Wipe or Blow Dust Off? – Question of the Week
This week’s question comes from Steve who asks:
“I just finished watching the refinishing blog and my only question is I have been wiping my pieces down with mineral spirits prior to applying my finish, I noted that you just blow your pieces off. My question is, am I gaining anything by wiping my pieces verses blowing off?”
And this was my response:
Hey Steve. Thanks for writing. I too occasionally wipe down my pieces before finishing instead of just blowing off the dust. In just about every way, wiping down is the better method. Blowing the dust off can actually damage the wood if the stream of air is too close to the surface. And not to mention, when you blow the dust off, where does it go? Into the air and back down into your finish. So the best way to remove surface dust is to either wipe it away with lightly-dampened cloth (as you are), or use a vacuum with a brush attachment. Now many times, out of laziness, I will still use the compressed air. But you can bet I’ll have that much more dust nibs in my finish when the finish dries. :) So keep doing what your doing my friend!
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Do you guys have Tack Cloths? They are cloths impregnated with something to attract dust, very effective.
I am making a table from pine beetle wood and I want to stain it, preserving the beautiful blue color the beetle causes as it kills the tree. How can I preserve the blue color, contrasting it with the usual white pine wood, without ruining the contrast?
Hey Scoot. The best way to preserve the color is to protect the surface from UV exposure. And if you want to keep the lighter areas from yellowing, you need a non-yellowing finish. I would probably try an exterior grade water-based finish. This should accomplish both of the above requirements. Try this:
http://www.rockler.com/product.....;sid=AFN86