White material randomly after first coat varnish

[slashusr]

I've just finished a releif carving on a piece of Fijian Mahogany. Thought I'd cleaned it up real good -- stiff brush every nook & cranny -- yet after my first coat of Feast Watson matt varnish, all this white stuff -- sorta waxy -- showed up ; mostly along areas where sharp v-tool cuts set in a feature against a lowered ground, end grain exposure, etc.; but not consistently in any face of the wood -- with, against or across the grain.
Any hints on what this is and whether it will go away with second coat?
The timber is quite well cured -- almost too dry -- so I cant really see it as the wood "exuding" something.
As a carver, I don't use sandpaper unless I absolutely have to; so I am at a loss as to where this stuff is coming from.

Any hints?

[surfdabbler]

Does it look like something on the surface, or maybe within the surface? Can you post a photo?

[tea lady]

A pic might help. :shrug: Could the chisels have burnished the wood so the finish won't go in in patches? Its also been pretty cold . Maybe it was a bit cold for the varnish to cure properly? We have had to be really careful with our lacquor and wait till the temp went over 10 deg at least.

[slashusr]

Thanks Surf, for replying. I've taken a few pics that show the effect quite plainly == but will have to set up some sort of photo bucket to link to as our hosts quite rightly don't want their disk eaten up. Give me a few..

Thanks,
Slashusr

[slashusr]

A pic might help. :shrug: Could the chisels have burnished the wood so the finish won't go in in patches? Its also been pretty cold . Maybe it was a bit cold for the varnish to cure properly? We have had to be really careful with our lacquor and wait till the temp went over 10 deg at least.

You are quite right on both counts, thank you Tea Lady. There are telling indicators that burnished areas (end grain mostly, but also those flat areas where tight fibres suddenly give way to loose); but I am sort of leaning toward the temperature the Melbourne weather as the culprit.

As above, will get some picture linking arrangement in place asap.

Thanks,
Slashusr

[slashusr]

Here are two picturesm Surfdabbler and Tea Lady, that clearly demonstrate the phenomenon of which I write (this is my first project, so I'm just gettinh my legs, so to speak):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7SH3xCYyeLM/UAeVKITrjuI/AAAAAAAAABo/KaYlJ1kKUJU/h120/IMG_0554.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kJfbkpCmZCc/UAeVFFIktcI/AAAAAAAAABg/SQ8nJNJGV2g/h120/IMG_0556.jpg

[surfdabbler]

Thanks Surf, for replying. I've taken a few pics that show the effect quite plainly == but will have to set up some sort of photo bucket to link to as our hosts quite rightly don't want their disk eaten up. Give me a few..


You can add photos directly into a post. Scroll down from the message posting window, below the "Submit Reply" button, and you'll find a button called "Manage Attachments". Click on that, and you can add images directly into your post. All part of the woodworkforums service. :cool:

[surfdabbler]

Here are two picturesm Surfdabbler and Tea Lady, that clearly demonstrate the phenomenon of which I write (this is my first project, so I'm just gettinh my legs, so to speak):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7SH3xCYyeLM/UAeVKITrjuI/AAAAAAAAABo/KaYlJ1kKUJU/h120/IMG_0554.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kJfbkpCmZCc/UAeVFFIktcI/AAAAAAAAABg/SQ8nJNJGV2g/h120/IMG_0556.jpg

Hmm, hard to see on such small images! Is it the kind of powdery looking stuff in the corners?

[slashusr]

Thanks, Surfdabbler. I put them on picasa ("for the web") and you can barely see them.

Here they are in better res...

[slashusr]

That's the stuff, all right. Kinda waxy to the touch

[surfdabbler]

Much better pics. :)

Unfortunately I still don't know what it is. I haven't seen this before. I've used Feast Watson heaps before, although never the Matt, only Satin.

Mahogany isn't normally a problematic wood as far as wood oils or natural waxiness, so I wouldn't expect any issues there.

When you put the varnish on, did the wood warm up afterwards? This can cause air inside the wood to warm up and come out, making tiny bubbles into the finish.

When applying the varnish, it would tend to pool a little more in the corner of the valleys, so the varnish there could have taken longer to dry, and been susceptible to more issues.

Another thought - was your brush totally clean before hand? Pushing into the corners may have dissolved something off your brush and into the corners of the workpiece.

[slashusr]

You can add photos directly into a post. Scroll down from the message posting window, below the "Submit Reply" button, and you'll find a button called "Manage Attachments". Click on that, and you can add images directly into your post. All part of the woodworkforums service. :cool:


That's the stuff, all right. Kinda waxy to the touch

You know, I think maybe I was a a bit too liberal with the varnish, maybe? There are some closed areas in the piece and I was careful to push a clean soft rag into those spaces to soak up the excess and now I look more carefully, those areas show none of the white stuff.

That and the biting cold last night might add up to the answer.

[slashusr]

A clean brush, Surf. Your comments are right on. Lesson learned.

Thanks

[tea lady]

Maybe wipe down with a "tack cloth" before varnishing. Just a cloth soaked in turps or metho. Will get all the dust off and oils and things. :cool:

:pi: Are those bits glued on? Maybe the glue is reacting with the varnish? :hmm: Or picking up dust? :shrug: