Stains, Sealers, Finishes, etc.

77220 Views 46 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Rodney, Sep 14, 2016

CAS14

Discussion Starter · Mar 22, 2013

For sticks, so far I have used just natural (no-stain) sealers. I've been using three or four applications of WATCO Danish Oil and after days of drying, waxing with high-quality wax. As with all wood finishing projects there are numerous options. I'd like to consider new options.

For me, important issues include resistance to moisture and scratching, and the ability to touch it up when scratched without a complete sand and refinish job.

So, how about a discussion about:

Stains
Sealers
Finishes: oils, lacquers, varnishes, shellacs, blends
Waxes
Compatibilities

???

I just read some interesting articles about tung oils, apparently there is linseed oil sold as tung oil, and all sorts of mixtures that include tung oil. Then I read some articles (some conflicting) regarding WATCO Danish Oil.

21 - 40 of 47 Posts

CAS14

Discussion Starter · #21 · Jan 29, 2014

Back when I was just 61 & 62, I spent the better part of two winters supervising drilling operations east of Bismarck. That was COLD.

I didn't want to use the porta potty for fear that I'd freeze to it and suffer the humiliation of screaming for the crew to pry me out.

Pheasants - they were abundant.

Farmers - they were as nice as those in Oklahoma.

You have my respect Fordj.

BTW, our drilling crew was from Havre. I didn't know that Montanans and NorDakers didn't get along until our driller was bragging about how many bouncers it took to throw them out of a Bismarck bar. Apparently a local told them to pipe down. They responded "we are from Montana, and this is what we do." And then it started.

Fordj

· #22 · Jan 29, 2014

There does seem to be a local rivalry here among the native born. I'm an import to the state (23 years, so far), so don't really take part in it. Now with all the Bakken activity, there are people from everywhere here, now. I think that has diminished the rivalry a little. I work in Dickinson, only about 60 miles from the Montana border, so there a lot of former Montanans there.

Lots of pheasant, both whitetail and mule deer, wild turkey, ducks and geese, fox, coyote, all kinds of wildlife here. I watched a red fox successfully cross I 94 on the west side of the Missouri river yesterday. I was cheering it on!

North Dakotans are very freindly, and will talk your ears off, if you let them!

Reactions: 1

Ole Man Dan

· #23 · Feb 3, 2014

I've made Hikeing Staffs for many years.

I was advised yrs. ago to dry my material about a year.

Shape it and put it in a PVC tube of Transmission Fluid for several months,

then I put em between 2 long pieces of Aluminum 'L', and let em dry another 6 mos.

A couple of radiator clamps hold the angles to the staff for good straight staffs.

The staffs are stained, and strong. I finished mine off with a matt finish of Polyurethane spray.

I've used some of mine on the A.T., and hiking in Yellowstone, beats the metal staffs hands down

for looks, and probably for strength. My staffs are heavier than the store bought kind, but I'm a big guy,

and never seemed to mind.

Anybody tried anything like this?

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Reactions: 1

Paul2281

· #24 · Feb 3, 2014

Ole Man Dan said:
I've made Hikeing Staffs for many years.

I was advised yrs. ago to dry my material about a year.

Shape it and put it in a PVC tube of Transmission Fluid for several months,

then I put em between 2 long pieces of Aluminum 'L', and let em dry another 6 mos.

A couple of radiator clamps hold the angles to the staff for good straight staffs.

The staffs are stained, and strong. I finished mine off with a matt finish of Polyurethane spray.

I've used some of mine on the A.T., and hiking in Yellowstone, beats the metal staffs hands down

for looks, and probably for strength. My staffs are heavier than the store bought kind, but I'm a big guy,

and never seemed to mind.

Anybody tried anything like this?

Never tried using trans. fluid...I bet it puts a nice color in the wood after it soaks in....I`ll have to try that out....

Thanks for the info...

CAS14

Discussion Starter · #25 · Feb 3, 2014

Shape it and put it in a PVC tube of Transmission Fluid for several months,

A lot cheaper than Pentacryl, if it works as well.

gdenby

· #26 · Feb 3, 2014

Ole Man Dan said:
I've made Hikeing Staffs for many years.

I was advised yrs. ago to dry my material about a year.

Shape it and put it in a PVC tube of Transmission Fluid for several months,

then I put em between 2 long pieces of Aluminum 'L', and let em dry another 6 mos.

A couple of radiator clamps hold the angles to the staff for good straight staffs.

The staffs are stained, and strong. I finished mine off with a matt finish of Polyurethane spray.

I've used some of mine on the A.T., and hiking in Yellowstone, beats the metal staffs hands down

for looks, and probably for strength. My staffs are heavier than the store bought kind, but I'm a big guy,

and never seemed to mind.

Anybody tried anything like this?

No, but I am very interested in the method. I have been considering how to straighten some of the sticks I have by using some sort of heat source, and then clamps of vices to unbend the wood. Seems like the method you use does not require much in the way of equipment, and only some time.

In my opinion, real wood always looks better than metal. One of the things I have noticed is that certain hard woods such as hickory, oak and hornbeam are strong enough that they are very sturdy even when thin enough that their weight/volume ratio is comparable to mass produced metal sticks.

cobalt

· #27 · Feb 3, 2014

Steaming the sticks is the quickest way to straighten a stick just steam them for about 20mins place them in a workmate tighten it up leave till cool they will be straight. for a small kink use a hot air gun be careful not to scorch the shank.

Has any tried those steam cleaners you get for cleaning things with, supposed to be the bees knees? havnt tried it myself but it would heat up the stick without scoching it i think? After all a ship builder steams his planks when making a wooden boat. Going to try it when the wifes not around so i can pinch it and see what happens, I think i will place them in a bit of plastic tube shove the steam nozel in and give it a good steam? hopefully it will work

Have to agree with you regarding woooden pole much better looking even if theres no carving on it ,bit i dont think i would be able to stop myself from putting something on it

.

cobalt

· #28 · Feb 3, 2014

Looking into the possibility of useing drawing ink on some sticks to keep the grain showing , suppose i will have to seal it 1st but should give me colour without the ink bleeding into different colours.

Anyone tried it if so how succesful was it? suppose the colour of the wood will effect the ink colour? need some test peices

gdenby

· #29 · Feb 4, 2014

cobalt said:
Looking into the possibility of useing drawing ink on some sticks to keep the grain showing , suppose i will have to seal it 1st but should give me colour without the ink bleeding into different colours.

Anyone tried it if so how succesful was it? suppose the colour of the wood will effect the ink colour? need some test peices

I've used India ink on wood. It doesn't fade, and the binder/glue in it keeps it from spreading much into the grain. Do not know if it would adhere to a sealed surface.

I did lots of brush and technical pen drawings using colored inks, mostly Pelican brand, but some Higgins. My vague recollection is that neither are water proof. Some were lightfast. My even vaguer recollection is that the Pelican were at that time more transparent than the Higgins.

Currently, I've been brushing on TransTint wood dyes diluted w. alcohol. They can be mixed, and diluted so that one can achieve some color subtlety, and can just tone the grain. I've never painted with an alcohol based color, and so have trouble getting the right density of tint.

Not all woods accept the dyes as well as I would like.

Reactions: 1

Paul2281

· #30 · Feb 4, 2014

I don`t worry too much about straightening a stick as long as boths ends are pretty close to lining up,but I DO worry about checking/cracking during the aging process....A stick can turn out to be junk if it doesn`t do the right thing....

cobalt

· #31 · Feb 5, 2014

English stickmaking would consider it sloppy work if the shank wasnt straight, its just a different attitude ,we dont remove the bark from shanks its to nice to look at and offers good protection once its oiled

And your right if the shanks not seasoned correctly its no good.

The type of stickmakers here takes a different view and more ofern than not people stick with what they know so i try to keep a open mind

Reactions: 1

CAS14

Discussion Starter · #32 · Feb 5, 2014

I had a 1st grade teacher who allowed me to color outside the lines. I've done okay coloring outside the lines ever since.

Straight sticks aren't appealing to me, guess I'm weird. But I do like the bark on idea, as well as partly bark on. I'm still a novice, but it seems that different trees, different wood strengths, and different barks, offer different potential beauty with the possible treatments.

Paul2281

· #33 · Feb 5, 2014

CAS said:
I had a 1st grade teacher who allowed me to color outside the lines. I've done okay coloring outside the lines ever since.

Straight sticks aren't appealing to me, guess I'm weird. But I do like the bark on idea, as well as partly bark on. I'm still a novice, but it seems that different trees, different wood strengths, and different barks, offer different potential beauty with the possible treatments.

As you can see in my profile picture,I find a lot of crocked sticks...And I find most people like the uniquness of the crocked walking sticks....

Reactions: 1

alador

· #34 · Feb 5, 2014

I can't speak much to the oil finish and such but I may have mentioned before the leather dyes I've been using of late. I like to take a shaft with fairly rough bark and use black dye on it, then several coats of sanding sealer. After this dries I sand off the roughest part of the bark so that the shaft is fairly smooth but the deepest lines remain, then finish the entire stick again. Just something I've been experimenting with, thought it might spur some ideas. I also built a steamer out of a piece of 5 inch duct pipe and a wall paper steamer. I haven't used it extensively yet, but it seems to work pretty well. Pipe needs a thick layer of insulation to hold in heat though.

Reactions: 2

gdenby

· #35 · Feb 5, 2014

alador said:
I can't speak much to the oil finish and such but I may have mentioned before the leather dyes I've been using of late. I like to take a shaft with fairly rough bark and use black dye on it, then several coats of sanding sealer. After this dries I sand off the roughest part of the bark so that the shaft is fairly smooth but the deepest lines remain, then finish the entire stick again. Just something I've been experimenting with, thought it might spur some ideas. I also built a steamer out of a piece of 5 inch duct pipe and a wall paper steamer. I haven't used it extensively yet, but it seems to work pretty well. Pipe needs a thick layer of insulation to hold in heat though.

Cool. What are the leather dyes? are there a range of tones?

Reactions: 1

cobalt

· #36 · Feb 5, 2014

this is a nice idea. and worth looking into although does raise some questions which you may know the answer to?

I suppose you need a coarse bark finish on the shank for it to be effective?

Does this work well on seasoned wood only<

Would the natural oil in woods prevent this from working on some types of wood?

Take it leather dyes have a better quality pigment than say cloth dyes?

Also have you tried any other colour apart from black?

I suppose the natural colour of wood effects other colours and wouls require consideration as to the choice of wood used?

I think this one is different and worth following up with some test peices nice one thanks

below is some shanks i am using

the bottom 5 are hazel,these have a wide range of colours form a pink yclour to a dark brown,some have a pinky snake type finish on them..The bark is very smooth and looks good when oiled or varnished .allthough oils protect the wood better in many ways as vanish chips.Its a simple job just to wipe the shank with iol once or twice a year to keep them in good order

the next one no 6. is chestnut anice rich looking bark very smooth always looks good when oiled

the next one is ash common rather grey a nd dull looking but a good workhorse for general use

top two are hawthorn .just 1 year old coase grain moss need taking of think this would be suitable to try staining ?

Brown Wood Rectangle Grey Pattern

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Reactions: 1

cobalt

· #37 · Feb 5, 2014

The idea of steaming the sticks with a pipe is something i wish to follow up also any pics?do you nee to put drain holes into the pipe I suppose you would need a lot of steam over a period of time for it to work? yes insulation can see that being a problem?

Have you tried using a paint stripper to straighten small kinks in sticks? its very effective

alador

· #38 · Feb 6, 2014

The brand of dyes I have used is Fiebing's. They are not expensive considering how little it takes to color a large area and they are available in a veritable rainbow of colors and of course you can mix them. I am new to these since I just started using them last fall but from what I have done they seem to penetrate well and color evenly. I also experimented with overlaying colors to get a different look. That seems to work as well and so adds another interesting level. I will try to add some pics later (my unheated shop is closed down for the winter) As for the pipe steamer, you do need a drain for condensation. I just mounted mine on a board so it was raised at one end and put a small hole in the bottom. Inside I made what looks like a small wooden ladder lying on its side to rest the sticks on so they are in the middle of the steamer. The only problem with the steamer is the tank only holds a gallon of water, plan to augment that later.

Reactions: 1

gdenby

· #39 · Feb 6, 2014

Thanks for the tip on the leather dyes. They are considerably less expensive than the wood dyes I've been using. I'll have to mail order some. If they work well, the shipping will be offset by the base cost.

I see Fiebing's has various product lines. Which are you using?

Reactions: 1

alador

· #40 · Feb 6, 2014

What I'm using is the leather dye 4 fl. oz that comes in a black and yellow package.

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