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Wipe on Poly on Padauk problem

Keith Palmer

Keith Palmer

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84
Location
Tacoma, WA
I just finished a couple of peppermills for xmas made from laminated Maple, black veneer, and Padauk. I have applied some wipe on poly as I have done with my bowls, but it still remains tacky on the Padauk. It has now been a week in the heated shop at 70-75 degrees.

Is this a known problem with the padauk?:dunno: I tried sanding what was there and putting a lighter coat of poly on and same thing.:bang:

Any suggestions to remedy the problem??
 
Keith I think it is the oil in the wood. What I would do is sand it down to wood again if possible, wipe it down with acetone let it flash dry then spray with lacquer since it dries faster. I have had good luck that way. Others may have some idea but there are other woods I have had the same problem with poly. I always wipe them down with acetone before putting on finish.
 
After the acetone wipe and spray with lacquer can I put poly on top of that or just go with the lacquer? I have not tried lacquer yet on my turnings but now is a good time and I know that it does dry fast. What do yo use for spray lacquer?

Do you have to wait a long before you can buff out a lacquer finish? I waited 2-3 weeks on the poly.
 
I haven't found spray can lacquer much better than Deft. I have been using it on my turnings now for about 3 yrs. I do the same thing with lacquer and wait 2 or 3 weeks to buff. If I use gloss lacquer most times I won't even buff because of the shine it has. I spray a coat about every 30 minutes and about 3 to 4 coats is all I ever do. I have kinda gotten away from poly especially on my small turnings and on bowls I either use General Finishes Seal-A-Cell followed by Arm-R-Seal. Lately after talking with Ernie Conover I have been using Minwax Antique Oil on bowls. That is about the only finish he uses even on utility bowls and items. Right now I use a cereal bowl finished with Antique Oil which I let cure for a month. I have used it now for about 1 1/2 yrs. and it still looks good.
 
(Thinking out loud here)

Wood that has large pores can have problem like you mention. Ehat happens is the pores act like reservoirs making it take longer for the finish to dry.

There are times that the finish can also bleed out for a couple of days keeping the finish sticky
 
I haven't had any problems with the Paduak in my peppermills that I can remember. I did several from glue-ups that had a lot of Paduak in them. I ran all of them through a buffing system anyway as a final finish and they are very smooth and slick.

I did some bottle stoppers from Bocote that stayed tacky... they got run through my home made Beall system too, finished off very nicely.
 
I haven't run into that with Paduak but kingwood, rosewood, etc., have given me that problem. Putting 1-2 coats of dewaxed shellac on first solves the problem and the wipe-on poly will cure over that.
 
Chuck Ellis said:
I just took it straight to the buffer, ran all through 3 wheels...
Click to expand...

OK, I took a scrap piece of padauk with the poly applied the same as I have on my mills and buffed it. Now I have the grain filled with buffing compound and wax, leaving white spots.:doh:

Is there a way to remove the compound and wax from the pores? Or am I buffing improperly? I know I should have used grain filler, but it is too late now that the poly is on.

Thanks for all the help!!
 
Keith Palmer said:
OK, I took a scrap piece of padauk with the poly applied the same as I have on my mills and buffed it. Now I have the grain filled with buffing compound and wax, leaving white spots.:doh:

Is there a way to remove the compound and wax from the pores? Or am I buffing improperly? I know I should have used grain filler, but it is too late now that the poly is on.
Click to expand...

Taking a piece with a tacky finish to the buffer only buffs off the finish and makes a mess of your wheels. It still looks nice in the end, but it would look just as nice if you started with no finish since you've buffed it off.

The dewaxed shellac suggestion was a good one.

As for compound in the pores, there's not much you can do there. I skip the white compound on open pored and dark woods.

-Joe
 
Keith Palmer said:
OK, I took a scrap piece of padauk with the poly applied the same as I have on my mills and buffed it. Now I have the grain filled with buffing compound and wax, leaving white spots.:doh:

Is there a way to remove the compound and wax from the pores? Or am I buffing improperly? I know I should have used grain filler, but it is too late now that the poly is on.

Thanks for all the help!!
Click to expand...

Keith,
I'm sorry, I didn't think about the paduak being more open grained than the bocote.. I had about 4 or 5 coats of poly on my bocote stoppers... even though they were still slightly tacky, I buffed them with the wheels and no problems... I don't remember having any problems with the paduak in my peppermills not drying.

If I caused you problems, please accept my apologies.. not sure what the solution might be now, except to sand down and refinish. I remember having a similar problem of white spots with some walnut... spent some time resanding.. and changed my finish.
 
No worries Chuck, that's why I do a test piece first!! The finish is starting to cure better the more coats I get on. I now have 8 coats and it is drying quite well. I hope to buff in time for Christmas.
 
That may be why I didn't notice the problem with my mills... I used relatively narrow strips of the paduak in my glue ups and I put several coats on them before I started the buffing process... same with the bocote stoppers... they had about 5 or 6 coats or more before I checked them... then I let them set a few days before I buffed them. They still had a tackiness about them, but it buffed out okay.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished peppermills... they are one of my favorite items to make.
 
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