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Use a tack cloth.
Or blow the pores out with clean compressed air.
re: finish - use a oil/varnish finish applied with a cloth, e.g. Formby's (satin) Tung Oil Finish, or mix your own from 1/3 tung oil or boiled linseed oil, 1/3 oil (satin) varnish, 1/3 mineral spirits.
-Mark
Or blow the pores out with clean compressed air.
re: finish - use a oil/varnish finish applied with a cloth, e.g. Formby's (satin) Tung Oil Finish, or mix your own from 1/3 tung oil or boiled linseed oil, 1/3 oil (satin) varnish, 1/3 mineral spirits.
-Mark
take it outside and blast it with your air compressor - Please wear some safety gear, walnut dust can be really nasty stuff.
Yeah, Walnut dust gets to me more than any other. Just so NO to brown boogers!
I prefer to wipe down with mineral spirits, allow to dry and finish with satin waterlox (expensive but worth the cost). Generally, I will sand with 400 grit and wipe with mineral spirits between 1st and 2nd coat. I use liberon steel wool on the second coat, wipe with mineral spirits then add the third coat. When using waterlox, add a thick coat then buff until the wood is warm wiping off all of the excess. This leads to a smoother finish. After the finish is applied, I apply wax using a white scotch brite pad then buff with an automotive buffer (on flat surfaces) or on curved surfaces using a buffer on the drill. Usually 2-3 coats of a good wax. Do not use wax if you plan to have hot or cold items on the table as it may lead to rings that must be removed.
This finish works extremely well for cherry or oak that has been fumed with ammonia. The finished piece will have the appearance of a 100 year old piece.
I too am alergic to walnut dust. Also a clostraphobe su dust masks are annoying but I have to deal with it.
This finish works extremely well for cherry or oak that has been fumed with ammonia. The finished piece will have the appearance of a 100 year old piece.
I too am alergic to walnut dust. Also a clostraphobe su dust masks are annoying but I have to deal with it.
Re: cleaning the dust: A shop vac with a brush attachment works to get the majority. The mineral spirit or DNA wipe is good for the remainder. You have to use a scrubbing action with the brush, tho. Micro-fiber cloths work well ONLY when going down the grain. If you reverse against the grain, it will tear little bits of the microfiber from the rag (DAMHIKT).
Go
Go
I've been finishing walnut for 35 years. I just use my shop vac with a soft upholstery brush to remove any sanding dust. Wiping with a tack rag or with a rag dampened with mineral spirits does not always get the dust out of the deeper pores.
Oil/varnish mixtures work well with walnut that is not going to be abused. It makes for a very natural finish. However, in spite of it's name, Formby's Tung Oil Finish contains no tung oil. It's not even an oil/varnish. It's a standard thinned varnish and says so right on the can. Unfortunately or deliberately, the statement about it being "Tung Oil Finish" is in larger type than the true statement about it being a varnish.
Oil/varnish mixtures work well with walnut that is not going to be abused. It makes for a very natural finish. However, in spite of it's name, Formby's Tung Oil Finish contains no tung oil. It's not even an oil/varnish. It's a standard thinned varnish and says so right on the can. Unfortunately or deliberately, the statement about it being "Tung Oil Finish" is in larger type than the true statement about it being a varnish.
Good catch Howard. I dashed that off w/o thinking about much: as you said, Formby's is just a wiping varnish (i.e. thinned varnish). Really any oil/varnish or wiping varnish would suffice. But I said Formby's because it is easy to use, readily available and imparts a slight amber tone, which can be a nice effect if the OP is using commercially steamed walnut.
To the OP - I should also have added: whatever you choose, make sure you test the finish on scrap before committing it to your finished piece.
-Mark
To the OP - I should also have added: whatever you choose, make sure you test the finish on scrap before committing it to your finished piece.
-Mark
What does the dust do to other people that are allergic?
Irritant woods include black locust, cocobolo, ebony, oleander, satinwood, sequoia, and yew.
Sensitzer woods include cypress, balsam fir, beech, birch, elm, greenheart, mahogany, maple, myrtle, redwood, sassafras, spruce, walnut, willow, western red cedar, and teak.
Walnut affects mostly eyes, skin and respiratory system. Hives, watery eyes and difficulty breathing.
For me I would like to add two more to the list of walnut - Difficulty concentrating and forgetting things (feeling spacey) which lasts 2 to 3 days after exposure. Walnut didn't used to affect me at all, then I started noticing most of the affects you listed. The more I worked with it the worse it got, till the last few times when it got so bad I had to stop milling walnut all together. I think I may have been over exposed :dontknow:
That explains my memory loss. I thought it was from getting close to my mid 40's. Thanks
I'll second on using a test piece first. Has saved me a couple times.
I wipe with a cloth and citrus solvent to clean dust but I don't worry about the fine hairs in the wood until the 2nd coat.
I used Bio Poly NT a super rich rubbing oil, on my walnut bench. Sanded between coats with 320, heated the oil a little bit to help penetrate. If you wanna go all out you can wet sand the oil into the wood with 320-600 which i did. Absolutely stunning finish. Let my kids pound the heck out of it for a year. Then a gave it a quick polish and put in the store for a year. Now my wife has it at the kitchen table and its still looking great. Amazing what real resin does.
I used Bio Poly NT a super rich rubbing oil, on my walnut bench. Sanded between coats with 320, heated the oil a little bit to help penetrate. If you wanna go all out you can wet sand the oil into the wood with 320-600 which i did. Absolutely stunning finish. Let my kids pound the heck out of it for a year. Then a gave it a quick polish and put in the store for a year. Now my wife has it at the kitchen table and its still looking great. Amazing what real resin does.
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