First off ... I am an experienced woodworker, but my knowledge when it comes to finishing is scant. Most of the work I've done in years past involved painted surfaces, and I struggle with staining, clear surfaces. I'm fairly ignorant of the good practices or processes involved to get hi-quality finishes with urethane or especially lacquer.
And so, I need some help with some items I built last year for our screened porch. This week I looked a bit closer at them ... mainly the finish. The items were natural finished using BLO and a clear, oil based finish - likely it was a Min-Wax or similar urethane. And with this, there were a couple of issues I'm concerned about.
The process I used was to finish these was wet-sand the wood with BLO and 180g paper and finish off with urethane. The BLO wet-sanding did a great job to smooth out any raised grain; the oil soaked into the wood and gave it a really nice tint. I wiped on the oil-based poly; let it dry; light sanded and applied one more coat. I'm wondering if the black spots could be mold ... could this have formed and grown after I applied the urethane? If so, this leads to - should I nix using the BLO to wet-sand the material with? Is there a good substitute that doesn't promote mold or mildew? If not - what's the cause for the black spots? Any other suggestions or ideas on what the spots might be?
Lastly, for furniture that's going to live in this type environment - what is the best finish process to do? What finish will have some longevity to it? And to clarify "environment" - I mean a screen porch, under a roof where the stuff is not exposed to full-on rain, but totally subject to cold, moisture in the air, humidity, heat, dust, wind, et al.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Ciao ... Dorm
And so, I need some help with some items I built last year for our screened porch. This week I looked a bit closer at them ... mainly the finish. The items were natural finished using BLO and a clear, oil based finish - likely it was a Min-Wax or similar urethane. And with this, there were a couple of issues I'm concerned about.
- Some black spots appeared beneath the urethane a few weeks after completion (see below)
- Longevity ... I can start to 'feel' the grain, which was no so much the case when the stuff was first finished.
The process I used was to finish these was wet-sand the wood with BLO and 180g paper and finish off with urethane. The BLO wet-sanding did a great job to smooth out any raised grain; the oil soaked into the wood and gave it a really nice tint. I wiped on the oil-based poly; let it dry; light sanded and applied one more coat. I'm wondering if the black spots could be mold ... could this have formed and grown after I applied the urethane? If so, this leads to - should I nix using the BLO to wet-sand the material with? Is there a good substitute that doesn't promote mold or mildew? If not - what's the cause for the black spots? Any other suggestions or ideas on what the spots might be?
Lastly, for furniture that's going to live in this type environment - what is the best finish process to do? What finish will have some longevity to it? And to clarify "environment" - I mean a screen porch, under a roof where the stuff is not exposed to full-on rain, but totally subject to cold, moisture in the air, humidity, heat, dust, wind, et al.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Ciao ... Dorm
Attachments
Last edited: