I think I made a mistake. Hopefully small. On a piece of heavily carved curly maple having no flat surfaces I’m using to make a floor lamp, I first dyed it with water diluted Trans Tint. Once dry, after sanding to 180, I wiped on & off 2 coats of 50-50 pure 100% Tung Oil & mineral spirits. Then after 3 days cure time in my garage in our rather cool damp summer, I tried to foam brush on General Finishes Arm-r-seal. It is gumming up on some of the side grain portions of the Curly. I’m guessing the Tung mixture wasn’t fully cured.
So I sanded the piece from 60 thru to 220. The paper gummed up with the oil. I then twice wet sanded with mineral spirits using a maroon scotch brite pad in hopes of starting over.
Any suggestions how long I should let this dry & what may be a good next step? Shellac then top coat? More arm-r-seal after longer curing? Black spray paint? Aargh.
Replies
Now, step back from the edge--black spray paint over curly maple would have consequences just too horrible to contemplate.
In a cool damp place, the tung oil could very well not be cured. Pure tung oil takes a very long time to cure, and coolness doesn't help at all. AT this point you have probably eliminated the surface build up so I would now give what is left to fully cure. Get it into temperatures consistently in the mid-70's (F.) or above. Give it another full week at those temps, or more if not that warm.
While you are doing that, test the drying of the varnish alone. If it wasn't freshly opened that could be a problem independent of the tung oil. Varnish has a long shelf life in unopened cans, but after opening can deteriorate fairly rapidly. If your Seal A Cell is fresh, dries well and hard, over a bare mape or other domestic hardwood test board then you could use that after enough time for the full cureof the remaining oil. But if you have any doubts, buy fresh varnish. Assuming you want a film finish on the carving.
Not much need for the oil in the beginning anyway, if you are going to top it with an oil-based varnish anyway. Some slight additional popping of figure might occur, but you would get more effect that way if you use BLO instead of pure tung oil (it is a bit more amber) and BLO cures much more quickly. One coat is enough to pop figure.
I have the piece in front of a fan in a warm attic & will leave it there for a week or so then try again. Patience Grasshopper.Thanks, Rick
Just be careful that you don't create a disaster by rapidly or unevenly reducing the moisture content of the piece. If your attic is hot or can get hot, or there's a risk of the fan drying one side faster than the other, you could end up with checks in the wood. Been there, paid the price.Pete
Edited 8/1/2009 7:36 am ET by PeteBradley
I'm such a newbie I can use all the advice I can get. This is a great piece of education that I'd rather learn at someone else's expense. This is a beautiful piece of spalted, curly maple with a lot of hours spent carving & shaping into a floor lamp that I would cry if that happened. Sorry Pete & thanks a bunch.
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