Polish

[schaf]

Which of the shellawax products would be most suitable to use on woodcarvings.
I have been using the traditional wax but not sure if I am getting the best possible finish. May be my application is wrong, so thought I would try a liquid product

many thanks
Terry

[ForumDemo]

Hi Terry,

Beaut's advice is to apply a coat of dewaxed White Shellac first and then Traditional Wax. I also have a photo to post later for you of an example of Traditional Wax on a Sitco Ebony mask compared to an unpolished Ebony Mask.

Cheers
Wendy

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Terry, Picture of Ebony Masks, one finished and one polished with Trad Wax at the Bris T&WWW Show

[schaf]

Thanks Wendy, that is the system that I use. White hard shellac and Trad wax.
I think that my disappiontment is the finish after the wax. I have used a cloth to polish the wax, and now thinking that it should be a brush. And then I think can it be a shoe brush , or should it be a expensive long hair brush.
Must say that I am a little disappointed with the result off the cloth , it should be better.
The mop from our master is not suitable ,as the carvings have very delicate areas.
Regards
Terry

[ubeaut]

G'day Terry - Below is a brief description for using shellac, wax and some problems that may much it up:

Weak coat of dewaxed white after sanding, then sand again lightly with 1200 grit to get rid of any raised grain and give a silky smooth surface. Apply a light even coat of traditional wax by: rag, soft tooth brush, or natural bristle boot brush (not black bristles) allow to dry and buff with a clean soft rag or another clean natural bristle boot brush (not black bristles).

The final quality of the finish will depend on the timber, the preparation, ie the finer you sand the better the finish will be and the application of the shellac and wax.

Too strong a solution of shellac will make it harder to finish too weak won't seal the timber too well. Best solution for carvings is around 10 parts metho to 1 part White shellac (Dewaxed) if a second or subsequent coats are deemed necessary then use an 8 to 1 mix. Use an Artists Watercolour Mop 1-1 1/2 inch to apply the shellac and do not flood the timber.

Sand with 1200 grit after the 10/1 coat has thoroughly dried preferably overnight. This should give you a silky smooth base to build your wax finish on.

Apply the trad Wax sparingly in an even coat all over and leave it to dry this could be 5 min to 1/2 hour depending on conditions. I prefer to buff with clean soft cloth. I use flannelette sheeting purchased from Spotlight, I find this to be brilliant. Turn the rag often when buffing so there is new clean sections doing the buff rather then sections loaded with buffed polish trying to lay down more polish on the surface.

This should give a shimmering glow to the timber if softwood or very close to a full gloss tight-grain hardwood like the ebony in the fuzzy pics of Wendy's above.

If you have blotches then it's either the timber or the sanding. Not all timbers will respond well to wax alone but should be better with shellac and wax. There is no real easy fix and all timbers will be different.

A photo of the piece could help, also knowing what timber and if it's dry or semi-dry, softwood or hardwood, open grained or tight grain, how fine you have sanded, is it an oily timber, is it spalted timber, was anything else applied before the polish, eg. oil sanding sealer, stain, etc.

Cheers - Neil

[schaf]

Thanks Neil for your advice.
I use the Shellac 8 to 1 as a sealer then 50/50 as top coat, then wax.
things I have noted from your advice.
1 I am using a small rag and not turning it to a clean spot
2 Have tried a brush but using black bristles.

The brush seems appropriate as there are little nooks and crannies so will look for a natural bristle brush.
Thanks for the reply

Terry

[RufflyRustic]

Wow Terry!! Fantastic work!

[ubeaut]

Black brush - Problem with a black brush is they often leach black colour onto the work, hence the natural, non black comment.

Bigger rag would definitely help.

Don't think I'd be using 50/50 especially on what looks to be cedar as it will end up highlighting the pores in the timber and giving too much shine. in the wrong placed. For something like the Green Man (a completely different kettle of fish to the ebony masks) you want to get a buffed sheen rather than an over-all shine. The buffed sheen will be slightly dull in the lowlights and have a silky glow in the highlights this will accentuate the form and make it stand out beautifully, bringing more depth and definition to the carving. An overall gloss will often detract from the carved work and won't look as nice.

Unfortunately cedar isn't the best or easiest to get a waxed or shellac and wax finish on without actually filling the grain. However with the Green Man I would leave the pores unfilled and just give it a coat 10-1, fine sand with 1200 grit and maybe a second 10-1 or an 8-1 then again sand lightly with 1200 grit making sure to turn the abrasive continually so you are sanding with clean new grit and not clogged or worn grit.

There are a couple of ways to go from here but I think your best bet would be number 1 below:

NUMBER 1: Following on from the final sanding I would use the Trad applied sparingly with a soft tooth brush into all the nooks and crannied then buff with a big soft rag as described. Or with the not black boot brush followed by the soft cloth to give the final buff and hit the highlights. The boot brush will be moving polish all over the work rather than buffing it to a glow, hence the final buff with the cloth.

You can apply a few coats of the Trad over a few days to bring up a brighter finish if desired.

Applying the wax sparingly and more often is easier and better than applying too much wax in one hit which is just a waste of time and gives you lots, lots, more work trying to buff it up.

Number 2: Following on from the sanding with 1200 grit. Apply a number of 50/50 coats with a really good brush (Artists Watercolour Mop as per previous post) sanding lightly between coats wit 800 grit, until the grain was filled. You could use a small amount of pure Talc to aid in the filling and make sanding easier but only in the first couple of coats. Once the grain is filled and the surface is silky smooth to the touch use EEE-Ultra Shine as a final cut and polish to bring up the shine, buff well then apply Trad as described above. Buffed well with clean soft cloth.

This will give the whole thing the amazing look and feel more you would expect to find on a highly french polished piece of furniture, or something akin to wooden look porcelain.

Number 3: Continuing on from above the whole thing can be rubbed over with Tripoli powder to bring it back to more of a glow rather than a gloss.

Number 4: There are many more things you can do to a Green Man but I think I've given you 2 more than you need already so this'll do for this one.

A NOTE ON WAX: If you put a match head of wax on a piece of glass say 50mm dia spread it out and wait for it to dry then buff it. You will get the exact same result as if you put a thumbnail size piece of wag into the same size glass, only it will take a lot longer for the larger amount to dry and will be a lot harder to buff and polish up to give the same result.

Hope this is of some more help Terry

[schaf]

Appreciate your reply and advice Neil, many thanks.
The green man is camphor Laurel.

Wendy thank you for your comment.

Terry