Finishing mistake?

[Brianp]

Hi guys,

Quick question for you and I want to be wrong...

I have been doing some turning for a friend to match existing timber and we've agreed on a shade of spirit stain (chestnut) to go onto some oak to match.

So I've turned 4 items and sanded them and ... sealed them with acrylic sanding sealer...and denibbed with steel wool. I have yet to apply the stain. Have I done this wrong? Will I be able to apply the stain effectively now?

The chuck spigots/tenons have been removed, so if I could avoid remounting them on the lathe I'd be delighted!

Thanks folks.

 

[CHJ]

You should have stained first to let it soak into the wood.
Think you will have to sand off the acrylic sealer.

 

[Brianp]

You should have stained first to let it soak into the wood.
Think you will have to sand off the acrylic sealer.

See I had a feeling that was the right answer. Oh how I want to be wrong. This brings 2 further questions....

a: How do I know I've removed all the sealer and,

b: Is glue a good way to temporarily rechuck these things? Could I use evostick or similar to glue on a temporary chuck tenon/spigot, then remove this with a chisel fairly cleanly?

Lesson: Don't start finishing too early!

 

[Bodrighy]

You don't say what the objects are but it may be possible to remount using a jam chuck or between centres. Biggest probl;em in gluing a temporary spigot on is getting it centred. It can be done by depending what the things are can be fiddly though as yu will only be sanding back it won't be quite as bad as if you had to refine the cut.

Pete

 

[boysie39]

Brian , if you look up The Midlands Woodturners who are from your area you may have one near you who will show you what you can do . Very helpful lot are the Midland turners .

 

[CHJ]

How do I know I've removed all the sealer ,

Dependant upon the wood type and how open grained/porous, I doubt you will remove all the sealer by sanding, how much this will effect the finished appearance by limiting/modifying the stain penetration only a trial will show.

If you have scrap samples you can trial on them, you could try adding stain to some sealer and see what effect you get applying this over a pre-sealed and sanded surface.

You don't say if the stain you have is spirit or water based but even spirit stain will work at a pinch with a water based product as the solvents disperse and leave the pigment behind.

 

[Roger C]

Brian do a test on a scrap piece that you have sealed and denibbed. You say acrylic sealer is that a water base or laquer thinner based. If laquer thinner based sealer and stain is spirit based, as the spirit is most cases is zylon or simmilar you can stain over the sealer.

 

[Terry Smart]

Vigorous sanding (starting at 80/120 grit) should remove enough of the sealer to allow the stain to penetrate. If the surface feels like bare timber after sanding you're probably ok.

Only way to avoid this would be to use a tinted wax over the sealer, but that does limit your choice of colour.

If it'd been a Cellulose Sanding Sealer you could have used the Spirit Stain (which is ethanol based) mixed into the Melamine Lacquer as a tinted top coat. This won't work with the acrylics though, sorry.

 

[marcros]

would a gel stain work- almost as a glaze rather than a true stain?

 

[Terry Smart]

would a gel stain work- almost as a glaze rather than a true stain?

Really don't know; I think it's unlikely to be honest, I think the gel stain still needs to penetrate a bit. I'd worry about it adhering to the sealer.

 

[Brianp]

Thank you all for your input. It looks like ( as I suspected) I'll have to carefully sand out the sealer, I'll start with 80 and work back through just to be sure.

It'll be a spirit stain, brown mahogany shade on oak.

The pieces are table leg extensions, about 125mm in length and at widest, 40-45mm in diameter. If I'm careful I can probably mount them reasonably securely back as a spindle - top and bottom won't be seen again once glued/fixed to the rest of the table leg.

Suffering from black and blue ankle syndrome, but at least there's a lesson learned I think.