Finishing Oak material for porch furniture

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Dorm

Dorm

New User
Dorm
I'm building furniture to use on our back porch and the material is white oak. I picked up some rough cut material, that's still pretty grainy and rough even after planing and sanding ... but still it's perfect for my application. After getting into this, I've done plenty of sanding and smoothing but still have the 'grain' issue with final finishing. I'm looking for a clear finish, so there's no staining involved.

Not having worked with oak much before, how do you go about getting a clear, smooth finish and deal with the "raised grain" issue? Do I coat with sanding sealer first, lightly sand and then go with my final coat of clear? Or do I just wet or dampen the surface with water and sand and then apply final coat of clear after dry? Not having done a finer finish with this material before - I don't know what I don't know, so your thoughts and comments always appreciated.

Ciao ... Dorm
 
Fishbucket

Fishbucket

New User
Joe
Most times, a wood filler is used on Oak before the final sanding to fill the grain. then stained ( not your stuff ) the cleared.


http://www.woodworkingshop.com/prod...MItMbFpIuR1QIVkIKzCh1uEAIhEAQYAiABEgLcFPD_BwE

famowood_filler_23oz.jpg
 
J

Jeff

New User
Jeff
I'm building furniture to use on our back porch and the material is white oak.
Click to expand...

That's a good durable wood that'll hold up well to the elements on your porch but it has open pores so sanding/grain filling/finishing will not change that so accept it as white oak.

What kind of furniture are you making and does the porch have a roof to shelter the furniture from the elements? That's relevant to your "how to" finishing question.
 
Dorm

Dorm

New User
Dorm
Jeff said:
What kind of furniture are you making and does the porch have a roof to shelter the furniture from the elements? That's relevant to your "how to" finishing question.
Click to expand...

Jeff, it's a porch swing and so underneath a screened-in porch, albeit it is sitting outside and subject to heat, humidity, cold and perhaps some rain given a blowing rain storm. My aim is to give the wood finish adequate protection that will last thru the seasonal changes. I realize that the wood 'darkens' once the clear is applied, and this is not a concern ... rather again, that the wood and finish provides good protection.

Dorm
 
E

Ed D

New User
Ed
With all respect to Joe (Fishbucket), if you want to even out the feel of the grain of the wood, what you want is grain filler. It is used in open grain wood like oak or mahogany to fill the softer pores. It comes in clear, as well as tinted colors, and is best applied with a wide putty type knife, going across the grain and working it into the pores. Then wipe with a cloth across the grain, let dry, sand lightly with the grain to remove all but what is in the pores, and apply what ever finish you like. the filler fills the open pores, and brings the to the level of the harder grain. I have only used it once, and the results were exactly what I was looking for. Someone who knows more about this process will come along and explain it better than I, and Google is your friend on this subject.

Ed
 
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scsmith42

scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
What I've done in a similar situation is to use tung oil as my first finishing coat, saturating the wood for 10 minutes or so with the oil and wet sanding it with 180 grit while it is saturating. After sanding wipe all of the oil off and let cure for 24 hours. Repeat, but this time sanding with 220 grit. If a finer finish is desired repeat an additional time using 320 grit. Allow 3 - 5 days to cure and then top coat with an outdoor finish such as General Finishes 450.

Wet sanding with oil will fill the pores with the fine sawdust, and your piece will end up extremely smooth yet with beautiful grain. Plus on white oak the oil finish provides a really nice color.

Tung oil will not yellow over time like BLO. I prefer to buy pure tung oil and thin it myself with d-limonene.
 
Dorm

Dorm

New User
Dorm
Just wanted to follow up on your recommendations for finishing this beast. I gathered from the responses to "wet sand" the wood using a type of oil ... either tung oil or perhaps boiled linseed oil (BLO). Being that I'm totally unaware of how/where to get pure tung oil and d-limonene, and I had a gallon of BLO - I opted to use the BLO as a sanding medium. I basically slathered this onto the wood using a lint free cloth and wet sanded with 180g sandpaper. The oil really darkened the wood color, but the surface has a very smooth, almost waxy feel to it. I am really happy with the outcome.

After letting it dry a couple of days I liberally wiped on an exterior clear urethane - again using lint free cloth. I opted to wipe on the finish to prevent runs and drips ... it seemed to work ok. After letting this dry, I steel wooled the surfaces, vacuumed and wiped down the wood and finally applied paste wax as the final material. I could not be more satisfied with the finish.

Here's a photo on some of the work - Thanks again for the tips all!!

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Jim M.

Jim M.

Woody
Corporate Member
Wow, that brought out a nice, rich color. I too love using the wet sanding method, I usually use Watco Danish oil.
 
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