Another Dumb Question

[jpscroller]

I recently turned my first natural edge bowl. I thought it turned out really good. It was made of walnut. The instruction book I was trying to follow said to put tung oil on it, but since I did not have any, I put some Salad Bowl Finish on it. The book said nothing about waiting or letting it dry, but I am beginning to think I should have waited because the finish won't dry. I assume the water in the wood is trying to get out preventing the finish from drying. Is that what is happening or does the tung oil let the wood breath and let the wood continue to dry, or should I have waited a couple of months before applying a finish? Again the book said nothing about waiting, maybe I was just supposed to know.

Sorry for the stupid questions, but I need to learn.

Jeff

 

[georgetroy]

Don't worry about it. It will dry in due time. You could put the bowl in a paper sack. You have slowed the drying process and that is what you want. If you used pure tung oil with out a drying agent added, you may have a problem. Follow the instructions on the container. For my walnut finishing I will apply Deft Clear wood finish as a primer and then go with Waterlox or similiar finish. GT

 

[DMcIvor]

salad bowl finish

As near as I can tell the salad bowl finish is some type of wiping varnish, essentially an oil with a drying agent added. Not sure why it isn't curing, and actually I'm not convinced that it isn't curing. But you're probably right in that the moisture in the underlying wood has a lot to do with what is going on with the piece. There's certainly no harm in applying a finish over green wood. As GT indicated it's still probably a good idea to put the piece in a paper bag and then put the bag in a cool place with moderated temperature change (e.g., back of a closet). Leave it there for a month or so, and feel free to occasionally peek in the bag to see how things are going. If you detect mold, you're doing too good of a job of retarding moisture loss. The whole idea is to slow and control the rate of moisture loss so that you don't get cracks developing in the bowl.

In spite of having applied a finish, you may find that once the bowl has dried that some areas will need additional sanding. This occurs when fine grains tear out during the drying process, leaving you with a fuzzy surface, and end grain is particularly susceptible. If this happens you may want to do some hand sanding and then apply another coat (or more) of finish.

 

[MichaelMouse]

What thickness? If you did a finished thickness of 3/8 or less, I'd wipe the goo off with some mineral spirits and let the piece dry. No bags needed, unless you're desert dry. Not likely to crack. Couple weeks at the outside is all you need.

What it will do is get a bit fuzzy as the water leaves, and then the goo will be in the way of final sanding. You can hope to get results by wet sanding with mineral spirits as a lube, but no sense clogging paper with something you could wipe off now. Other thing that will happen is the bottom will go out of flat, so plan on a block plane and some sandpaper to get it to sit flat again.

Oil and water don't mix, as the saying goes, and water is chemically bonded to the cellulose at or about 30% by weight, while oil can only fill the spaces between fibers. Above 30%, water and oil will meet in the spaces.