tas oak rocking cradle finishing advice please!

hi all, have spent months and $$ building a rocking baby cradle out of tasmaninan oak with a cedar roof, in anticipation of our first child now this is my second major woodworking project so am definately a novice when it comes to finishing techniques i have studied these forums for any info have got some great advice from them, but i have spent to much time on this project to ruin it with a dodgy finish! the misus wants me to stain it walnut to match the rest of the nursery furniture, will there end up being a color difference between the different woods? it has turned treadle bars which i think will be a bit of a hassle to stain once attached, should i stain them before i attach them? have never stained anything! i have sanded it to 180grit. so my question is what is the best way to acheive a beautiful lasting finish? any help will be greatly appreciated!!!!

picture of the cradle i am building!
http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/arch...or_project.htm

Here's a link to my hall table in tas oak which I stained with Van Dyke Crystals to get a walnut type colour, and then finished with UBeaut's Hard Shellac.

wow that came up nice, have sort of thought about the shellac route but i'm a bit scared of the unknown! i spose i need more study on the subject, thanks for that

Applying the shellac was really easy. The hardest part was keeping the dust off, but since it dries quickly, that was less difficult than it would be with slower drying finishes.

My only reservation with shellac is durability, but I think a cradle would not get too much wear, so it should be ok. UBeaut's Hard Shellac is supposed to be harder than normal shellac.

I don't think you should be scared of the unknown. If you buy the Polisher's Handbook, it'll go on about rubbers, and French polishing, which is all fine, but you can also just brush or wipe Hard Shellac on as you would any other finish and it looks great - that's all I did.

By the way if you want to try Van Dyke Crystals, I have a life time's supply.

Hi ISd4,

The image in the post looks very handsome. If you have achieved that standard of joinery go the whole hog and make a No. 1 job of it. Here's what I would do.

Sand through 240, 280 to 320 grit.
Apply by spray a thin coat of blond shellac and de-nib after 24hrs.
Follow by a spray coat of your chosen stain and de-nib again if necessary.
Finish with two coats of pre-catalysed lacquer at 24 hr intervals with de-nib between coats if necessary.

The polishing process sounds like a lot of work but each step is about 15minutes or less for a little job like that cradle.

If you want a completely smooth finish then you can use one of the two pack systems that has an initial filler coat as part of the process that is put on top of the shellac and stain that pretty well completely fills the grain. That finish is a bit glassy for my taste but some like it that way.

If you contact one of the Brisbane Woodcraft Guilds you will likely find someone willing to polish it for you for a couple of bottles of wine plus materials.

I've made a few cradles over the years. Pity you only get about three months use out of them.

God Luck with it.

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Originally Posted by lsd4me07

hi all, have spent months and $$ building a rocking baby cradle out of tasmaninan oak with a cedar roof, in anticipation of our first child now this is my second major woodworking project so am definately a novice when it comes to finishing techniques i have studied these forums for any info have got some great advice from them, but i have spent to much time on this project to ruin it with a dodgy finish! the misus wants me to stain it walnut to match the rest of the nursery furniture, will there end up being a color difference between the different woods? it has turned treadle bars which i think will be a bit of a hassle to stain once attached, should i stain them before i attach them? have never stained anything! i have sanded it to 180grit. so my question is what is the best way to acheive a beautiful lasting finish? any help will be greatly appreciated!!!!

picture of the cradle i am building!
The Heirloom Cradle

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unfortunately, it will be almost impossible to stain the Tassie Oak to match the rest of the nursery furniture, especially as you will be pressured to achieve the colour match before applying the rest of the finish
far better to accept that the cradle will end up a different colour and achieve the best finish you can
apply any stain after using a sealer coat of dewaxed blond shellac
make sure there is no glue residue on the project before applying the stain

thanks for that info mate, really appreciate it, i like to think the cradle currently resembles the one in that picture and am keen to make it a "no 1 job" hence why i'm worried about the finishing process! I like the idea of spraying the finish on cause i was worried about getting an uneven colour etc. and i have access to a compressor and spray gun is there anything i should know about the spraying process? excuse my lack of knowlegde on these things but i have a few questions regarding the technique you mentioned,
i assume the initial light coat of shellac is to fill the grain?
when you say de-nib just sand the sheen off the finish with 1200 sandpaper?
when you spray the stain on do you just rub it off with a rag after a couple of minutes?
sorry i forgot to mention that the roof is cedar will i need to treat the cedar roof any differently?

sorry about the all the questions really interested in learning more about the fiishing process, thanks for all the help
thanks for the offer of the crystals too rhancock

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Originally Posted by lsd4me07

thanks for that info mate, really appreciate it, i like to think the cradle currently resembles the one in that picture and am keen to make it a "no 1 job" hence why i'm worried about the finishing process! I like the idea of spraying the finish on cause i was worried about getting an uneven colour etc. and i have access to a compressor and spray gun is there anything i should know about the spraying process?

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spraying will not help you get an even colour
with the right spraying technique and material you will be able to get an even apperance to the finish and fill the grain -- evening out the colour takes a lot of experience and skill to get a good colour match and to only spray the tint where it's needed
wiped or brushed on finishes are maybe a little more time consuming to apply, but offer far less scope for things to go horribly wrong

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excuse my lack of knowlegde on these things but i have a few questions regarding the technique you mentioned,
i assume the initial light coat of shellac is to fill the grain?

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NO
the initial coat of shellac (and it's usually a dilluted coat) is to even out the absorption of the stain by the underlying timber
if you want to fill the grain, you will need to use many coats of clear finish or a grain filler the appropriate colour AFTER you do your staining

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when you say de-nib just sand the sheen off the finish with 1200 sandpaper?

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I'd suggest 400 paper

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when you spray the stain on do you just rub it off with a rag after a couple of minutes?

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the only stain I've used was petroleum based and wiped on with a rag, with the excess wiped off immediately

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sorry i forgot to mention that the roof is cedar will i need to treat the cedar roof any differently?

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if your aim is a consistent colour on the whole cradle, you will almost certainly need to use a different colour stain on the cedar roof

further
although this application is for decking
Clear and Translucent Stains for Exterior Surfaces | Cabot
it will give you an idea of how staining changes the colour

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Originally Posted by ian

further
although this application is for decking
Clear and Translucent Stains for Exterior Surfaces | Cabot
it will give you an idea of how staining changes the colour

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thanks for those answers, so it looks like i'll have a two tone cradle then, not necessarily a bad thing i spose may look alright? so my thinking based on all the information i've recieved so far will be to,
-finish sand to 320grit
-unsure if i need to apply a sealer of some sort to the cedar roof as it seems alot more porous then the tassie oak?
-spray a diluted light coat of blonde shellac
-de-nib with 400grit
-apply a wipe on or brush on stain wipe excess off
-de-nib with 400 grit
- 2 coats laquer? do you just buy it in a spray can? what is the general opinion on clear coats? is laquer the way to go?
thanks again!!

you can have a cradle that is all, or very close too, the same colour -- you will just have to stain the cedar with a different colour to what you use on the Tassie Oak
also, there should be no need to denib the stain

Also, if you do decide to spray the shellac, be very careful, the solvent (ethanol) is poisonous and, under the right condiutions, explosive
oh, and the vapour can put you over the 0.05 limit
I encourage you to brush or wipe on the shellac sealer coat -- it's main purpose is to even out the rate at which the stain is absorbed by the wood

for top coats, I'd be inclined towards shellac -- blond or orange -- once the solvent has evaporated, it's essentially harmless

lastly, practice the whole finish routine (keeping notes) on some off cuts till you are satisfied with the colour you get

ok have decided to give shellac a go, is there a specific mix i should use when mixing the shellac for the initial sealer coat? probably just brush that on? and what about the mix for final finishing? i've watched some youtube clips of people rubbing on shellac with a peice of cheese cloth is this the correct technique for final finishing? whats the difference between blonde and orange shellac? probably will purchase the shellac from u beaut, went to bunnings today they had some shellac flakes but didn't specify dewaxed etc.
once again i aplogise for all the questions!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by lsd4me07

ok have decided to give shellac a go, is there a specific mix i should use when mixing the shellac for the initial sealer coat? probably just brush that on? and what about the mix for final finishing? i've watched some youtube clips of people rubbing on shellac with a peice of cheese cloth is this the correct technique for final finishing? whats the difference between blonde and orange shellac? probably will purchase the shellac from u beaut, went to bunnings today they had some shellac flakes but didn't specify dewaxed etc.
once again i aplogise for all the questions!!!!!!

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easiest is to buy it pre-mixed
U Beaut does it this way
distributors in Brisbane are: http://www.ubeaut.com.au/distribs.htm just scroll down to QLD

well i've ordered some u-beaut hard shellac and this arvo managed to get my desired colour of stain using feast and watsons prooftint stains however i noticed that this particular stain is metho based same as the mentioned shellac so now i'm wondering if i've made a mistake by combining 2 metho based products and will there be any problems with it?