that I fuddled my way through a distressed painted finish!

I have heard countless times that you should never put polyurethane over waxed shellac. From books to magazine articles to forums to DVD’s, the message is always the same. Even the back of the shellac can itself says not to use polyurethane. Now I have always taken the “better safe than sorry” route, simply avoiding regular waxed shellac. But there have been so many occasions where I have heard of people accidentally using waxed shellac under polyurethane with no detrimental effects. And frankly, I have never heard a first hand account of a terrible finishing disaster using this combination of supposedly incompatible finishes. So what’s the deal?

To answer that question, I decided to do a little experiment for myself. I wanted to see if I could find any evidence of a weakened bond between polyurethane and waxed shellac, when the shellac is used in the typical manner as a sealer. My test is simple and completely non-scientific. There are just too many variables at play to answer this question with any real degree of certainty. But my results gave me enough confidence to say that if you are using the finish as a sealer coat (2lb cut or less), I see no reason not to use whatever shellac you have on hand, even if it has wax in it.

This is a topic that I will continue to watch. And hopefully we’ll hear from some folks who have had experiences, good and bad, with this finish combination.

**EDIT** It was immediately suggested that I do a Scotch Tape lift test. I still had the samples in the shop so I jumped in and did a few more tests. Using both duct tape and Scotch tape over a grid work of slices made with an X-acto knife, no lifting of the finish was observed on any of the boards. I even put tape over the area where the epoxy drops were and no lifting was observed there either. These finishes are holding on for dear life!

Products used in this episode:

Zinsser Bullseye® SealCoat™ This is the only sanding sealer you will ever need! It gives depth and beauty to wood grain, and won’t raise or swell the wood grain. 100% wax-free formula dries in minutes and sands easily. Zinsser Bullseye® SealCoat™

Bulls Eye® Shellac Trusted by generations of woodworkers, shellac is a traditional, quick-drying finish that is ideal for antiques and fine furniture. It is durable, non-yellowing and imparts a warm glow to all wood surfaces. Bulls Eye® Shellac

Minwax® Fast-Drying Polyurethane Among the most durable of protective coatings, Minwax® Fast-Drying Polyurethane offers long-lasting beauty on both finished and unfinished wood. Minwax® Fast-Drying Polyurethane

When an antique furniture piece is restored, it often loses all value. This is a very hard concept for many people to understand. As our current generation adds or subtracts from the original work from a master crafts person, this is like painting a neon mustache onto the Mona Lisa painting that Leonardo da Vinci created during the 16th century. Our current neon paint may be fashionable, but it would change the work of a master.

True antique furniture pieces were created over a 100 years ago. The wood was taken from very old trees and will show a different pattern than our quick-growth varieties today. Furniture finishes were created through different processes than our mass produced varieties on the marketplace today. As an example, when a real fruit finish is removed from an 1820’s Duncan Phyfe table, it can never be replaced. A new finish will always be a neon mustache where the old patina of an aged fruit finish should be.

Refinishing

The art of restoration includes consideration towards the act of preservation. Everything that we do to a treasured piece of antique wood furniture today should be of a nature that is easy for a future generation to reverse. Refinishing wood is not an act of restoration or preservation; this is a permanent change being made to a valuable antique. Refinished wood pieces have their place in an active family home, and this process is fine to attempt on wood furniture that is not designated as an investment or family heirloom to savor.

Missing Parts

Antique furniture pieces with scrolls and inlays will often have missing or broken small parts that must be replaced to restore the original visual beauty. For inlays, the professional restoration services will often try to find vintage materials to use that will match the age of the item. Tiny pieces of period veneers or shells will be carefully shaped to match the other pieces that are still attached to the furniture. These replacement pieces are attached with methods that can be removed easily later when our global technology advances into an era that can recreate the exact pieces that were once on the furniture. Missing scrolled parts are recreated through a mold process. A compound like clay is pressed against an existing scroll that must be duplicated in order to make a mold. This mold is then filled with plaster or a compound that can be used like wood when it is dry. The plaster part is then shipped to a high-quality woodworker for an exact duplicate to be created out of wood. Or, the simulated wood product that comes out of the mold is used on the antique furniture where it is needed.

Maintenance

Whenever possible, simply give your antique furniture piece a good cleaning and a rub with a light-oil based product. The older furniture can still be lovely to use with all of the original character flaws showing. With the older pieces of antique furniture, it is always better to leave everything alone if retaining value is an important issue in your family.

About the Author: Kay Davenport writes for Antique Furniture, her personal hobby blog focused on experiences related to antique furniture restoration. She helps her family and friends to learn how to restore and evaluate their antique pieces.