Trials and Tribulations

Tru-Oil is made of a mixture of oils, but I think primarily linseed oil + a bunch of things to speed up the drying & add the shiny finish. I'm like Munk, I like the natural look the linseed o8il gives. Boiled linseed oil & turpentine, mixed 50/50 is a finish that has been around in the wood/furniture/restoration businesses for a long time. I have finished several gunstocks, as well as some furniture with this mixture.....no shine, no plastic look; just great looking wood.
 
Again I'm probably confused - but I thought that the british eggshell finish that let you "see" into the wood without being mirror reflective was finger dabs of oil, resanding, reoiling, til flashy bright, and then hand rubbing with rottenstone to cut the brightness down? At least Keith Steagle (?) did it that way 30 years ago.
 
Hmmm, I think Ill give it another shot at hard. Hard finish, would be like shellac, and if youve already experienced a linseed oil finish, then you know what soft is. Over-saturation with linseed oil can leave a gummy like feel to wood as well, and Ive noticed different woods react differently to linseed oil. Anyways, that is the beauty of oil finishes, is that they are durned easy to fix. If something is awry, just coat with more oil.

As for floor wax, I used to finish floors, and what theyd call wax, was actually poly-eurythane. As for not being able to completely remove wax? Not been my experience, anything can be removed, just a question of how much original material you will have to remove as well:D Though with a surface finish, like wax, that sits on top of the wood, rather than penetrating into the wood grain, it tends to be easy to remove. Again, at least in my experience.

As for heat removing finishes, you can try and melt em, but in my experience the fumes have far out-weighed the benefits. Nothin beats good ol fashioned sanding for removal. Strippers can do funny things to the wood.

As for how to use linseed oil in finishing, I thought I covered it in my last post, but Ill repeat. Since Linseed oil is a penetrating oil, it is recommended to over-coat a piece, let sit (say 5 to 10 minutes) to allow the wood to soak up the oil, and then wipe of excess with a paper towel (dont use rags unless you can throw em out, its virtually impossible to wash out linseed oil). It takes a while for linseed oil to cure (even the boiled stuff), so let sit for at least 2 days, or longer depending on humidity. Then just steel wool or sand, and repeat until satisfied, or crazy.:D Cutting the oil down with turp greatly improves penetration and drying time. Ive done a few pieces like this, and it really helps seal up cracks. But since Ive started mixin in Tung, Ive been much happier with the results.

Now IM lost again.:rolleyes: :eek: :p
 
I'm talking old fashioned floor wax, the question was related to putting plastic down. The answer, which I believe, is that you can never get all the wax out. The lady I spoke to was one of those grizzled veterans of the industry who'd heard it all and knew her stuff.

Now, my wife just brought back some floor finish that was plastic.
munk
 
You got my interest piqued Munk, cause Ive never heard that wax couldnt be completely removed from flooring, talked to a friend who's also done this kinda work and he had never heard of that either. My old home's floors would seem to argue otherwise. The old way to maintain wood floors in PI, was to wax them weekly, as the weeks foot traffic would wear away the wax. Even, with linseed oil, the deepeest penetration Ive seen into really pourous wood was a little under half an inch. Why, couldnt you just remove the affected wood via sanding? It may be a bear, but eventually you will get to bare wood. Then only way you couldnt is if the finish when straight through the board, and like I said, even with linseed oil, Ive never seen that kinda penetration. Then again, what do you mean by remove? As many finishes can bond with the wood, necessitating some removal of wood, to remove the old finish (which is why I still feel sanding is the best way to remove an old finish versus chemically), just removing the finish, without some wood is near impossible (of course how much wood is removed doesnt have to be much, but some will go). I wouldnt perhaps wonder, if the lady in the flooring company wasnt trying to be a good sales-person and create a new sale.
 
Glenn, thanks for the reply. We've got several saddle stores that I can check with. I'll bet I can find something similar. Let the experiments begin.

Ben
 
Specifically, the gal said that if my floor had been waxed, a plastic coating would never adhere to it completely- there would be spots. I can't easily sand it down because the squares run the grain in diffrent directions. A parqua (sic) floor. A chemical stripper would not get enough wax out.

Sure, sanding should get out wax, if you go deep enough.

munk
 
Aardvaak,

Just arrived home from work. The oil I used was called "Organoil Interior Clear Finishing Oil". It sounds similar to the oils you have in the US. It says on the can that it contains genuine tung oil. The particular khukuri I used it on is a collectors piece with a chandan handle and won't be used much outside. If it were a user for outside chopping on a regular basis where it might come into contact with water I would have used another Organoil product called "Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil (Clear)". Both these oils are made in Byron Bay, Australia.
 
Aha...I see what she was saying now. I thought you were saying that she had said wax was not removable even with sanding. She is right, wax is enough of a barrier to prevent eurythane from sticking. What happens is that itll stick on the surface of the wax, and in the end will be as weak as the finish underneath it. And chemical stripping, is never perfect. Itll never get all the finish out, so in the end it still needs to be sanded.

Well, I think I know what you mean by the tiles goin every which way (Im assuming your talking about how the panels are laid out, and not burl). Im wonderin if you used a rotor (the kind janitors use to buff floors), with a light pad (not a sanding pad, more akin to a scrubbing pad), if that would be enough to pull out the wax with stripper, and not scratch the wood. Ive hear that one can get decent results with orbital sanders, and criss-crossing grain. But I dont own one, so I cant comment first hand, its just what Ive been told. Though, at a high enough grit, even going against the grain, scratches will dissappear, though I suppose the question is can you get to that grit with commercial equipment? Then again, there is always goin at it by hand, but if its a large surface itd probably take more time than its worth. Hmmm...there's an answer here, but my brain is frazzled for now, Ill have to think on it.
 
As always Yvsa you are a life saver.

Munk I figured there had to be a more cost/time-effective way to sand the flooring than using an orbital sander, so I googled "sanding parquet", and lo and behold heres a link to faq on how to sand parquet floors with a good ol drum sander(its towards the bottom), http://www.nofma.org/finishing2.htm
Real fine how to do guide for sanding floors. The site has great tips, from sanding to finishing. Learned quite a bit from reading it, and I thinks it is fate that this was brought up, since Im about to do re-finishing myself.
 
Does anyone know of a product comprised of similiar chemicals to match the one used by Glenn to shrink his scabbard? I don't think I can find any Australian products here in El Paso. :D

Ben
 
Originally posted by btice
Does anyone know of a product comprised of similiar chemicals to match the one used by Glenn to shrink his scabbard?

Ben
Click to expand...

Ben you can use plain ol' water. All you have to do is get it wet and put it in the sun. Be careful or it will shrink too tight.
 
Fed, thanks for the tip of sanding at an angle. The truth is, there is nothing wrong with our wooden tiled floor- just my wife wants it lighter.

Drives me crazy. Most women would love the floor, one of the more expensive features in the home....but NOOOOOO, not her.....


munk
 
Originally posted by Yvsa
Ben you can use plain ol' water. All you have to do is get it wet and put it in the sun. Be careful or it will shrink too tight.
Click to expand...

Would shrinking it with the knife in it keep it from shinking too far? Or would it not let it shrink far enough?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top