Grain Raising Problem (help please)

[Thomp]

Carving basswood or cypress, in particular..

after the carving is complete, and using acrilic (water based paint) i get a lot of grain raising but on bass wood in particular the fine fuzz raises and turns to a felt looking lumpy mess, how can i stop this?
painting, sanding repainting and resanding final coat. gets too thick and i loose the fine detail lines ive spent hours to carve in to the caracature to detail faces pocket lines and clothing seams...

thinking of trying to seal the caracature just after finishing then sanding
any suggestions ? ???

Can't speak to cyprus, but on basswood, have never had a fuzz problem, and I never sand my caricatures. If your getting fuzz, it may be from the sanding, tools not quite sharp, or not minding the grain while carving. That's pretty ambiguous, but the only things I can think of.

Fuzzies on Basswood.....usually when powercarving against the grain, but can occur on end grain cut by edged tools too. Solution...seal the wood before painting, then sand lightly to remove the fuzzies, then 'wet sand' using a lubricant. This re-seals the wood and gets a better surface and the small little fuzzies that dry sanding can miss. If you use an oil based sealer and lubricant, there will be less fuzzies, water seems to make 'em multiply!

Wipe dry and let sit to dry completely...then you can paint away and it shouldn't raise any more fuzzies.

Good luck,

Bob

i agree with Bob the fuzzies occur when power carving or sanding i usually will seal with Deft and will sand again if neccessary then apply a second coat of Deft if necessary before painting

Frank

You're getting fuzzies on your cypress knees? Like the others, I've only got them when using power or sanding, and the sanding only really causes fuzzies on the knees if its real humid or raining. I guess the wood sucks up a little of the moisture in the air.

[Thomp]

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions, on the fuzzies..

some thoughts on weather conditions i feel a lot to do with it is humidity, here in central louisiana, its suppose to be our dry season, with little humidity, but this year is weird, so we get a dry day, and humid days, due to me carving in the house and outside compounds the humidity issue. of course leaving the carvings on the front porch one evening late, cant be good for them ither.. i got them in before the due got on them, but i mostly carve on the porch and watch the world go by....

but additional shortcommings on my part, are probobally my own downfall,
on good sharp tools, Clean carving on cypress takes the fresh stroping every few cuts it seams or the wood tears,

where i have found with basswood you can go longer between stropings and still work seams to be uneffected,, aperently untill the water base acrilic gets on the wood and raises the grain,

i have used 150 & 300 grit film, on the raw wood caracatures before painting, and it seams to worsten the raised grain, guess ill experiment with the matt finishes to seal, or linseed, tung oil 'as its not water base as mentioned' as far as i know, maybe i'll get away with using it as lubericant....

not a major thing i guess but a darn well aggrivating bump in the road.

Cut some 2' diameter maroon colored scotch brite pads and put two of them together in a dremel tool and go over the carving. Then use a coat of boiled linseed oil, and wipe off right away. Let dry for a day. Paint with thinned acrylic paint. Then spray with two coats of sealer. My two cents. Big Al

[Thomp]

Thanks al,

I havent tried the scotch bright yet, i can see a small problem with that though,

i carve lots of small things with small digits fingers and such, and i think the scotch brite might snatch them off, its hard enough to find a arm in the chips, but a finger smaller than a grain of rice flung across the room/.

basswood in the south is hard to come by localy, for $20.00 you cant get enough to heat a pot of coffee..

its expencive so i use every scrap, most times carving minature people the size of your index finger. presently im to a project of carving the animals from a louisiana swamp farm setting at about the same scale as the finger lingth people...
and the grain raising? will remove lots of details,


ok, i did try the sealer, although after getting home with it i seen its waterbase, i tried it on a small racoon, and used 300 grit paper on it after drying. seams to have helped some.

ill try the boiled linseed oil. on the next one.
i rough out 4-5 charters a day before i burn out, or they all start looking like cats..
then let them set overnight before detailing, and painting.
then its several days to wait to see if i got the color scheame right or more detail is needed to be redone,, so about a week per item over a month..


thanks

[Bandaid]

Hi Big Al...I was wondering about your treatment of linseed oil prior to painting with acrylics. I've read where you can put oil paint over acrylic but the other way around is a no-no. Have you ever experienced any problems with adhesion?...Reg

I regularyly use boiled linseed oil and then paint with acrylic paint. If you want the wood grain to show through then use a wash. 3 drops of paints per tablespoon of water. If you want to cover the grain paint full strength. No problem adhering. There can be problems if you try and put a shellac over the acrylic.