Sycamore board

[Chris152]

I bought this board the day before yesterday, and plan to make a series of bowls from it:

Here's the first, 13 1/2" diameter (they'll all be about that). I'll update as I do them.

 

[Chris152]

No 2 of 7:

 

[Chris152]

3

I had to apply sanding sealer after painting the white circle so the masking tape for the straight line would seal to the surface, but this has caused a bit of yellowing to the circle (you can hardly see in the photo, but it's there). Pretty annoying. I used shellac sealer - are any sanding sealers more clear, less yellow?

 

[minilathe22]

I think some of the Chestnut sanding sealers are transparent (or almost). They are also available in a handy spray can so no need for paint brushes etc.

 

[Chris152]

Thanks minilathe - I just looked on the Axminster website and of the cellulose, acrylic and shellac sealers they have, the only one that actually says 'clear finish' is the shellac I have, which isn't clear. I'm sure I read somewhere on here that one is more clear but I can't find the thread now. And maybe I just dreamed that up.

 

[stewart]

Nice bowls. I've used Chestnut Acrylic sanding sealer in the aeroslo form and haven't noticed any colour changes...

 

[minilathe22]

I wonder if the paint reacted or dissolved into the sealer somehow, and that caused the change in colour. Only a guess though. Was it an acrylic based paint?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'd think cellulose sealer would probably be clearer than shellac. If you are only using it to raise the grain and not as a finish hot water works quite well - run hot water over your piece before you go for lunch or whatever and it'll have dried when you get back.

 

[Chris152]

Thanks fellas. I went out yesterday morning and bought some acrylic sanding sealer, so tried it today. I think it's better, though I was also more careful about getting any wax out of the groove where the white's painted. Acrylic's harder to put on than shellac, I think - it seems to disappear into the wood more readily. The white's just water-based furniture paint from Rustoleum, I'm using it as it needs no primer and won't be getting any wear so should be fine - I've no idea if the shellac was reacting with it but tbh, the colour it went looked just like a lighter version of the sealer as it comes out of the tub. I'll try cellulose one day, though I struggle to keep up with the shellac drying so would probably make more of a mess with cellulose!
Fourth one...

 

[ruletheworld]

Great work bro, I think you are doing very well!

 

[Chris152]

Thanks ruletheworld, all great fun! This is no 5 of 7:

I've just begun to realise what a bad job I'm doing of working to final finish (you really can't see that in the photos) - the sealer (inadequately de-nibbed) and waxing are both leaving their marks, it's a bit better in this one but I need to slow down at the final stages.

 

[Chris152]

No 6 has been a total shambles. All was going well til I applied black spirit stain for the first time.

That went ok, but then I applied shellac sanding sealer and it picked up the stain and made a real mess. I sanded it back a fair bit and had a 'driftwood' look for a while, to which I added two concentric lines in white. Then I decided I didn't like that - driftwood was never part of the plan - so turned it back to bare wood again, still with the two recesses painted white. Decided to try the black stain again, removed the white paint with the parting tool and once dry, applied Chestnut clear wax. But without sanding sealer it went on all smudgy and looks carp. And when I reapplied the stain, I'd already turned the bowl part and some stain had made its way over the edge from the rim into the bowl and that looks carp too - tried to sand it off but I reached the point of not caring any more.
Learned a lot but i don't really have that sense of progress that I had from the others!

 

[Chris152]

This is the third bowl this piece of wood's been. I quite like it now (though the finish on the black's still not right)- think I'll stop here and get to the last from this board.

 

[Chris152]

7 / 7

And here's the set:

The sanding sealer + wax finish got better toward the end, which I'm really pleased about.
Now I need another board.