Help... year 12 major project finishing options.

[Jonno Snell]

Good evening. My boy is finishing his year 12 project.... a nice Norfolk Pine archery walk cabinet. Looking great but we have an issue. He was told by his teacher to sanding seal his work which he did, then use scandavian teak oil over the top. We have done a trial piece and it is not drying after 13 hours. Have we made a mistake... can anyone give me some help for him. It’s a very cool wall cabinet with only wood joints, old school draw sliders etc. hate to stuff it up at the finishing stages. Thanks in advance for ur time.

[BobL]

The sanding sealer is most likely preventing the wood from absorbing the oil.

Problem is now even if the oil is wiped off and the sanding sealer sanded off some of the sealer will have penetrated some of the end grain and will be impossible to get it to absorb oil evenly.

Others will have more experience but my take is it might need to be finished with a non-oil based finish?

[aldav]

What kind of sanding sealer did he use? How did he apply the oil? Virtually any oil finish should be applied to the surface with a cloth or fine steel wool, left for 20 or 30 minutes until the oil gets tacky, and then buffed off. If the oil wasn't buffed off you should be able to sand to, say, 240 grit and reapply the oil. You'll go through a bit of sandpaper getting back to a good surface to oil due to the paper clogging but just keep chucking it away and getting a new bit.

He can't ruin it so don't despair or give up.

Good luck, hope he gets a good mark.

[Jonno Snell]

Hey, Yes we see that as our issue. Unusual and uneven penetration is what worries me. The trial piece was not part of the project, thankfully.
We’re just trying to find a way forward.

[Jonno Snell]

Hi Aldav, that may be the issue. I’m not sure he buffed it off. The sealer is wattyl pro for interior. The other is Scandinavian natural teak oil also by wattyl. Jonno

[Jonno Snell]

And he did apply with steel wool...

[Lappa]

They only tried the oil finish on a test price if I read correctly but sanding sealed the cupboard so there is no Scandinavian Oil on the cupboard yet.If you look at the Feast Watson site, i believe they have a Scandinavian oil finish suitable to go over their sanding sealer and they have the appropriate application technique.

[Arron]

Is there any reason why he feels he must apply oil over the sanding sealer?

The two products do not play well together.

So why not find the products that are specifically designed to go over the sanding sealer and apply one of them. Look on the sealer can, or ring the manufacturers.

It’s always safest to follow a manufacturers recommended chain of products from start to finish if you are not experienced at this.

[aldav]

The two products do not play well together.

I use oil over sanding sealer (either Feast Watson Proofseal or Shellac) on a regular basis and the resulting finish is excellent, so I can't agree with that statement. Feast Watson recommend Proofseal under their Fine Buffing Oil.

[Lappa]

Is there any reason why he feels he must apply oil over the sanding sealer?

The two products do not play well together.

It’s always safest to follow a manufacturers recommended chain of products from start to finish if you are not experienced at this.

Following Feast Watson’s chain of products on the website they have instructions for using Scandinavian oil and say you can fill the grain with their Sanding Sealer.

[crowie]

G'day Jono, You're on Norfolk Island...
When we stayed at Mokutu in October 2017 there was a Fishing Charter who also had a beaut woodwork shop on the Stockyard Road.
May I suggest you drop by his place and ask him what he uses; from memory he was using bees wax on the items he'd turned for sale....
Cheers, crowie

[Arron]

Following Feast Watson’s chain of products on the website they have instructions for using Scandinavian oil and say you can fill the grain with their Sanding Sealer.

Yeah but, I’m assuming he has a Wattyl product as they are the only one I can find that markets as ‘Scandinavian teak oil’.

In any case, my point is, start with the manufacturers of the sanding sealer, then go from there, and you won’t go wrong. If it’s F&W then all good.

[Lappa]

If it is the Wattyl product then you raise valid points Arron, as it states it cannot be used on raw timber; to use it only over their polyurethane Matt finish .

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I'm wondering why the teacher suggested a sanding sealer at all, if he knew an oil was going to be used?

When oiling, if I ever need to fill pores, open grain, etc. I'll wet sand the first couple of coats, allowing the slurry to do the filling. No sanding sealer whatever.

I'm with Aldav on this... oils are generally applied, given a while to tack off then any excess buffed away. After the first couple of sealing coats it's best to start waiting longer periods between applications to prevent dissolving the prior coats. Apart from that, it's pretty hard to screw up.

'Once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year.'

Time consuming and a lot of work... but imo the results are well worth it and future cosmetic scratches are easily repaired by the expedience of 'slap on another coat of finish.'