Dressmaker's clapper finishing

[otter]

I have made my girlfriend a dressmaker's clapper from 2 pieces of walnut and one section of oak, all laminated together. It is about 250mm x 70mm x 50mm. I've got absolutely no idea what to finish it with. It will be subjected to a bit of heat and steam and will be given a fair amount of rubbing and pressing over material so needs to be fairly hardwearing and water resistant. An oil that will penetrate the whole thing, or a varnish that will coat it? Wax might well melt I'd have thought.

Any suggestions?

Thanks all

 

[ED65]

While I'd be tempted to try oil on something like this myself (to get an effect similar to oiled beech in a woodie) you wouldn't like the 'drying' time, it would be into the new year before the thing could be used. So I'd go with two or three coats of dilute poly, with the excess wiped away. This provides a decent amount of wear and water resistance without an obvious surface film to get damaged and begin to peel away.

It's possible these were commonly used unfinished in the past, as quite a lot of stuff was. And from what I can tell looking at images of modern ones they're either very lightly finished or left bare.

 

[NazNomad]

Would the heat not cause oil to leach out of the timber onto the material?

 

[CHJ]

A Clapper should not have a finish applied, one of the prime functions of a Clapper is to absorb a percentage of residual steam/moisture from a seem after it has been pressed flat and hold it flat whilst 'setting'

 

[otter]

Thanks all. I'll just leave it completely natural and unfinished then. Good. There's one present sorted and finished then.

 

[custard]

Definitely no finish, but ideally not Walnut either!

Walnut can stain fabric, Sycamore or Maple would be the best options. I see it when I steam small dents out of furniture with a domestic iron and a damp rag, some timbers such a Walnut leave a stain; other timbers such as Sycamore, don't.

 

[monkeybiter]

Definitely no finish, but ideally not Walnut either!

I wouldn't worry, there's no photo so he can't have actually made it :twisted:

 

[ED65]

Would the heat not cause oil to leach out of the timber onto the material?

Drying oils aren't still liquid after fully curing.

 

[CHJ]

Would the heat not cause oil to leach out of the timber onto the material?

Drying oils aren't still liquid after fully curing.

Make a hell of a mess of an Iron Smoothing Sole if they come into contact though, and if transferred to someone's expensive fabric would be rather unpopular.

 

[otter]

Definitely no finish, but ideally not Walnut either!

Walnut can stain fabric, Sycamore or Maple would be the best options. I see it when I steam small dents out of furniture with a domestic iron and a damp rag, some timbers such a Walnut leave a stain; other timbers such as Sycamore, don't.

Bollocks. Right, need to get some Sycamore then. It looks nice, anyway. Call it a trial run! Fortunately, JW Timber is about 30 secs drive away.

 

[Blockplane]

Could you laminate a layer of sycamore or maple to the working face, rather than start again?

 

[bourbon]

Ok I'll ask. What's a clapper?