How do I refinish this bowl?

[Tom Porter]

I have a bowl my parents' asked me to refinish. My uncle, who lives in Hawaii, gave it to them years ago. It is labelled on the bottom with what I assume is the maker and the wood, which is monkey pod. It has a lot of build up on it and some scratches, which appear to be primarily in the finish. It seems to me to be shellac, but frankly, that is a poorly educated guess.

Any suggestions about how I should tackle this thing? I'm relatively new to woodworking, so advice on both stripping it and applying a finish would be appreciated.

I can post a picture of the bowl if that might help.

[Scott Holmes]

Go to the first post in this section "What is that finish" and read the link on how to determine the existing finish.

[Tom Porter]

Guess I should have noticed that before posting...

Thanks!

[George Octon]

Guess I should have noticed that before posting...

Thanks!

So it doesn't really make much difference. Use some liquid paint stripper like Kwik or whatever, you don't need something real strong. It is very unlikely shellac, but of course you could try some achohol on it and see if it dissolves. If you have lacquer thinner on hand, try that before you buy paint stripper, it is very expensive now.

Use steel wool or something similar (synthetic abrasive pad like 3M pad) about 0 rated to clean off dissoved finish, repeating till you get it clean. Sand to get your scratches out. Apply finish. They say it doesn't matter what it is as long as it's cured if you use it for food. A penetrating oil finish is nice but it takes many many coats to get a good finish with wet sanding in the 220 to 320 to 400 to 600 range. You have to gauge your costs if you have to buy the materials as you can get into a lot of money. I just bought and used a quart of the Minwax Tung Oil Finish from Depot and it was $20 for the quart.

[George Octon]

I have a bowl my parents' asked me to refinish. My uncle, who lives in Hawaii, gave it to them years ago. It is labelled on the bottom with what I assume is the maker and the wood, which is monkey pod. It has a lot of build up on it and some scratches, which appear to be primarily in the finish. It seems to me to be shellac, but frankly, that is a poorly educated guess.

Any suggestions about how I should tackle this thing? I'm relatively new to woodworking, so advice on both stripping it and applying a finish would be appreciated.

I can post a picture of the bowl if that might help.

Apparently it's a tropical hardwood, some say very hard, so it would take very well to a penetrating oil finish, if you haven't done it yet. You put it on as much as it will take soaking it in and then you buff it dry. Some different types set up quicker and are more difficult to use. When they set up, you have to apply more finish to be able to get it all off without leaving a sticky surface. But you can apply a coat whneever you have a few minutes, 15 or 20 or 30. Then you apply your oil and wet sand it with 320 or 400 a small area at a time and buff it dry. It does make a nice finish. I've got a teak bowl myself I've done and it is pretty nice looking. It has many applications on it. I bet the outside has about 15. I think that's how a lot of gun stocks were and are done.

[Prashun Patel]

On a bowl, I'd go straight to sanding vs stripping. I'd power sand it off with a right angle drill and 2" discs on the inside and with a ROS on the outside (soft backing pad). On a small surface, this is a viable option.

If you have a lathe - and even better - a vaccuum chuck, I'd do all the sanding on the lathe.

What will the bowl be used for? On a lathe, it's pretty easy to get a decent luster even with an oil finish. If it is indeed an oily exotic, I would just sand it to 600 or 1000 and then buff it with paste wax.

[Jim Rimmer]

On a bowl, I'd go straight to sanding vs stripping. I'd power sand it off with a right angle drill and 2" discs on the inside and with a ROS on the outside (soft backing pad). On a small surface, this is a viable option.

If you have a lathe - and even better - a vaccuum chuck, I'd do all the sanding on the lathe.

What will the bowl be used for? On a lathe, it's pretty easy to get a decent luster even with an oil finish. If it is indeed an oily exotic, I would just sand it to 600 or 1000 and then buff it with paste wax.

Can you post a picture? We had some monkey pod bowls at one time (don't know what happened to them) and they were odd shaped (not round and appeared to be carved rather than turned) so Prashun's suggestion to use a lathe may not work. If it's a traditional bowl, then his is a great idea.

[Tom Porter]

Jim,

You're right about Prashun's comment. I do have a lathe but the bowl was carved out to look like flower petals, so putting it on my lathe is probably not an option. Plus, I don't have a vacuum chuck. I'm thinking hand sanding is probably best because I don't want to damage it along the way. Since I'm new to this, going at it with power tools might be dicey.

Thanks for all the advice.

[Jim Rimmer]

Jim,

You're right about Prashun's comment. I do have a lathe but the bowl was carved out to look like flower petals, so putting it on my lathe is probably not an option. Plus, I don't have a vacuum chuck. I'm thinking hand sanding is probably best because I don't want to damage it along the way. Since I'm new to this, going at it with power tools might be dicey.

Thanks for all the advice.

That's what I thought when you said monkey pod. If I remember correctly ours were in the shape of a leaf and one like flower petal or clover.