cherry/lyptus blo finish

[John Daugherty]

I am in the process of building a table for my daughter (who is 9) made of cherry and lyptus. I’ll send pics when I'm finished.

I was thinking of using blo for the finish. How would you apply it? Would you thin the blo? How many coats? How long between coats? How long would it take to dry? I am also thinking of using deft spray lacquer as a topcoat.


Thanks,

John

[Cecil Arnold]

Let the BLO dry for at least a week. I would do a first coat 50/50 BLO mineral spirits and a second coat straight, being sure to wipe it dry after 15-30 min. Then I would seal coat with dewaxed shellac, blond, and follow up with laquer.

[Dave Tinley]

John-
You might also consider using a "witches brew" mixture. Usually made up of 1/3 blo (or tung oil), 1/3 polyurethane and 1/3 mineral spirits. It gives you the depth and protection all in one batch. I have also heard of people using the Maloof finish, which I think is 1/3 blo, 1/3 tung oil and 1/3 poly. The drawback to that finish is the lenghty drying time.
Oh, and dont forget the pictures.
Dave

[Jim Becker]

As an alternative to thinning the BLO with MS, consider heating it (using a water bath) to about 135º. This provides the same advantage as thinning relative to absorbtion without altering the amount of oil that actually gets in the wood.

I do suggest a top coat for this particular project...and it's a great opportunity to use shellac as an alternative to a varnish product. It's also easier to fix/renew should the tea parties get a little wild. (I guess I'll have to start thinking about those things soon, myself... ) I prefer garnet shellac on cherry, but orange, blond, or super-blond will all work just as well. And shellac, IMHO, brings out the best in the oiled wood, too, especially for cherry.

[John Daugherty]

Thanks for the advice guys. I have applied 2 coats of blo, one thinned and the other full strength. I will be out of town next week so there should be plenty of time for it to dry. I think that I’ll use a topcoat of shellac and see how that looks before I do any more to it.

I’ll post pics when I am finished

John

[Frank Hagan]

If I can hijack your thread a bit, how did you like working with the lyptus? I'm just getting back into woodworking, and lyptus is a new wood for me ... in fact, I haven't been back to a hardwood store here in SoCal since I started back into woodworking, but saw it in a Woodcraft store in Portsmouth NH.

[Roy Wall]

If I can hijack your thread a bit, how did you like working with the lyptus? I'm just getting back into woodworking, and lyptus is a new wood for me ... in fact, I haven't been back to a hardwood store here in SoCal since I started back into woodworking, but saw it in a Woodcraft store in Portsmouth NH.

Frank, there should be a thread in the General WW forum about Lyptus...about a month ago I think...

It's like mahogany, but harder & finer grain... It's a little splinterish too......