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Finishing class at the guild

Darren Wright

Darren Wright

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I'm taking a finishing class at the local guild. Our instructor normally does the classes at our local WoodCraft where he works part time, but he's a finisher/restoration pro by trade. It's a 3 day class where he's covering a lot of different techniques. We're working on sample boards and keeping track of the steps taken on a finish log that can be taped to the back of its sample board for future reference.

Besides lots of sanding, we worked with various sealers (commercial and glue sizes), tints, water and oil based stains, fillers, and chalk type paints. We'll be adding to these boards over the next couple of classes to learn brush and spray techniques. The taped areas are for the raw wood reference when we're done.

2019-04-22 21.52.42.jpg
 
BTW, I have a lot of great take-aways from this class, but heating up BLO in a bottle in a crockpot with water was a new one. The warmed BLO helps open up the wood fibers to penetrate further into the wood.
 
Darren Wright said:
BTW, I have a lot of great take-aways from this class, but heating up BLO in a bottle in a crockpot with water was a new one. The warmed BLO helps open up the wood fibers to penetrate further into the wood.
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That sounds like a great idea. :thumb: Does it also reduce the viscosity of the BLO?

Sous vide BLO. :D
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
That sounds like a great idea. :thumb: Does it also reduce the viscosity of the BLO?

Sous vide BLO. :D
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Yes, it did quite so, went to drip a few drops on the walnut and covered half my samples for that board.

On a side note, I'm curious how the walnut will come out on that top section where we've covered it in a neon yellow dye (top board). :huh:
 
Dave Hawksford said:
Keep good notes. I still refer to notes from the 80's
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Absolutely, though I need to re-write them with a bit more detail while it's still fresh.

Attached is the sheet he's having us use with the boards, which have kerfs cut to divide them into 8 sections.

Tonight was more layers added to some of the others we started last night, some building for the final class on Saturday.

We did try the method using Lye to age cherry and I was impressed with the results. He did wear his respirator, gloves, and glasses while mixing and we wore gloves and glasses working with it. Once dry it's ready for finishing. The bottom middle was the section treated with Lye and it changed instantly to the darker color. I believe Jim mentioned this method to Rennie on one of his finishing questions.
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The chalk paints received another color on top, the blue one has hide glue (titebond brand) on it, it will get it's final color over it to do a "crackle" finish.
2019-04-23 20.48.10.jpg

We're also working on some Arts and crafts finish recipes on white oak, these will get their final finishes on Saturday.
2019-04-23 20.53.12.jpg

We also worked on a poncing technique, which used bees wax, ponced with pigment from a balled up rag containing the pigment, followed by pumice, which was rubbed out using a gray scotchbrite pad. It's the one in the bottom left corner. It fills the grain and adds a little color, but leaves it pretty natural looking. The section to the right is still unfinished walnut.
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Attachments

  • finishing schedule_1.pdf
    283.8 KB · Views: 16
Great stuff Darren. I keep a finish log and also tag some pieces with a card in a safe interior location. I learned to do this when folks came bace a year or so later and wanted more matching pieces to complete a room. Could you do us a favor and post a pic of one of the sheets that is filled out. I am having a bit of a struggle in seeing how it is used. I'd like to improve my spreadsheet-snippet method ;-)
 
keep notes and be sure to fill us in darren,, that sounds like a great class to be in.. i also keep some notes but not as well as i should.. like the look of the lye on cherry havnt done it but knew of it threw jim..
 
glenn bradley said:
Great stuff Darren. I keep a finish log and also tag some pieces with a card in a safe interior location. I learned to do this when folks came bace a year or so later and wanted more matching pieces to complete a room. Could you do us a favor and post a pic of one of the sheets that is filled out. I am having a bit of a struggle in seeing how it is used. I'd like to improve my spreadsheet-snippet method ;-)
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larry merlau said:
keep notes and be sure to fill us in darren,, that sounds like a great class to be in.. i also keep some notes but not as well as i should.. like the look of the lye on cherry havnt done it but knew of it threw jim..
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Thanks guys. I really like the look of the aged cherry myself.

Glenn, I didn't have one with me here, but filled one out as an example to match my Cherry board above. The 8 sections are, top row of A, B, C, & D; the bottom sections of 1, 2, 3, & 4. He labeled them this way for his class as too many folks got confused with where the labeled sections were.

Section A is always taped off as the control/bare wood to protect it. The lines in the sections graphic are just used for abbreviation of the process (i.e. SWC, WB stain, OB stain, BLO, etc) each step on a new line. The detailed below for the sections provide for more detail of the finish process.

He noted that it's important to log the species name, date, temperature, and humidity. You may have done the test piece in winter, but it's now summer and you need to re-create it, so your dry times may be faster or you need to add more thinners to get the same look.

He didn't have us write down much of the sanding until you get to the top-coats as its usually the same grits/steps for most woods in the beginning, but can note those if you want.

I'd be interested in knowing what items differ from what you track from this sheet?
 

Attachments

  • finishing sheet example.pdf
    363.7 KB · Views: 18
Jim DeLaney said:
Flood it on, rinse it off, neutralize with a weak vinegar/water solution. Let it dry and you're done. No streaking.
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He actually didn't have us neutralize it, just left it to dry and said you could finish your choice of ways after that, but makes sense to do so.

Today was the last day. We did some distressing to the furniture paint. Also laid on a coat over the hide glue to do a "crackle" finish. as well as some glazes and waxes over the final distressing to add more effect.
2019-04-23 20.48.10.jpg 2019-04-27 09.37.21.jpg 2019-04-27 10.05.06.jpg

We then did some final finishes to the other samples, the second was some arts/craft type of recipes.
2019-04-27 10.05.13.jpg 2019-04-27 11.03.09.jpg

Finally we did some spray finishes and learned about equipment. The first is a pop-up spray tent, the second is a lighting stand, the lights are 5000 Kelvin.
2019-04-27 09.27.41.jpg 2019-04-27 12.01.26.jpg
 
Dave Hawksford said:
Darren did you use vingar/steelwool mixture for the age'ing of the cherry ?
Note : BLO left to dry in the sun will add a rich yellowing aged tone.
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No, just a lye mixture, simply brushed on with a foam brush. What's the technique as far as do you leave the steel wool to rust a bit first or is it more instant like the lye is?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Darren Wright said:
No, just a lye mixture, simply brushed on with a foam brush. What's the technique as far as do you leave the steel wool to rust a bit first or is it more instant like the lye is?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
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Either will work instantly on Cherry. Cherry just goes dark period.
Vinegar and steel-wool, add to 3 jars. mark one 12hr, one 24 hrs and one 36 hrs. Apply to pine, maple, oak walnut see what the differences are.
 
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