Getting a consistent shine

[Stanger]

Just had my first go at burnishing with Organoil hard burnishing oil. It worked well except that I have inconsistent shine, with some patches very shiny and most a bit flatter. I went up through the grits to 3500 and even tried a wax over the top to even out the shine, but it didn't help.

Any ideas on what to do to get an even sheen would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Mike

[PJM16]

What did you use to apply it? Being oil it needs to be very thin coats for the best results. It takes a bit to get the hang of but you'll get some great results once you get it right.

[LGS]

Hi,
Those patches are due to the slurry that forms during sanding, drying out. You should be able to just wipe them off. The other possibility is that you have taken the process from a grit like 2000 then moved straight to 3500. This will also give you patches of dried out slurry.

Regards,

Rob

[Stanger]

I used my random orbital sander and went through the grits from 240/800/1000/1500/2000/2500/3000 (I incorrectly said 3500 in my original post). I did find that the timber was quite dry and difficult to get a slurry after the previous grits slurry had been wiped off with paper towel. I did sometimes put a bit more oil on the sandpaper during sanding, but not much. Initially I flooded the surface with oil and wiped off 1/2 hr later and two hrs later did it again (per the directions).

So in order to fix this or not have this happen next time should I keep more oil on the table while burnishing (to avoid it drying out) or is there something else I'm missing?

Mike




Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

[LGS]

Hi, no, you're not doing anything really wrong, but my method is slightly different to that used by Organoil. If you have a look here and here, you should find that the method is simple and gets consistent results. You can also see that the finish is robust.

You will have to go back to page 1 of the first reference and follow it through.

My web site (damnfinefurniture.net) shows how i use the method now. If you have any more questions, let me know.

Regards,

Rob

[ubeaut]

Organoil spent years perfecting their finishing application.

If you follow their instructions to the letter you should get a good finish every time. But you should do it exactly as they describe in their application information.

Putting wax on won't help the finish until you can no longer smell the oil. While you can smell it the finish is off-gassing which means the wax won't harden properly ever worse the wax will stop the oil from fully polymerising and fully drying.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil