Sunlight fading turned fruit bowl

[duke12]

Hi fellow woodworkers, this is my first go at a "posting" so please be patient with me if I get it wrong.

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I have a fruit bowl that I made some twenty years ago that has been a constantly used item on our dining table often overflowing with fruit. That job was one of the first turnings I had done when I was still learning the tricks of turning successfully. The bowl was a copy of one my Grandfather did a long time ago. He was a professional cabinet maker employed with the railways fitting out all of those lovely red cedar internals that were common on trains years ago.

I always hung around him as a kid and longed to be as good as he was in crafting timber.

Anyway the bowl has become quite faded over the years and I had had many requests to refinish it. There is my dilemma - I love the timber work - hate the finishing.

The bowl timbers seems to be bleached from the sun but the poly urethane finish is still quite glossy and slick. I used red cedar and pine as two contrasting colours. If you see under the bowl the red and white are still contrasted very well, but the top is looking a bit sad.

The bowl is made from 3 turnings then glued together, the top bowl, the stem and the bottom bit. I remounted the whole lot in the lathe chuck today and ran it at the slowest speed. It does not run true and looks a bit scary at about a foot across but I think I could sand it back.

What I would like to know can anyone give me some advice on:

Should I sand it back to bare timber and refinish?
Scrape it back with either a cabinet scraper or lathe tools, much harder with the run out?
What finish could I use this time that would be more UV resistant, Marine Varnish?

Leave it alone?

I would appreciate any/all suggestions.
Thanks
Andy

[wheelinround]

Andy welcome to the forum.

lovely segmented piece, must have been great working together with your grandfather.

The photo of the bottom gives you the answer its not the timber fading but the Urethane going milky. I would suggest firstly try a light cut and polish U-beauts EEE - Ultra Shine (forum owners products). OR Maguries auto works well do a trial on an area not seen first.

Otherwise its strip the finish and apply what you wish.

[duke12]

I will have a go at cut - polishing the surface as you suggest.
I have some different grades of automotive cutting compound and light cut polishes would they suffice for a test?

I rang the Wattle paint people and they suggest only using Marine Grade Finish for protection from UV, I take it that is some type of polyurethane. Does anyone have alternate ideas for UV protective finish?

Also if I have to take it back to bare timber is it OK to use paint stripper or should I scrape sand only?

Too used to finishing Autos I guess

Thanks for looking
Andy

[wheelinround]

Andy I have found using light auto polish ok but I have not had the problem you have got and am basing my thoughts on auto's I have come across over the years also.

If you have a lathe I'd mount it and turn off the finish rather than sand it or use a remover. This of course is if all still run true and ............your game to.

You could and it quicker mounted also.

Wattyl sell a couple of products which you could use I use a similar satin product Timberlac.

Ray

[duke12]

I would love to cut it again but it has too much run out.

as I said earlier:
"The bowl is made from 3 turnings then glued together, the top bowl, the stem and the bottom bit. I remounted the whole lot in the lathe chuck today and ran it at the slowest speed. It does not run true and looks a bit scary at about a foot across but I think I could sand it back."

I am lucky that I can still turn it at all. I think I could free scrape it with the lathe running i.e. no tool rest and a sharp scraper. At least sand it that way.

This is a bit scary I would hate to dig in and ruin it. The problem at this time is only cosmetic eh?

I will post a pic if I get the old gunk off.

[ubeaut]

Leave the old gunk on and try using Polish Reviver. Without trying it I cannot guarantee it will work to completely remove the milkiness but if it doesn't then it's a fair bet that nothing else will either.

Using EEE might help but It will most likely only enhance the shine, with little effect on the milkiness which is possibly just a little bit more than skin deep.

From the pics it looks like much of the fading is actually the timber due to exposure to UV with only a portion of the fading being the finish.

I'd go at it with Polish Reviver and call what remains patina (aging with beauty).

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

[duke12]

Yeah I like that "Patina"

I think it is as you say the timber has bleached rather than a problem with the finish.

It gets lots of use and the bowl is liked for what it is so I will prolly leave it and go to another project.

I know it's off topic but has anybody ever turned a spiral bowl.

I tried it once with Cedar and Pine . Made two identical helical cuts and tried to interleave them. When I glued them up I had great difficulty in getting the "sprung" helical pieces to hold together.
I guess I created some spring tension.
Still an idea I have been chucking (Sorry) around in my head for a while.

Would appreciate feed back.
Thanks
Andy