Finishing advice for Oak

[Virana]

Good afternoon all,

Have been looking through as many posts as I can find on finishing advice when working with Oak.

I have made a small set of candle holders and a floating shelf out of Oak and am now at the stage of finishing.

What I have done on 1 piece is use Fiddes hard wax oil clear, let it dry overnight then apply a second coat straight on top, after this I left the piece again for another day and applied some Fiddes clear wax with a cotton lint free rag finally buffing it up slightly with another clean rag.

No matter how much I like the look of the piece I feel like I may have missed a step and really want the finish to be as good as it possibly can (Perfectionist...)

The only thing I can think I may have missed is to denib before applying each coat.

I sanded the piece before any oil or wax from 120 grit down to 220 then applied oil onto this.

Can someone explain to me the benefit of applying oil to a piece before wax and what the difference between this and just putting on 4 coats of wax would make to the final look and feel of the piece?

Thanks all

 

[MickCheese]

I'm no pro but all I do in addition to you is sand between coats.

Mick

 

[Peter Sefton]

To improve the finish you could try the following steps

1. At the final stage of sanding damp the timber with a clean cotton rag and allow to dry before sanding again with 220 grit. This raises the grain and cuts it back prior to finishing. Do not get the Oak in contact with iron and water or it will turn black.
2. De nib between coats with 320 or 0000 wire wool.
3. After your final coat you can use 0000 wire wool in bees wax to de nib and give luster on the finished job before buffing with a clean cotton rag.

If doing the third step the oil finish should be left to dry fully dry or the wax will strip the finish.

 

[CHJ]

I would not dare let wire wool near anything made of Oak in our household, as sure as eggs is eggs it will have iron stains on it sooner or later especially if it is something subject to handling.

 

[Peter Sefton]

I would not dare let wire wool near anything made of Oak in our household, as sure as eggs is eggs it will have iron stains on it sooner or later especially if it is something subject to handling.

I do prefer Mirlon pads but some people don't have access to them. Wire wool should be OK once the Oak is sealed.
Peter

 

[blackrodd]

I would not dare let wire wool near anything made of Oak in our household, as sure as eggs is eggs it will have iron stains on it sooner or later especially if it is something subject to handling.

I was thinking that! But finishing is one area I am not very informed in. Regards Rodders

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"Wire wool should be OK" - more often than not it is. But it's a major job if you end up with blue/black spots everywhere.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Ok Ok dump the wire wool or have Oxalic crystals on standby

 

[Virana]

So what I'm going to do is sand between coats to get a slightly more smooth finish.

Are most people sanding with sand paper or one of the synthetic pads you can pick up from axminster called webrax, I have never used this myself but everyone seems to be talking about them.

 

[tekno.mage]

I use hardwax oil (Osmo, rather than Fiddes) for most of my finishing on a variety of woods. I simply apply two very thin coats (waiting a day between each), and then if I want a more glossy look to the finish I buff the finished item using a buffing wheel system which I mount on my wood lathe (for small items) or in an electric drill (for larger items). I only use the white compound on the buffing wheel (even with dark woods - use only a tiny amount of compound to avoid it leaving white marks in open grain) as I find the brown tripoli compound too abrasive. Depending on the wood, buffing the dried hardwax oil finish will give either a satin look (on courser woods like oak or ash) or a high gloss on finer grained woods (like fruit woods or holly).

I don't bother to was over the hardwax oil as the oil on it's own performs well enough at resisting fingermarks and even spilled tea, coffee etc!

 

[hansonread]

The only other step I can think of that no one else seems to have mentioned, which by no means is essential or needed but would maybe give you a 'flatter' looking surface in such an open grained wood, is using some form of grain filler prior to finishing in order to give you a smoother surface.

Or indeed some form of sanding sealer right from the start.

 

[custard]

The problem with a wax only finish on an open grained timber like oak is that eventually the grain will get filled with muck which will look very dark against the paler oak. An initial sealing coat of a thin film finish might have been worth considering.