Finishing River Red Gum

[Gassy]

Any tips on finishing smaller pieces of River Red Gum to darken the red? Using just CA it tends to come out a bit pinker than I want. I'm wanting it to be dark red if possible (without using a stain), i.e the way it looks when wet will do me. Don't need it to be waterproof, but items will be handled occasionally.

[China]

Danish oil

[LGS]

You could try Tung Oil. Works for me.

Regards,

Rob

[Xanthorrhoeas]

The best finish will be determined by what the timber is made into and what use it will have. For example, does it need to be food-safe? Is it a pen that will get a lot of handling?

My favourite finish is shellac and it works for a lot of different items, is tough and is renewable with easy additions of extra coats. The brown button waxy shellac will add to the colour better than a white shellac, but a Hard Shellac (UBeaut) based on white shellac will give better heat and moisture protection.

I haven't used them but, for turned products I have read that shellawax (based on the Hard Shellac) gives a great finish.

Please let us know what the items are and what they will be used for and more-targeted advice can be offered. You will still get a lot of individual bias too, but that is the fun to sort out.

BTW, the suggestions above are good too. The best Danish Oil is Rustins brand and I have found the others I have tried (so obviously not all of them) are really only worthy of the rubbish bin.

[LGS]

IMG_0026.jpgIMG_0032.jpgIf this is the kind of finish you want, you could try Hard Burnishing Oil. Takes a little work, but that's what gives you the better finishes.

[cava]

Hi Rob,

What brand of Tung Oil do you use?

George

[LGS]

Hi George,
sceneys tung oil I found Sceneys to be good and at about A$20 a litre, excellent value.You can dilute it down 1:2 with Citrus Terpene

http ://www.organoil.com.au/. I haven't found a bad product yet,from Organoil and it gives a resilient finish. My favorite is Hard Burnishing Oil from organoil. The Red Gum slab in the piccies was done with Hard Burnishing Oil. Happy to send you my method, which is, I should mention pretty much identical to the Manufacturer's method. I actually spoke to them about my method and they really weren't worried about the differences

[Gassy]

The items are small decorative pieces that don't need much protection other than occasional handling. I've tried some BLO, and shellac, and a combo of those two, though the shellac was too orange and gives a gold sheen, so perhaps something based on ruby flakes? Or is garnet more red? There seems to be some conjecture on that. The BLO was pretty good at darkening and highlighting grain but red gum needs filling as there are tiny pockets that catch the light and make the wood actually look lighter. I read about waterglass as a filler, mainly cos of Stradivarius violins, but not found much detail or done further research.

$20 for a litre of tung oil is reasonable, most places want closer to $45 which is getting rather crazy. Interesting that Sceneys distributors in SA are almost all country hardware stores, which suggests the big boys don't want to play fair, and gives me even more reason to buy the Sceneys product.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

is garnet more red?

Yes, garnet shellac is quite a dark red colour and brown button is a rich reddish brown colour. However for "small decorative items" it would be quite a lot of trouble to make up a solution of these unless you are planning to make a lot of these items. So, if you are planning only a few items then perhaps an oil is a good way to go. I like Rustins brand Danish oil, which comes in fairly small containers and darkens many timbers. In SA it is sold by Adelaide Restoration in Norwood. If you want some info on the brown button shellac PM me and I will give you the contact that I have.

[cava]

Hi George,
sceneys tung oil I found Sceneys to be good and at about A$20 a litre, excellent value.You can dilute it down 1:2 with Citrus Terpene

Hi Rob,

Finally got around to getting the Tung Oil @ $23/ltr and notice that Sceneys also do a Citrus product. Is this any good or should I go with the Organoil product?

I have never worked with Tung Oil, hence the question.

[LGS]

IMG_0024.jpgIMG_0025.jpgHi Cava,

I haven't tried the Sceney's Citrus product, but I imagine it would be a good product. I stay with the Organoil products because, in my hands , at least, I get reproducible results and the product works the way they say it does. The pics are of a Red Gum slab I did using HBO earlier this year. I would imagine that the Tung Oil would come out as similar, but without quite so much sheen and durability. But that said, Tung oil diluted 1:2 with Terpine (or sceney's product) should work. Try some of a mix of the Sceney's products and use the mix on an offcut of the slab.

Regards

Rob

[UPO]

Morning All - doing some red gum turning at the moment - candle holders of various heights from stubby to tall - using Feast Watson carnauba wax paste or Disney"s bees wax in the flat tin with the item still on the lathe so the polishing is done at speed rather just hand polishing.

Looking at a finish with more sheen but not a glass like reflective finish - I also use the carnauba on similar style turning done with mulga and sanded to 400 or 600 W&D this mulga being harder, fime grain gives a higher sheen that I am looking for with the red gum - so chasing a finishing that will get closer to the mulga's sheen without going full glass gloss.

Any suggestions appreciates - I have done blackbut shelving with the HBO and that gave a really nice finish with 1200 W&D but not sure how to go about that on the turned, smaller items where the development of the sanding slurry would probably not happen.

Thanks

UPO - Richard