Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Woodworking help

ive always had good results when using a foam brush-like a sponge-and light HAND sanding between coats,and you can use a tack cloth after sanding to remove any small particles before the next coat...good luck with your project...ron

Well, I finally got to look at the thing again this weekend (the shop I'm using is 100 mi away), and it wasn't quite as bad as I thought. I hand sanded it down almost to the wood with 220 and 320, and it looks ok (ie, I didn't destroy the veneer on the plywood). I haven't stained it yet. There's still small scratches on the top from the orbital sander (!!!), but I can't seem to get them out, so I'm going to hope that they hide themselves under the stain and poly.

Stain tends to accentuate scratches, actually.

I would try steaming the scratches out before staining over them. This technique works pretty well on softer wood, but I don't see how it could hurt to try it on your oak.

Dampen a few paper towels and fold them so your moisture pad is a few layers thick. Place the pad over the scratched area and then place a hot iron onto the pad. (Make sure not to touch the wood directly with the iron or it'll scorch.) The iron will start to force steam into the wood and cause it to swell slightly. Hopefully this will bring up the lower regions of the scratch. Allow the wood to dry completely and then lightly sand the area again.

I learned this trick in shop class way back in 8th grade.

Or I could just take down the top with some 60 grit and work back up from there. The top's not plywood, it's 3/4 inch white oak. Not much to be done about the plywood sides, though. (I think your technique would pretty much destroy them.) No worries. It'll be another month before I can do anything, anyway!

Problem solved.

Peter, you're killing me
You really are, just killing me!

I'm going to hurt you. If I wanted to do crap like that, I wouldn't have spent $200+ on hardwood!

My gosh, I can't believe I haven't touched the thing for almost two months...

Anyway, I just read an article on shellac, and it sounds great for this application (dries fast, easy cleanup, no odor, I can do it indoors at my place instead of 100 mi away, etc...) but I was wondering about one thing. I've read that it softens around 60-75 degrees C. I was going to use it as a clear coat instead of the polyurethane, but I didn't want to risk getting it overheated with the electronics. Any advice here? Am I likely to be in trouble if I use it?

The manufacturer says it'll be fine, with a coat of wax, but I guess I'm just a suspicious person...

Ken, stick with the urethane. Spend some time to do the hand sanding to get the last vestiges of the original urethane off. You can stain the whole thing again without a problem if required. Once that dries, put a coat of urethane on and let it dry.

When you sand the urethane, use 220 and sand WITH the grain lightly, not against it. All you are trying to do is remove the dust that settled as the drying occured. Repeat this urethane/220 sand process for every coat you put on. Before you put the last coat on, use very fine wet sandpaper. Last coat goes on, it dries and then you hand rub with 400 steel wool - LIGHTLY. You are looking to remove the dust again and put a nice shine on the finish.

This is just patient, butt-ugly, time-consuming work. When I start to get annoyed that I am doing it, it's usually time to put the sandpaper/steel wool away for the evening. Once again, I have stuck my nose in - Ijust hope it helps.

Sorry for the lengthy post

You can't apply shellac over urethane, it will peel. You would have to strip off all the urethane first. As for the sanding of the surface it depends on the size of the spot, from the sounds of it you really should sand down the whole surface, then re-stain and apply your top finish of choice. If you try to patch it you will always see the spot. There are a number of techniques we use to hide small blemishes that need to be touched up on the surface but, this applies only to blemishes that as a rule of thumb are no more then the size of a small knot in the wood. First projects are always the worst, you are excited to do it and impatient to finish it, which is what gets us into trouble. The clear finish on the project takes more time then most think depending on what you are trying to achieve. I just completed a new Cherry desk for my computer the varnishing alone has over 60 hours of labor in it to achieve the result I wanted. As for the comment about Oak being a hard wood so the stain should not penetrate it to deeply while accurate to Oak being a hard wood, it is a very open grain wood so the stain does penetrate very deeply into it, it is this penetration of the grain that gives you the dark details of the wood grain even after sanding. My advice would be to take a deep breath relax sand done the surface evenly, then apply your stain to even it out and re finish with your choice of clear coat top finish. but take your time and don't be in a rush to complete it, we always seem to have time to do things over but never enough to do it right the first time. Finally the scratches you have are the result of the first sanding you did being having a to aggressive grit, the sanding marks run very deep into the veneer and trying to remove them you run the risk of sanding through the veneer. you are best to get it down as smooth as possible the suggestion of steaming it may help you will have to try it to see. If you have the opportunity go to a store called Lee Valley great store for wood working, and they are also on-line at leevalley.com you can find everything you need for your wook working and lots of great books on finishes and techniques.

Good luck