Chapter 5
Finishing Wood
In This Chapter
Dealing with imperfections
Making wood smooth by sanding or scraping
Choosing and using stains, paints, and shellac
Comparing and using topcoats
A woodworking project isn’t complete without the finish. This chapter helps you make this often-hated process (trust us, we’re being nice here) of sanding and finishing into a chore that you’ll love (well, maybe just tolerate
Filling Holes and Cracks
Even though you may have tried to use wood without any cracks, splits, holes, or gouges, sometimes you end up with imperfections you didn’t notice or couldn’t avoid. And sometimes these imperfections result from a misplaced chisel or other accident while making the piece. For most types of furniture, you want to get rid of any problems before you do the final sanding. This section shows you how to fill both small and large defects as well as raise dents without hassle.
Fixing small imperfections
You can fill cracks, scratches, or even slightly mismatched joints with several different products, including wood putty, wax sticks, and shellac sticks. Each of these items has its strengths and weaknesses:
Wood putty: Wood putty comes as a thick paste that you spread into the hole or crack with a putty knife and then let dry and sand flush. It’s available in a variety of colors, so you’re sure to find one to match the wood you’re working with. If you can’t find a match, either add some stain to the putty while it’s still soft (before you apply it) or paint on some artist’s paint to match the wood’s surface after you sand it.
Wax sticks: Wax sticks are like crayons, only harder. They come in various colors to match different woods. You have essentially two opportunities to use a wax stick: before you apply the final finish and afterward. If you use it before applying the final finish, you need to seal the wood with shellac first. This step isn’t necessary when you use a wax stick after applying the final finish because the finish seals the wood.
To apply a wax stick, simply draw it on by pressing it into the defect with the tip of the wax stick, a putty knife, or your finger and then remove the excess with a putty knife or piece of plastic.
We don’t use wax sticks unless we put a wax finish on the piece, which we don’t do often. Find out why in the section “Protecting Your Work with a Topcoat,” later in this chapter.
Shellac sticks: Shellac sticks come in tons of colors, look good, and are easy to apply. Shellac is a natural, low-toxic product made from beetle excretions that you melt with a soldering iron and let drip into the surface imperfection. You then press it in with a putty knife or chisel and wait for it to harden. After the shellac is hard, you scrape it flush with a chisel or thin cabinet scraper and then sand it lightly with fine sandpaper.
Glue and sawdust: On occasion, we’ve been known to use a mixture of wood glue and sawdust to fill a hole or crack in a project. Doing so allows us to match the wood we’re working with exactly because we use sawdust that we created while milling the boards for the project. This low-tech solution requires just the right amount of glue and sawdust to get a filler that’s both durable and stains well (not hard to do — it just takes some experimentation).
Dealing with big holes
If you have big holes — from using recycled wood or from a loose knot, for instance — you can fill them with another piece of wood, called a dutchman. This technique has been around as long as people have been working with wood. Some purists cringe at the thought of using wood that has a blemish large enough to require a dutchman, but in the American Southwest, where using recycled wood raises the value of furniture, dutchmans are common. Heck, many people here don’t even bother to fill cracks or holes.
Whether or not you like the rustic look, you should know how to make a dutchman. The procedure is pretty simple, and it’s made even simpler with a plunge router, a 1/8-inch straight-cutting bit, and two collars: one 5/16-inch and the other 9/16-inch. You can buy kits that contain these parts at most woodworking tool suppliers. They’re called inlay kits or inlay bushing bit with removable collar. The process with this setup is as follows:
1. Make a template of the dutchman out of 1/4-inch plywood or Masonite.
Measure the size of the defect in your project and add a little extra around it — about 1/2 inch or so on all sides. Cut out a hole in the template material to this size. Be sure to use a large enough piece so that you can clamp this piece to the wood you want to work with and have enough room for the plunge router to move freely in the template. We recommend a piece at least 12 inches square.
2. Attach the 5/16-inch collar to the base of your plunge router, followed by the 9/16-inch collar.
3. Insert the bit into the plunge router and set the depth of cut to 1/8 inch.
4. Clamp the template onto the board with the defect, making sure that the hole in the template is over the defect.
5. Run your plunge router clockwise along the inside edge of the template.
6. Carefully route or chisel out the remaining material in the center of the template.
7. Remove the outer collar (the 9/16-inch one) and lower the depth of cut to 3/16 inch.
8. Select a piece of wood that has a similar color and grain pattern to the wood where the defect was and clamp the template onto it.
9. Route around the edge of the template in a clockwise direction.
Be sure to keep tight to the edge of the template; otherwise, you’ll cut into the dutchman itself.
10. Remove the dutchman from the scrap wood by setting your table saw to cut 1/8 inch into the board.
If you use 3/4-inch stock, set the rip fence 1 9/32 inch from the side of the blade farthest from the rip fence (if your blade has a kerf of 1/8 inch, the rip fence is 1 5/32 inch from the side of the blade closest to the rip fence).
11. Set the depth of cut in the table saw so that it’s higher than the dutchman on the board.
12. With the dutchman facing out, run the board through the saw.
The dutchman will fall out of the board as you run it through.
13. Apply glue to the underside of the dutchman and a little to the receiving groove and then press it into place.
You may need to tap it lightly with a mallet. Use a scrap piece of wood of the same species to tap against. Doing so will keep you from damaging the wood. The dutchman will stick up 1/32 inch from the surface of the wood.
14. Sand the dutchman flush after the glue dries.
Raising dents
If your unfinished wood has a dent, you don’t need to fill it with putty or any other substance. All you have to do is place a damp cloth over the dent and cover it with a hot iron for a few seconds. The steam from the cloth will seep into the pores of the wood and lift the surface. Then all you have to do is sand the surface smooth. Pretty simple, huh?
Smoothing Out Wood
After you’ve removed the major defects from your wood project (see the prior “Filling Holes and Cracks” section for instructions), you need to smooth out the fillers and get rid of the minor scratches and milling marks. Then it’s time to make the surface smooth enough for the finish you want to apply. This part of the process involves using sandpaper or a scraper. We cover both approaches in this section.
Sanding
Nearly all woodworkers sand to smooth the surfaces of their projects before finishing. This process isn’t rocket science — all it takes are some simple steps and a ton of patience. If you don’t get a finish you like, you simply didn’t spend enough time sanding.
The process of sanding wood involves making progressively finer scratches in the surface. These scratches remove imperfections in the wood, such as visible scratches or uneven surfaces. Moving from one grit to the next finer one reduces the size of the scratches until they’re so small that the wood seems smooth. Never skip a grit of paper when sanding — doing so makes it difficult to remove scratches that the previous grade of sandpaper would’ve removed easily, and you spend a lot more time trying to get a smooth finish.
Sandpaper comes in a variety of types, including glass, garnet, aluminum oxide, and silicon carbide. Each type has its benefits, but we generally use aluminum oxide, which is excellent for almost all woodworking tasks. It lasts a relatively long time and is able to sand all types of wood effectively. Steer clear of cheapie yellow glass paper, which breaks down too quickly. For sanding metal and for wet-sanding an oil finish (see the section “Protecting Your Work with a Topcoat,” later in this chapter), look for black silicon carbide paper.
Getting into grits
Sandpaper comes in differing levels of abrasiveness, called grit. Grit refers to the number and size of the particles in the sandpaper. The fewer and larger the particles, the rougher the paper. Grits range from 40 to 600 — the lower numbers are for rougher papers. We generally use 80- to 320-grit papers unless we’re doing wet-dry work with silicon carbide paper. In this case, we may go up to 600-grit for oil finishes.
Aside from the number rating of sandpaper grits, you have general categories:
Very coarse: 40- and 60-grit papers.
Coarse: 80- and 100-grit papers. This paper gets rid of scratches and other surface imperfections.
Medium: 120-, 150-, and 180-grit papers. Medium is where you do most of your sanding.
Fine: 220- to 280-grit papers. Fine paper is for final sanding.
Very fine: From 320- to 600-grit papers. Only use this sandpaper occasionally.
Trying your hand at sanding
Our regular sanding procedure consists of removing major surface defects with a belt sander, followed by smoothing with a random orbit sander, and then finishing off with a final hand sanding.
Wrap the paper around a block of wood to provide a flat, solid backing. If you hold the paper in your hand and press with your fingers, you don’t get a flat, even surface, and your hand gets tired much faster.
When sanding irregular-shaped surfaces, such as moldings, use a contoured block in the same shape as the surface you’re sanding. Make a block yourself by using a round dowel, for instance, on rounded sections or buy sanding blocks in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Tear full sheets of sandpaper into halves or quarters to make working with it easier.
Clean the sandpaper when it gets clogged. Simply tapping the paper with your hand removes some of the accumulated dust. Blowing on the paper or spraying it with compressed air also does the trick.
If the paper remains clogged after you try to clean it, don’t hesitate to get a new sheet. Sanding with dull or clogged paper is a recipe for frustration.
Follow the sanding guidelines for the type of finish you intend to apply. Some finishes, such as oils, work best with a finely sanded finish (320-grit, for example), but others, such as polyurethanes, can handle a rougher finish (150-grit). Do your homework (the section “Protecting Your Work with a Topcoat” helps you out here) and decide what type of finish you want to use before doing any final sanding.
Scraping
Some woodworkers prefer a scraper to sandpaper. A scraper is simply a piece of metal with an edge on it that you scrape along the surface of the wood to smooth it out. When we use a scraper, we do the rough sanding work with a belt sander (if necessary) and random orbit sander up to about a 120-grit paper. From there, we use the scraper to smooth the wood.
Other people prefer to use a scraper instead of sanders. If you choose this route and your wood has major defects, you either need to use a hand plane or a thick cabinet scraper (heavy-duty scraper) to remove the defects before you move on to a regular (lighter-duty) scraper.
Adding Color with Stains and Paints
Most people think wood looks better after it develops a patina. Patinas develop through a process called oxidation, creating a color that’s darker than the raw, freshly sanded wood that your project has right after you finish building it. Woodworkers often use stains to give the effect of an aged patina right from the start. They also use stains to give less expensive wood the look of a more expensive one. Sometimes, they use stains to even out color differences. Woodworkers use paints, on the other hand, to give color to less-than-beautiful wood.
This section goes over the ins and outs of adding color to your creations. From stains to paints, dyes to oxidizers, you find out how to choose the best approach for the type of wood you’re working with. We also show you how to apply these different products for the best results.
Wood stains come in several configurations, including pigments, dyes, and combinations of both. Likewise, you can find stains with an oil base, water base, or lacquer base. This section lays out all the options for you.
Pigment stains
Pigment stains use minerals to create color. They don’t actually change the color of the wood; they simply add a color by distributing these minerals into the wood’s pores. The minerals are suspended in mineral spirits, water, or lacquer thinner (called carriers ), and a component called the binder seals them into the pores.
Pigment stains are good for wood that has consistent pores, such as oak or ash, where you want to accentuate the grain patterns. They aren’t the best choice when you want to even out color changes, such as the contrast between the heartwood (the darker-colored stuff) and sapwood (the lighter-colored wood) in cherry. We also wouldn’t use a pigment stain on a figured wood, such as curly maple, because it tends to look blotchy. Because of this tendency, many pigment stains contain dyes to even out the distribution of color and reduce blotchiness, making them useful for more types of wood.
Choosing stains
Pigment stains come in a large variety of colors, so you’re sure to find one that fills your needs. After you pick the color, you need to decide what delivery medium to use: water, oil, or gel.
Water: We really like water-based stains because they’re nontoxic, easy to clean up, compatible with a variety of topcoats, and can be layered to get just the right amount of color.
The only real disadvantage to water-based stains is that they tend to raise the grain (meaning that the grain swells slightly from the water, creating a rough texture). You need to lightly sand the stained wood after the first coat. Just make sure not to sand too much. All you want to do is take the hairs off the wood.
Oil: Oil-based stains were the old standby, but because of their toxicity and the improvements in water-based products, the days of oil-based stains are coming to an end. Oil-based stains have only one advantage over water-based ones: Because their drying time is longer, you have more time to work with the stain, which can be helpful for beginners. Nonetheless, we don’t recommend oil-based stains unless you’re restoring furniture and you need to match an existing oil-based finish.
Gel: A gel stain is really an oil-based stain, but it acts so differently that we think it merits its own category. Gel stains are handy for non-horizontal surfaces and for tricky parts like turned legs because they’re thicker than other stains, reducing the amount of dripping. Gel stains also tend to lessen the blotchy appearance of some woods because they don’t soak into the wood.
Gel stains are relatively new on the market. The main drawback is that they’re still somewhat expensive and you don’t find quite as many color choices. They’re oil-based, so they’re smelly and messy compared to water-based varieties. Still, gel stains can be a good choice, especially for blotch-prone wood like birch.
Applying stains
You can apply stain with a brush, but we prefer to use a rag. A rag allows for better control of drips, and you get to feel the wood as you work, which helps you control the coverage. We always wear latex gloves when we use the rag approach because it can get pretty messy. Oil-based stains are toxic, so protecting your skin from contact with these finishes is important.
Putting stain on is pretty easy: Just wipe it on in the direction of the grain, wait a few minutes, and wipe off the excess. For a darker color, you may need to apply additional coats (we find that two coats are generally adequate). If you use more than one coat, wait until each coat is dry before you add another. The drying time depends on humidity, temperature, and the type of stain you use. Check your stain container to see what it recommends.
Cleaning up
Cleanup procedures vary depending on the type of stain you use. Take a look at the main differences:
Water-based stains clean up with water. Easy cleanup is the main reason people prefer this type of stain. Just toss the rag you used to apply the stain in the wastebasket, wash your hands with soap and water, and wipe up any spills with a wet rag or towel.
Oil-based stains require more work to clean up. You need to use mineral spirits to remove drips or spills and any stain that got on your hands. You need to dispose of the used rag carefully so that it doesn’t become a fire hazard. We usually lay it out to dry on a brick or cement floor and then put it in a covered metal wastebasket.
Dyes
Dyes actually change the color of wood. One of the nice characteristics of dyes is that they go on more evenly than pigments. We really like to use dyes for cherry if we end up having to use a board with sapwood (lighter-colored wood) in it because the dye evens out the difference in color between the darker heartwood and the lighter sapwood.
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Although dyes are available that dissolve in oil, lacquer thinner, and alcohol, we’re big fans of water-soluble dyes for woodworking. You can usually buy these dyes as powder that you mix with hot water and stir until it dissolves. They come in a staggering variety of colors, and you can mix them as desired to get just the right color. You won’t find powdered dyes at your local home center; get them from a specialty woodworking store.
You apply dyes with a rag, but unlike pigment stains, you don’t need to wipe off the excess. Just wipe the dye on, being careful to apply it evenly with the grain and keep a wet edge (don’t apply wet dye over a portion that has dried).
You can dispose of the rags you use to apply dye in the trash, and you don’t have to worry about toxic smells or flammability issues. If you use a dye that dissolves in mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, or alcohol, you need to take the necessary precautions for these products. See the “Pigment stains” section earlier in this chapter.
Age, fast and easy
We don’t usually mention products by name, but one stain is so unusual, effective, and easy to use that we just can’t help ourselves. (We’re not in any way affiliated with this company.) We like getting an antiqued look on our furniture and often use recycled wood when we can find (and afford) it. If we can’t use old wood, we use a product called Old Growth, a two-part coloring product that speeds up the oxidizing effects on wood. The wood gets noticeably darker really fast. All you do is apply the activator solution, wait for it to dry, and then wipe on the catalyst solution. If the result is too dark for your tastes, dilute the activator solution before you apply it. This product is made by Old Growth Ltd., P.O. Box 1371, Santa Fe, NM 87504; phone 888-301-9663.
Paints
Paint is a good choice if you want to hide a less-than-beautiful wood or you want the look of a solid color. Paints come in several varieties:
Oil-based: Oil-based paints used to be the professional’s choice because they go on smooth and flatten out well. Their main problem, however, is that they’re toxic. Because of the vast improvements in water-based paints in the last few decades, we don’t use oil-based paints any longer, and we don’t know of anyone else who does, either.
Water-based (latex): For brushed-on paint, latex is our choice. Water-based latex paint goes on almost as well as oil-based paint and is nontoxic. You won’t have trouble finding just the right color.
Lacquer: If you want a professional look, you can’t go wrong with a lacquer. You spray lacquers on in thin coats, and they dry so fast that dust has no time to land on the wet finish. You can often spray the next coat as soon as you’re done with the first.
The main drawback to painting with lacquer is that you need special equipment, such as an air compressor and spray gun, and getting a feel for spraying the paint takes some time. After you have the stuff and figure out how to spray well, though, we’re willing to bet that you won’t touch a paintbrush again (at least, not for putting on paint).
After you have a good (and dry) primer coat on your wood, brush on the paint. If you use a water-based primer, lightly sand the wood with 320-grit paper to smooth the grain. When brushing, use long, smooth strokes and don’t put too much paint on the brush.
If you’re using a paint sprayer, the key is to keep the sprayer moving parallel to the wood’s surface and apply several thin coats rather than one thick one. Doing so reduces runs and drips.
Paint cleanup follows the same guidelines as any other finish material. Oil-based products need mineral spirits, lacquers need lacquer thinner, and water-based products clean up with water.
Brushes and sprayers need a good cleaning with the proper solvent followed by a soap and water wash to keep them in good condition. Make sure that you dispose of your rags properly. Oil-based products need to go into metal containers after you leave them out to dry in a safe, nonflammable place.
Protecting Your Work with a Topcoat
After all your hard work milling the wood, assembling the parts, repairing defects, smoothing the wood, and getting the color you want, you’re finally ready to put on the protective layer. A topcoat is essential to maintain the piece’s beauty and structure. It protects your work from spills and from natural seasonal moisture changes that cause wood to expand and contract. Without the protection of a topcoat, wood is more susceptible to warping and cracking. A topcoat also improves the look of the wood by adding depth and color.
This section goes over the most common topcoat options and weighs the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed choice about what to put on your work. We also walk you through the process of preparing your wood, applying the topcoat, and cleaning up the mess when you’re done.
Shellac
Shellac is one of the oldest and most loved topcoats. It gives wood a rich, deep finish, is easy to apply and repair, and is nontoxic. Shellac is a natural product made from — get this — beetle secretions. Before you get grossed out, we have to tell you that you’ve probably encountered shellac many times before. In fact, we’re sure you’ve probably even eaten it before. Shellac is used to coat pills and vegetables, among other things. We say this to let you know just how safe this stuff is. Shellac is our preferred finish for toys, for example.
You can buy shellac as flakes or premixed with alcohol. The premixed varieties have a shelf life of about six months (one company claims to make a premixed shellac that lasts years), but most flakes last indefinitely. We recommend that you buy flakes and mix it yourself. You not only get a longer shelf life, but you also can make the shellac the consistency you want.
Shellac comes in many varieties: blond, white, garnet, lemon, buttonlac, and orange, to name a few. Each has a different color, so you can often skip the stain when using shellac.
Preparing shellac
If you buy shellac already mixed, you don’t have to do anything to prepare it. If you buy flakes, you need to mix it with denatured alcohol. The ratio of shellac to alcohol, called the cut, refers to how many pounds of flakes are mixed with gallons of alcohol. For most topcoats, a 2-pound mix is good (2 pounds of shellac flakes to 1 gallon of alcohol). For sealing wood, a 1/2- to 1-pound mix is good (the 1/2-pound mix goes on easier).
To prepare a wood surface for shellac, sand the project really well, going all the way up to 320-grit paper. Shellac sits on the surface of the wood and doesn’t hide sanding scratches — in fact, it seems to accentuate them!
Applying shellac
You can apply shellac in numerous ways: You can spray it on or apply it with a cloth, brush, or rubbing pad made up of a wad of wool wrapped in a linen cloth.
Shellac is somewhat tricky to apply because it dries so quickly. If you’re new to using shellac, mix it in a 1 1/2-pound cut (1 1/2 pounds shellac flakes to 1 gallon alcohol). This cut makes the shellac easier to brush on and reduces brush marks. If your shellac dries too fast, you can add shellac retardant to slow the drying process.
To apply shellac with a brush, get the finest brush you can find. Use a natural bristle brush called a fitch brush, which is made with polecat or skunk hair. Apply the finish by following these steps:
1. Dip the brush halfway into the shellac and lightly press it into the side of the container to remove excess finish.
2. Start an inch or two from the edge of the wood and lightly drag the brush to the edge, reverse directions, and go all the way to the other edge, gently lifting your brush as you reach the edge.
3. Make another stroke next to this one with a small overlap of about 1/4 inch.
4. Repeat until you cover the entire surface.
5. Shellac the edges, repeating Steps 1 through 3.
6. Let the piece dry for at least an hour, and then lightly sand it with 320-grit paper.
Make sure to clean or change the paper when it gets clogged, which happens fairly quickly.
7. Rub the finish with #0000 steel wool.
8. Wipe the surface clean with a lint-free rag.
9. Apply a second coat of shellac and let it dry overnight.
10. Start the next day by sanding this coat with 320-grit paper and follow it with the #0000 steel wool.
11. Wipe the piece clean with a lint-free rag.
12. Repeat Steps 9 through 11 until your piece has four or five coats of shellac.
13. Rub the piece with #0000 steel wool to get the sheen you want.
Cleaning up
One of the great characteristics of shellac is ease of cleanup. Alcohol dissolves the shellac again, so if you find any misplaced shellac, use denatured alcohol on a rag to remove it. For cleaning brushes, regular household ammonia works well. We like to put ammonia in a small container and swish our brushes around in it until they’re clean. Afterward, simply wash the brush with mild soap and water.
Oil
For a while, one of us used nothing but oil to finish our projects. Oil finishes, such as tung oil, Danish oil, teak oil, and linseed oil, are fast and easy to apply, but making them look really good takes time — and many coats. With the exception of Danish oil, which has some hardeners and varnishes in it, they don’t protect very well against moisture.
Oils penetrate the pores of the wood. For this reason, oils don’t give you the polished look that you can achieve with shellac or varnish. Also, you need to refresh oil finishes as the finish wears by adding additional coats. Oils do impart a rich, almost antiqued look to wood, though, which is why many people use them.
Because oils don’t build up on the surface of wood, the wood itself must be perfect for oils to look great. This means that you need to sand meticulously with up to 320-grit sandpaper. You almost want the wood to shine on its own before you put the oil on. After you get the surface perfectly smooth, wipe it down with a rag dampened with mineral spirits to remove the dust and sanding residue.
Application is the easy part of oil finishes. Follow these simple steps:
1. Put on a pair of latex gloves to protect your hands.
2. Using a lint-free cloth, generously wipe the oil onto the wood.
3. Let the piece stand for five or ten minutes.
4. Lightly sand with 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper.
This step isn’t necessary for some oils, such as salad bowl oil. You need to do it only on the first one or two coats.
5. Wipe off the excess and let it dry for 24 hours.
6. Buff the piece with a soft cloth.
7. Repeat these steps until you have four or five coats, skipping Step 4 after the second coat.
8. Buff the final coat with a soft cloth until you get the gloss you want.
Cleaning up after using oil is as simple as disposing of the used rags and washing your hands. Use mineral spirits to get any oil off your hands. Follow it up with mild soap and water and hand lotion (the mineral spirits will dry your hands). If you spill or drip any oil, use mineral spirits to clean it up. Lay the rags flat until they dry completely and then put them in a metal container.
Wax
Wax is another easy-to-use, age-old finish. Like shellac and varnish, it lies on top of the wood, and you can build it up by applying several thin layers. Wax adds a nice patina (wood’s natural oxidation process that produces a darker, rich color) to wood and can be purchased with coloring agents to add more color to the piece.
We don’t like to use wax as a primary finish; instead, we add it to varnished or shellacked wood. Wax is very delicate — just put a glass of water on it and you get an instant ring. To us, the beauty of wax is as a final topcoat buffed to a nice gloss. Don’t let our lack of enthusiasm for wax deter you from using it, though. You have many good wax products to choose from. Check out your local woodworking store and we’re sure you’ll find a product that will provide the results you’re looking for.
Most waxes are a blend of beeswax and carnauba wax. The more carnauba wax present, the more durable the finish, only it takes more effort to get it to shine.
Preparing for wax
Because wax is supposed to sit on the surface of the wood, we prefer to seal the wood first. Doing so protects the wood when the wax gets damaged and keeps any oils in the wax from penetrating the wood, which would make removing the wax very difficult. The wood surface under the wax doesn’t need as diligent a sanding as it does if you use shellac or oil, but you do need to create a nice smooth surface. You really need to sand only to 220-grit to use wax successfully.
After sanding the wood and cleaning it with a rag dampened in mineral spirits, we recommend that you seal it with a 1/2-pound cut of shellac. Heck, we’d even apply two coats of shellac first. You’ll get a better finish, and applying two coats doesn’t take that long.
Applying wax
Applying wax is very easy — it’s the same as waxing a car. Follow these steps:
1. Put a liberal amount of wax on a cloth.
2. Wipe it on the wood using overlapping circular motions until you’ve covered the entire surface.
3. Let the wax dry until a whitish film appears.
4. Using a clean, dry cloth, buff the wax until the film disappears and a glossy shine replaces it.
Replace the cloths with clean ones as they get dirty.
5. Keep buffing until you have a hard, shiny surface — you can’t buff too much.
If you use a power buffer, make sure that you keep the polishing pad moving, or you may melt the wax.
6. Let the wax dry for 24 hours.
7. Repeat these steps at least twice, for three coats minimum.
Wax is easy to clean up. A little soap and water gets it off your hands and rags. If you use old cotton cloths to apply and buff wax, throwing them away is easier than cleaning them.
Varnish and oil-based polyurethane
Varnish, a common finish, comes in many varieties. Traditional varnishes are made of pine resins, but modern varnishes use a variety of solutions that produce a hard, durable surface. The most common type of varnish is polyurethane.
Sanding to 150- to 220-grit works well for most varnishes. You don’t need to go any smoother. Just make sure to do the best job you can, getting all the imperfections out of the wood. Varnish works best when you apply a sealer coat to the wood first. We don’t recommend that you use a special wood sealer; instead, just thin the varnish down 10 or 20 percent with mineral spirits and apply it as you would a regular coat.
The surface of the piece should be clear of sanding residue and dust. Clean the surface by wiping a rag dampened with mineral spirits over all surfaces to be varnished.
Varnish goes on just like paint. Here are the basic steps:
1. For the first coat, thin the varnish by adding 10 to 20 percent mineral spirits.
2. Dip the brush into the varnish about a third of the way and press the brush gently against the side of the container to remove excess finish.
3. Brush a thin layer on the surface.
4. Brush out any lap marks (overlapping brushstrokes) and drips by going over the finish with your slightly dampened brush.
Don’t worry about getting rid of all the brush marks, only the big ones. The small brush marks will settle before the finish dries.
5. Let the piece dry for 24 hours.
6. Sand it out with 400-grit wet/dry sandpaper.
You can use mineral spirits as a lubricant to make the process easier and to keep the paper from clogging as quickly.
7. Repeat Steps 2 through 6 until you have four or five coats.
8. After the final coat, rub it out with #0000 steel wool to give it the gloss you want.
Because varnish is solvent-based, you need to use mineral spirits to clean up. We keep a bucket of mineral spirits around to dip our brushes in. Swishing the brush around in the bucket removes the finish. We usually follow up with a mild soap and water rinse and wrap the brush in plastic until we need it again. Some people skip the soap and water and let the brush dry.
For washing hands, mineral spirits are the only way to go. To avoid the mess, we wear disposable gloves and throw them away after we’re finished. Use a metal container with a lid on it to reduce the smell.
Water-based polyurethane
If you like the idea of varnish but don’t want to put up with the smell and mess of a solvent-based product, a water-based polyurethane may be the solution. Water-based finishes are becoming very common, giving you the best attributes of varnish with the ease and low toxicity of water-based products. However, these finishes look less than sexy. (Okay, we’ll admit it — they look like plastic.) They also raise the grain of the wood, so you have to add an extra step when using them.
You prepare for water-based polyurethanes in the same way you prepare for oil-based versions. Sand the surface well with 220-grit paper and wipe it clean. You can use a water-dampened rag to wipe off the sanding dust, but remember that it will raise the grain, which means that you have to sand it lightly again. This leaves some sanding dust, which leads to you wanting to wipe again, and so on. We usually wipe the final sanding with a tack cloth.
Because the grain is going to rise no matter what, we apply a sanding sealer and, after it dries, go over the surface with a 320-grit sandpaper to knock the grain down again. Then we wipe the surface with a dry cloth.
Apply water-based polyurethane by following the same procedure used for oil-based preparations. (See the section “Varnish and oil-based polyurethane” earlier in this chapter.) The only difference is that some water-based products dry pretty quickly, so you need to stop messing with the finish before it starts to get tacky. Also, we usually don’t sand after the first grain-raising coat unless we need to get rid of brush marks or dust specks that have gotten in the finish. After the final coat (three or four is usually enough), you can either leave it alone or give a rubdown with #0000 steel wool wetted with water if you want less gloss.
Because this product is water-based, cleanup is easy. Just use soap and water.