Home Made Wooden Boxes and Refurbishing Boxes

[Ben-Bee]

Hi, I'm just beginning to make some home made boxes out of basswood. They're main use will be for jewellery, cutlery and just little bits and pieces. I'm just stuck on what finishes to use eg sanding, buffing, paint and wax or polish. I'd like to know whats the best sand paper to use and whats the best paint to use if i choose to paint them, also do i use wax or polish before or after paint or even at all? I'm also refurbishing some old boxes sanding them down and painting them im not sure what type of wood they are im guessing theyre all made from different woods, what would be the best paint to use on these? Also do i buff, wax or polish these before or after painting? I have no idea about the finishes on these sorts of things.

Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ben

 

[Glynne]

The first thing you need to do is decide what YOU want them to look like. You can paint, oil, wax etc but you need to decide what you or the intended recipient want them to look like. You will need to sand / abraded before applying paint or finishes and the extent does depend on the type of finish you choose.
There are lots of abrasives available and as many opinions as to which are the best. I personally like Abranet but there are lots of others and so if you decide on the type of finish you want, post again and you'll get lots of suggestions as to how to proceed.
There is no silver bullet, but lots of personal preferences so have a Google (image search) and tell us what you like the look of.

 

[JJ1]

Another vote for Abranet.

 

[Lons]

I use abranet which is excellent however I'd question the use of basswood for boxes. I've used it a number of times for carvings and while it works easily it's very soft and won't imo stand up to day to day handling. You can easily dig a fingernail into it.

cheers
Bob

 

[Alexam]

Welcome to the forum Ben-Bee.

I originally use sandpaer, but Glynne put me onto Abranet and I would never use anything else now. A different world almost and they last a hell of a lot longer than papers.

As said, you are using very soft wood, mainly for decorarive purposes and not daily use, paticularly not cutlery. Once sanded, you should seal the wood before finishing. How are you making your boxes? If you can put up some photos when you are able, it helps, butyouneed few moreposts before ou are permitted to do that.

Alex