on finishing wood

[Dutchman]

over in the armory, there wasa thread on refinishing a gun. it got me to thinking about various finish preparations.

Sanding- sand paper as we know it didn't come to be until the early 1900's. while convenient, sanding scratches the surface of the wood and leaves a fine powder, which fills back into the scratches. no matter how fine the grit, these scratches can be seen under low level magnification. to achieve a nice finish, lots of cleaning must be done before treating and even then often produces a low luster shine. Oddly enough, sanding was done aboard ship prior to the GAOP and fore quite some time after in the form of holystoning. a square soft stone, usually a sand stone, was placed on the deck with a little water and sand underneath it and a sailor would scrub the decks removing grime and splinters.

Planing- a plane removes layers of wood, but results in a much more even and uniform surface on longer pieces of wood. a hand plane usually does not work well for removing layers of paint or oil finishes.

Scraping- like planing removes material and opens the wood cells exposing the grains patterns and characteristics. while not an easy task, a card scraper can be used to strip and prepare a gun stock to allow the wood to show through oils.

how does anyone else like to prepare?

[callenish gunner]

another method that was used in period was an edged piece of steel that was used like a drawknife but it would just scrape the surface to help finish the surface as it wasn't that sharp. I used to have 2 of them but my crate of woodworking tools have mysteriously disappeared from my storage locker I have seen some used that have curved edges too

[silas thatcher]

i've used scrapers before and they are wonderful !! i've used them mostly to remove old finishes, but only a few times to finish a piece... now that you have brought up the idea again, i should probably put them to use more often...

[callenish gunner]

and burnishers to rub the surface smooth

[Captain McCool]

This is quite good to know! I'll have to look into it for the forthcoming pistol project.

[MarkG]

over in the armory, there wasa thread on refinishing a gun. it got me to thinking about various finish preparations.

Sanding- sand paper as we know it didn't come to be until the early 1900's. while convenient, sanding scratches the surface of the wood and leaves a fine powder, which fills back into the scratches. no matter how fine the grit, these scratches can be seen under low level magnification. to achieve a nice finish, lots of cleaning must be done before treating and even then often produces a low luster shine. Oddly enough, sanding was done aboard ship prior to the GAOP and fore quite some time after in the form of holystoning. a square soft stone, usually a sand stone, was placed on the deck with a little water and sand underneath it and a sailor would scrub the decks removing grime and splinters.

Planing- a plane removes layers of wood, but results in a much more even and uniform surface on longer pieces of wood. a hand plane usually does not work well for removing layers of paint or oil finishes.

Scraping- like planing removes material and opens the wood cells exposing the grains patterns and characteristics. while not an easy task, a card scraper can be used to strip and prepare a gun stock to allow the wood to show through oils.

how does anyone else like to prepare?

Prior to sandpaper, craftsmen got the same effect using a damp cloth with some actual sand stuck to it. Other abrasives like jeweler's rouge were also used with a cloth.

Mark

[Captain McCool]

That actually makes a lot of sense. And of course, the logical evolution of that would have been to attach the sand to the cloth semi-permanently.

[Dutchman]

the sand in the wet cloth makes sense- had not heard of or thought of it before.

scraping and planing just leave a more briliant surface to finish. sanding scratches the wood, then just fills the scratches back in with dust and despite cleaning still has a flat look. Planing and scraping remove material which leaves the wood cells open and introduces the cells and detail of the wood. I like that a whole lot more than the sanded appearance. On the other side of the coin, scraping and planing are really easy to goof up and a whole lot harder to hide mistakes.

[Iron Hand]

Just a note.....Ne'er tried it but.....A few years back while visiting Colonial Williamsburg, I visited the cabinet maker's shop and was shocked when all the workers were outside nailing sharkskins to work bench planking. I asked them what they were doing, and out came the sea salt. They were drying sharkskins to use as sandpaper for fine finishing in places they couldn't use scrapers. made sense to me. Sharkskin when dried has a rough surface and kinda bubbly. That same summer I watched an Indian girl scraping a writing box with a broken piece of glass. Like stated earlier, if ya mess up, ya can cause alot of damage by takin' off too much wood. I guess that's why woodworkers back in the day were considered craftsmen....

[MarkG]

the sand in the wet cloth makes sense- had not heard of or thought of it before.

scraping and planing just leave a more briliant surface to finish. sanding scratches the wood, then just fills the scratches back in with dust and despite cleaning still has a flat look. Planing and scraping remove material which leaves the wood cells open and introduces the cells and detail of the wood. I like that a whole lot more than the sanded appearance. On the other side of the coin, scraping and planing are really easy to goof up and a whole lot harder to hide mistakes.

Personally, I prefer using a shallow gouge to smooth the wood when I'm using a nice wood like walnut or oak. I also like sharp edges which is something that sandpaper ruins.

[Dutchman]

hmmmmm, well back to CW i go. Wonder where they got the skins from? I forgot about glass as a scraper. Gramp used to use glass to strip the boat mast. Its nice because you can bevel the edge to what ever shape you need relatively easily. Just be sure to put some tape across the back side so you don't cut yourself.

[captscurvy_nc]

I have some sharkskin. have to try it now as sandpaper. nevr thought of that before...

[Captain McCool]

Now you folks are really making me want to try scraping my pistol stock instead of sanding it. But I'm really afraid I'll goof and end up putting a big ugly gash in the thing... Decisions decisions...

[MarkG]

Now you folks are really making me want to try scraping my pistol stock instead of sanding it. But I'm really afraid I'll goof and end up putting a big ugly gash in the thing... Decisions decisions...

If you are refinishing it then you will need to sand the old finish off or use a commercial stripper.

Once you get it down to bare wood, a spokeshave is good. I use an antique one with a wood handle. It works a lot better than the newer ones with cast iron handles. The blade is at a different angle and the blade is thinner.

You will not put a gouge in wood with a spokeshave but it is possible to cut too deep and pull up a chip. You have to watch the grain (which is tough on a stock).

Mark

[Iron Hand]

hmmmmm, well back to CW i go. Wonder where they got the skins from? I forgot about glass as a scraper. Gramp used to use glass to strip the boat mast. Its nice because you can bevel the edge to what ever shape you need relatively easily. Just be sure to put some tape across the back side so you don't cut yourself.

They told me they war sandsharks from the Chesapeake....