An earlier post asked about dealing with end grain on
a cherry table being restored. That got me thinking.
The problem is that "end grain" (think "grain as a
bundle of straws, end grain being the ends of the
straws" ) wants to suck up more of the finish than
"side grain" and therefore darkens when a finish,
any finish, is applied. UNLESS you do something
to minimize the problem. The usual method is to
sand the end grain to a much finer grit and/or
"seal" the end grain with a commrecial sanding
sealer or perhaps just some super blonde shellac.
But what if you burnished the end grain?
HUH?
OK, let's try "But what if you rubbed the end
grain REALLY hard with a very smooth, hard
tool - like the one you use on your cabinet
scrapers/ card scrapers?". THAT would
smoosh the end grain almost closed. The finer
the wood's grain, the closeder the end grain
would get and the less "finish" it could absorb.
When you rub wood with a hard smooth tool
the wood gets smoother and shinier - without
ANY "finish".
Have posted an example to a.b.p.w that will
show you what the "no finish finish" looks
like on beech (or is it birch?).
Just an idea.
charlie b
In article <[email protected]>,
charlie b <[email protected]> wrote:
> When you rub wood with a hard smooth tool
> the wood gets smoother and shinier - without
> ANY "finish".
Cool. How do you avoid digging channels with the burnisher? A long
rod would tend to make flats, too. From the photos, you seem to have
avoided both problems. Just lots of passes? How long did it take to
prepare that block?
Recalling the "carving pine" thread, I (long, long ago) burnished a
couple of pine carvings, intentionally mashing the soft stuff to give a
wave-like appearance to the ground.
--
"Keep your ass behind you."
Try some worn sandpaper. It tends to burnish wood rather than remove
material. This trick has been used for endgrain problems for some time.
Good Luck.
"Australopithecus scobis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> charlie b <[email protected]> wrote:
> > When you rub wood with a hard smooth tool
> > the wood gets smoother and shinier - without
> > ANY "finish".
>
> Cool. How do you avoid digging channels with the burnisher? A long
> rod would tend to make flats, too. From the photos, you seem to have
> avoided both problems. Just lots of passes? How long did it take to
> prepare that block?
>
> Recalling the "carving pine" thread, I (long, long ago) burnished a
> couple of pine carvings, intentionally mashing the soft stuff to give a
> wave-like appearance to the ground.
> --
> "Keep your ass behind you."