Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Apr 15, 2007 10:32pm | #1

   "You can address your responses to my wife."  Too funny.  No, I realize the actual situation isn't funny!  One thing I would try is to bury them in baking soda for awhile, see if that helps.  Can't guarantee it won't mess up the finish -- have no idea.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   

1. 
   Shalom | Apr 16, 2007 12:06am | #2

   I'll be able to take the servers out of the baking soda, BUT will I be able to get the baking soda out of the servers? Shalom

1. 
   forestgirl | Apr 16, 2007 07:19am | #3

   har, har, har, har.  Too funny.  Wish I knew what to tell you, LOL.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

2. 
   blewcrowe | Apr 16, 2007 04:52pm | #4

   I'd put a few coats of shellac on them.

1. 
   Shalom | Apr 16, 2007 05:58pm | #5

   Thanks for the suggestion Bluecrow, I was thinking of wipe on poly. I just don't know whether shellac or poly will be compatable with my wife's excellent salad dressing. What do you think? Oil and vinegar? Shalom

1. 
   blewcrowe | Apr 16, 2007 06:04pm | #6

   Most finishes are safe once they're fully cured. That said, shellac will bind up the oils and seal the wood.

2. 
   Shalom | Apr 20, 2007 05:44pm | #9

   Thanks for the good suggestion Blewcrowe. I decided to put a coat of salad oil finish on the servers. That may have a harder finish than the oil I used. See if that works. Then I'll go to shellac. If that doesn't work there's always the kindling wood box. speaking of shelac, let me try you on another question. I have a piece of cherry furniture with a very blatant stripe of sap wood. I normally don't mind sapwood ,but this really stands out. The cherry is finished in Waterlox. I was thinking of covering the sapwood with amber shellac and then covering that again with Waterlox. Is that dumb??? What are my chances of spoiling the piece? Thanks again. Shalom

1. 
   blewcrowe | Apr 20, 2007 06:16pm | #10

   The best way I know of to deal with that sapwood is what they call a glaze, in other words, a colored finish. This can be accomplished with any type of finish, be it shellac, laquer, waterlox, whatever. What I'd do is fiddle with some artists oil paints mixed into some waterlox. Start with yellow ochre and some cad red or something like that. Play with it. Put it on the spot. If you don't like it, wipe it off with naptha, and keep going until you get a good likeness.

   The other thing you suggested, shellac then waterlox might work but I'd be scared of building too much height to the finish coupled with some rubbing out problems. The chemistry works: the physics might not. But if I was going to attempt that, here's how I'd do it.

   I'd take a hard look at orange or garnet shellac: might get to your color match quicker. Then I'd cover the whole top with a couple coats of waterlox so you don't have an obvious elevated spot.

   If you have more questions, feel free.

3. 
   Kevin | Apr 16, 2007 07:46pm | #7

   Are you sure it's Zebrawood and not a look-alike like African Beli? I've got some Zebrawood and have never noticed any particular smell that stood out.

1. 
   Shalom | Apr 17, 2007 07:04am | #8

   Kevin, I really don't know a lot about wood identification. I bought a few feet of 8/4  at a  wood and tool supply store and was told that it was zebrawood.  It was the only short piece of wood they had at that thicknes and I thought it would be fun to try it. On a hunch though, after I finished making my servers, I looked up zebrawood and smell (or odor, or something like that) on the Internet, and found a number of articles about its inherant bad smell, and some other things I didn't know. Like that it used to be used on car dashboards. The stuff I read did say that the smell decreases over time. So perhaps the careful application of tincture of time is the appropriate solution to my problem, though I want to use the salad servers now. Thanks for responding. Shalom