Waterlox Finishing Schedule

[Scott Holmes]

Your plan sould work just fine. Might want to add an additional coat for good measure.

[Brian Kent]

Layer after layer, fine sanding, adjusting, correcting, more layers, and I think it's very close to being finished.

The table pedestal legs are just as I want them, though I may adjust to how the table top ends up.

The table top is still wet in these photos, but it is almost this glossy when dry.

When none of the 600 grit lines show through, I think I am done with this step.

I'll let it dry for a week before bringing into the living room. Then I'll let it sit there to see if it is too glossy, which it probably will be.

By then I'll have a birthday and can take my mom's birthday gift and either buy some Waterlox Satin or some pumice / rottenstone / polishing compound, or whatever I am supposed to used to turn gloss to satin. I haven't researched products yet.

But I am still having fun, so the project is fulfilling its purpose.

Brian

[Scott Holmes]

Brian,

"some pumice / rottenstone / polishing compound, or whatever I am supposed to used to turn gloss to satin."

Pumice & rottenstone are the "old school" way of rubbing out a finish.

Todays wet/dry sandpapers will out perform the old school process doing a better job faster. To rub out the finish you will need to let it cure 30 days or so.

Hint: If you can still smell the finish when you put your nose up to it then it is not fully cured.

Wet sand 600 then 800, 1000, 1200 this is about the satin finish pumice 4F will give you = Satin then 0000 steelwool.

If you want a higher shine continue wet sanding 1500, 1800, 2000, 2400, 2800, 3200 ,3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000. Then buff with deluxing compound and then go with car "haze remover" or "glaze" and you are finished.

Make sure you wipe clean between every grit change; one little piece of 600 grit will make a mess while wet sanding with 8000 grit.

A trick I use is to start sanding with the grain, then clean, change grit then sand acroos the grain, then with grain, etc. This helps you know when you have removed all the scratch pattern from the previous grit. Remember you are sanding finish not wood the finish has no grain.

NOTE: A high gloss finish shows highlights every flaw; a satin finish hides many flaws.

[Brian Kent]

Thank you Scott. Do you recommend some sort of backing like cork on a sanding block to help level the finish? I assume that after a point just the folded sandpaper will do fine.

I appreciate the obvious note that the finish has no grain. That is helpful since the burl has omni-directional grain.

Brian

[Brian Kent]

There were a couple of aspects of my workmanship that I was not satisfied with. I decided that rather than live with it, I would fix it. Why? Because I can.

So I went back and filled in every place where the cracks had never filled (between pieces of burl and within the burl) and where the holes had never filled. If this were an oil type finish where you could still touch the wood, I would have fixed it between the fourths of the double book match and left the natural cracks and holes. But this is a film finish. Once I looked at the books on finishing by Bob Flexner and by Jeff Jewitt (on rubbing the finish) I saw their expert examples and was no longer satisfied.

So after I filled the holes and cracks with waterlox, I went back to 320 grit to level the edges of the droplets of hardened waterlox. Now I am back to re-adding layers, brushed on.

I have cleaned the surface with mineral spirits, rubbed with a terry cloth, freshly washed the brush, and started with a clean jar and new waterlox, I am getting nubs as if it were covered with dust. They appear as I am brushing on, not with dust settling from the air. I am tipping off with the brush to remove bubbles.

Is my only hope to get a thick enough film that when I rub it down a month from now, I'll get all of these bumps?

I'll try to get pictures that will show what is happening.

Brian

[Brian Kent]

Picture 1 is from above at an angle. The reflection of shop lights shows the problems.

Picture 2 is from across the room at a low angle. This isolates the nibs (and kinda makes me feel sick).

Is it possible that even though I am washing the brush with soap and water and then wrapping in plastic, little bits of varnish are forming on the bristles?

Help!?!

Brian

I loaded the pictures - then they disappeared 3 times. I'll keep trying. Meanwhile, I am soaking the brush in mineral spirits.

[Brian Kent]

Trying to load the photos again:

[Prashun Patel]

Perhaps you're more deft than I, but I didn't know you could spot fill with a varnish without creating witness lines.

Anyway, I suspect that no amount of soap and water will cleaning the brush. Your brush probably contains bits of drying varnish that's 'washing' off when you put on yr next coat.

[Brian Kent]

Yes Shawn, I did create the "witness lines" though I've never heard that phrase before. That's why I sanded it back.

I have been soaking the brush in mineral spirits since my last post and the fluid is a golden yellow.

If this is the problem, then I have to decide how long to wait before I sand one more time with 400 or 600 and re-apply. I better get this right soon because I am running out of Waterlox.


Brian

[Prashun Patel]

If you JUST put down the coat - like less than an hour, you can probably just wipe it down with a rag moistened with spirits... Any longer than that, though, you risk making a sticky mess.

[Brian Kent]

Yup. Sticky mess for sure. It is about 90° and low humidity so I may be able to sand in 24 hours. I sure hope the brush is the issue.

[Scott Holmes]

Thank you Scott. Do you recommend some sort of backing like cork on a sanding block to help level the finish? I assume that after a point just the folded sandpaper will do fine.

I appreciate the obvious note that the finish has no grain. That is helpful since the burl has omni-directional grain.

Brian

Sanding block of some kind is an absolute must for a gloss finish.

You said "...after a point just the folded sandpaper will do fine." NO.

There is NO point where I would recommend this technique on a flat table top with a gloss finish. This will cause waves in the gloss finish.You must use a backer block to keep it flat. Flat and smooth are not the same.

[Brian Kent]

There is a significant dip in the middle of the table due to warping of the substrate and burl while the Titebond glue was drying, so I can keep the curve even, but I can't sand my way to an absolutely flat table. That probably tells me I should aim at a good satin finish so it does not show too obviously.

[Scott Holmes]

If you can keep the curve smooth and consistantly contoured, it will show, but be OK. Satin finish would hide it a bit more than the gloss.

[Prashun Patel]

I vote for satin. I sanded parts of a table last year too aggressively with the ROS. Gloss showed it like a Scarlett Letter. Satin made it go pleasantly away.