Hey, folks. I surprised myself recently experimenting with some elm wood - not exactly an open-pored wood, and very hard - and I wonder whether I'm fooling myself with the result.
I sanded a small board to 220 grit, went over it carefully with a good scraper, and then applied some Jasco neutral wood-grain filler, working it with and across the grain with a spatula and wiping it off cross-grain with a rough cloth.
I let it dry overnight, sanded it lightly with 400 grit paper, and flooded the surface with Maloof wipe-on finish, wiping it off after five minutes or so. I let that dry overnight and for a second go-round flooded the surface again and went after it with 400-grit sandpaper, this time rubbing pretty hard with the grain.
I did not see a slurry but could hear and feel it under the sandpaper as I started out. It didn't take long before I could neither feel or hear the sandpaper working, but it was clear to me that the wood was absorbing the finish because there was soon very little oil on the surface of the wood and nothing but a sheen on the sandpaper, which also showed no clogs or build-ups.
Meanwhile, the surface of the wood astonished me. It was already baby-bottom smooth, with an even, lovely gloss that seemed halfway between a matte finish and a semi-gloss -- all in all, an amazing result.
And I thought: Is this what they call a hand-rubbed oil finish? If so, why was it so easy to get? Am I missing something? Am I fooling myself?
Since then I've followed the same procedure on another piece of elm, with the same results.
Has anyone out there tied this technique, or something like it? On elm or maybe some other wood with or without big open pores?
Thanks in advance for any and all input. Juan Hovey, Santa Maria CA
I sanded a small board to 220 grit, went over it carefully with a good scraper, and then applied some Jasco neutral wood-grain filler, working it with and across the grain with a spatula and wiping it off cross-grain with a rough cloth.
I let it dry overnight, sanded it lightly with 400 grit paper, and flooded the surface with Maloof wipe-on finish, wiping it off after five minutes or so. I let that dry overnight and for a second go-round flooded the surface again and went after it with 400-grit sandpaper, this time rubbing pretty hard with the grain.
I did not see a slurry but could hear and feel it under the sandpaper as I started out. It didn't take long before I could neither feel or hear the sandpaper working, but it was clear to me that the wood was absorbing the finish because there was soon very little oil on the surface of the wood and nothing but a sheen on the sandpaper, which also showed no clogs or build-ups.
Meanwhile, the surface of the wood astonished me. It was already baby-bottom smooth, with an even, lovely gloss that seemed halfway between a matte finish and a semi-gloss -- all in all, an amazing result.
And I thought: Is this what they call a hand-rubbed oil finish? If so, why was it so easy to get? Am I missing something? Am I fooling myself?
Since then I've followed the same procedure on another piece of elm, with the same results.
Has anyone out there tied this technique, or something like it? On elm or maybe some other wood with or without big open pores?
Thanks in advance for any and all input. Juan Hovey, Santa Maria CA
