First thing I did was sanding the shell (both inside and outside) with 000 steel wool to remove all traces of sticky residue left by the masking tape and, also, to prepare the surface. I highly recommend using a mask in order to avoid breathing the suspending small steel particles liberated during this process. With regard to sanding, it´s of vital importance to do it following the wood grain.
 |
| © David Valdés |
Once the shell was perfectly smooth, I used a gauze I bought at Leroy Merlin to apply
tung oil to the inside. Tung oil has been known for centuries to treat wood, specially musical instruments.
 |
| Jars containing tung oil. © David Valdés |
 |
| Gauze © David Valdés |
 |
| Piece of gauze ready for spreading oil. © David Valdés |
The piece of gauze is slightly moistened with oil and spread over the shell (always following the wood grain!). My personal experience is that using small quantities produces better results because it gets almost dry once applied. If we use too much oil we´ll get blobs and stains. On the following photo we can see how the first coat was applied.
 |
| © David Valdés |
This is the first coat still wet.
 |
| © David Valdés |
Once the oil has been applied (remember... not much!), I inmediately rubbed a piece of clean gauze. This way the coat gets very uniform and almost dry. If you do this well, you may not have to sand before applying the next coat. Use the same 000 steel wool we used for preparing the shell before aplying a second one (the previous coat has to be completely dry before doing so, which normally entails 24 hours).
This shell got nothing less than 10 coats of tung oil (blame my inexperience... Remember this is my first building attempt). I really like how it looks, with a very nice dark colour, but an expert I got in touch with told me four coats were enough to cover the pores and protect it from xylophagous. From that day on, all of my interiors get nothing more than four coats... :-D. Here you can see the result:
 |
| © David Valdés |
 |
| © David Valdés |
On the next photo you can see the inside already finished and the outside still "raw". There´s a big difference, isn´t it?
 |
| © David Valdés |
My idea for the outer part was to stain it using chestnut colour, as I saw some historical drums finished this way and I really liked them. Before starting the staining process I covered all parts already treated to avoid accidents (stains, splashes...). As always, Leroy Merlin was my supplier.
 |
| © David Valdés |
 |
| © David Valdés |
 |
| © David Valdés |
I used water based tint I bought at Leroy Merlin (I know, I know... They are going to make their principal shareholder :-D ).
 |
| © David Valdés |
I mixed different quantities of tint and water untill I got the desired colour and tried it on a piece of maple.
 |
| © David Valdés |
 |
| © David Valdés |
On the next photo we can see the process of aplying the first coat of stain.
 |
| © David Valdés |
And this is the result after that first coat.
Once dry, I sanded it with 000 steel wool to even the finish.
 |
| © David Valdés |
Then, I applied another coat of tint. The next photo shoes the shell right after it was applied, the tint still wet.
 |
| © David Valdés |
This is the result once dry.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
After two coats I was happy with the result, so next thing I did was applying some wax I got you already know where... :-D
 |
| ©David Valdés |
This is the shell after the first coat.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
 |
| ©David Valdés |
I repeated the waxing process three times (I went the easy road: I liked how it looked and, as I was told, three coats is more than enough to protect the wood). I let the wax get dry for 24 hours before applying every new coat. This is the final result.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
Regarding the counterhoops, I had to work on the shavings and imperfections they had because of the drilling. It seems that, when drilling at an angle, they are unavoidable, as the fibres do not break homogeneously.
 |
| © David Valdés |
I used a paste to cover imperfections, pores and equal the surface.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
On this photo you can see the paste before drying and sanding.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
On the following ones counterhoops are perfectly smooth.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
 |
| ©David Valdés |
 |
| ©David Valdés |
Now they were ready to get their finish. I used tung oil to get a nice contrasting tone with the shell.
On the next photo you can see the upper hoop already has one coat while the bottom one is still raw.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
Both counterhoops after getting their first coat...
 |
| © David Valdés |
And this is the result after 10 coats (I promise the photos do not do them justice. They are gorgeous!)
 |
| ©David Valdés |
 |
| ©David Valdés |
The nex photos show both the shell and the counterhoops once finished. I promess they look much better live.
 |
| ©David Valdés |
 |
| ©David Valdés |
 |
| ©David Valdés |
With all the parts ready, it was just a matter of assembling them, but that´s something I´ll show on a future article.
What techniques do you use for staining/waxing? What colours would you have chosen? Let me know!
…et in Arcadia ego.
© David Valdés
No comments:
Post a Comment