What finish??

[silver fox]

In the past, to finish some of my fretwork projects, I have used a 50/50 mix of oil and white spirits but have noticed a dark stain appearing in alot of the cutouts which, I presume, is caused by the fluid soaking into 1/8" ply I am using. Some of the time they disappear when the wood dries, but many of them remain behind making the project look terrible. Trying to sand them out was too risky.
I then switched to using straight Danish oil which, although giving a nice finish, the dreaded dark stain kept coming back (although not as much).
I have now resorted to using spray-on lacquer which, although satisfactory,
doesn't give the finish that I like to see and is also difficult to get into the very fine cuts.
I would be interested to hear some opinions

cheers,

Silver fox aka Warwick

[keystonecop]

I may not have an answer, but for those like me (I hope I am alone), a picture is worth a 1000 words. It would be nice to see your work and finish.

just a thought. and maybe the bump of this will get a reply...

[marshall]

Silverfox : I'm no expert , how about trying some Min-wax pre-stain on your next project and see if it want protect it from this happening again . It works good on end grains in soft woods , hope this helps > for I use it all the time !!! You just have a two hour window in which to apply your final finish , using this product . Marshall

[silver fox]

Thanks KeystoneCop. I was able to post some photos of finished products in the Customer Page of the Wildwood Design website (first page) and also made the bragging page of the latest SSW&C mag #33. I was quite pleased with the finish on these although used a different method.
And thankyou Marshall for your advice. I never thought to use a pre-stain first. What a good idea. Unfortunately, in Oz, where I come from, they don't sell Min-wax. so I will try something else.

Cheers,

Silver Fox aka Warwick

[tomsteve]

ya might wanna try using mineral spirits as a pre-stain conditioner. i have done it on pine and it worked out pretty good. i tested it on a few pieces and found out i had to soak the wood pretty good with m.s. to keep the stain from soakin in too deep in some parts of the pine. this might work on plywood, too. i had the same problem as you, but on some of the portrait work i liked it. it seemed to give a bit of a shadow and more depth.

[silver fox]

Thanks tomsteve,
I, too, have sometimes felt the stain gives the work some character, but I'm talking about the kind of portraits you get from Jeff Zaffino where you REALLY don't want anything coming in to spoil the look. I value your opinion and will try the spirits as a pre-stain conditioner. Many tks.

[jaw532]

I would like to know what paints and stains are safe for childrens toys.
Thanks,
jaw532

[tomsteve]

Originally Posted by silver fox

Thanks tomsteve,
I, too, have sometimes felt the stain gives the work some character, but I'm talking about the kind of portraits you get from Jeff Zaffino where you REALLY don't want anything coming in to spoil the look. I value your opinion and will try the spirits as a pre-stain conditioner. Many tks.

i have also used laquer on portrait work, but i think it dries too quick. although most portraits dont get that much abuse, laquer is not a very durable finish. i have used polyurethane in different sheens and found i personally like the satin poly.

i dont put glass in the frames either. this way, the glass doesn't get glare spots on it so a person doesnt have to move to see the work, and the satin poly does the same. i have used varnish on them, too, with good results.
the poly and varnish take a little longer to cure and that helps it to soak into the wood just a little.