Fixing Varnish Stains On Old Bowl?

[Eric Jacobson]

I opened my big mouth and offered to fix my grandmother's 80-year-old 16" diameter cracked bowl. For the crack, which goes from rim to base, I'll fill it with CA glue and sawdust. That's the easy part. However, during the whole process, I removed the finish my grandfather had used. It was some kind of varnish, I suspect spar varnish because he was a boater. Anyway, it needed refinishing so I soaked it with CitriStrip for 24 hours. The finish came off but left some nasty stains (see photos).

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Are there any easy practices to deal with this?

The best I can come up with is:

1. Use a tinted oil to darken the whole bowl, hopefully hiding the stains. I normally use clear Watco Danish Oil, but I noticed they sell a Dark Walnut Tint Danish Oil. I could try that.
2. Use another Varnish. Possibly a varnish would also hide the stains. I would probably use some Minwax Wipe-on Poly.

My grandmother didn't seem to mind the shiny spar varnish and it probably held up pretty well to her lack of care. However, something tells me I should convince her an oil finish is nicer.

[Pat Scott]

Using Danish Oil may darken the bowl enough to blend in the stains so they aren't a concern. If the old finish was worn away exposing bare, dry wood, there might not be much of anything you can do. Once the wood is stained it's stained. If it were me I would use a clear oil and call the existing stains 80-year old patina.

You could try wet sanding the bowl using your danish oil as a lubricant, this might help blend everything in.

[Prashun Patel]

Stains? Did you just not remove all the varnish? I would try soaking the bowl in MS. How it looks wet is how it will appear once finished. I suspect you will be ok with any kind of oil-type finish on it.

Yes, BLO will add some nice color, and *perhaps* minimize the contrast.