Sincerely, Ryan
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Retaining wood color in turned projects
My name is Ryan, and I have been turning cedar as a primary preferred wood. However, over the years I have seen a few of my older projects and have been disappointed with the greying discoloration caused by the sun and or oxidation. I have mentioned it to past clients and family members that maybe they should just keep my work in the closet... Nobody really liked that solution. I have tried several different finishes with minor to fair success. At the bottom of this blog I have added a picture of my latest cedar vase that was soaked in peanut oil for four months prior to final turning and finish. My newest test is to use a solution that has been used over the centuries to soak violin boards. Praying it works. Time will only tell. Thoughts?
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Interesting way to drive traffic. ;)
ReplyDeleteMost woods change color when exposed to UV light. Sometimes it's good, like cherry, sometimes not.
Not much that can be done about it. Search up patio furniture finishes and door finishes in places like forums.woodnet.net.
I've done some cedar pens, but I used CA exclusively for those to help firm up that soft wood.
I found an article related to the curing of stradivarius violins with research on historical use of borax, fruit gums, and crystal powders such as quartz and water.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=secrets-of-the-stradivari&page=2
Ryan
you might want to try a deck sealer, ie thompsons etc. some have a uv blocker in them to keep redwoods from going gray, basically it dosent let the oil dry up in the wood.
ReplyDeleteIn more than 40 years of woodworking, my wife and I have found good old tung oil is the product of choice to seal and bring out the best of the figuring and grain in any wood following a good scraping, planing or sanding. 3 coats of either low gloss or high according to your preference for the finished look gives a good base to keep all the nice coloration of the cedar. "Fine Woodworking" recently contained an article on what seems to us to be the ideal foolproof and extremely tough finish, consisting of Turpentine, Pratt & Lambert's #38 Clear Varnish, Tung Oil, and Japan Drier. If you use Formby's Tung Oil Finish you can eliminate the Japan Drier because it contains its own. The exact formula is available on FineWoodworking.com.
ReplyDeleteBeware Thompson's Water Seal, because it contains a silicone additive which repels nearly any other finish you might use. On the above formula, you could substitute Spar Varnish for the #38 to provide safe and genuine long-lasting UV protection with a tough sun and waterproof end result. Good Luck Ryan.