At the urging of my girlfriend, I fumed a small scrap of QSWO and then went over it with amber shellac and dark brown wax, buffing it out with 0000 steel wool. It’s pretty magnificent. As a result, I decided to give my Limbert table an “authentic” Stickley finish.
While waiting for the glue to cook, I fashioned what can only be described as an impromptu fuming tent. Even one of my neighbors came over to see what monstrosity I was building, as they’re usually pretty aesthetically pleasing. I told her about ammonia fuming, but not that it’s practically chemical warfare on the neighborhood. I believe strongly in the concept that it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Anyway, here’s where I’m at on Labor Day, 2009:
This is the first piece I’ve ever made that I took ultra-seriously. I took the time to sand every part, sand the orbital swirl marks out, and fix all the boo-boos I made (i.e. bandsaw marks, chipout, etc.). Thanks Marc!
A couple of lessons I’ve learned: make sure your template is perfect. It’s much easier to fix the template than each piece you made with it. It wasn’t until I read Jewitt’s finishing article that I even noticed the swirl marks from the orbital sander. They’re a lot harder to get rid of than I expected.
BTW, I didn’t have enough band clamps to do the whole assembly, so I used an old boat-building trick. I just glued the part I could clamp, then when that’s cured, I glue another section. If the parts don’t quite meet, run a flush-cut saw in between them and it will make the parts meet flush by shaving an equal amount from each side. If you’ve watched Norm build the Clancy dinghy, you know what I’m talking about.
-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails
11 comments so far
Todd A. Clippinger
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5645 posts in 994 days
posted 78 days ago
I can’t wait to see the finished project. It looks absolutely great so far!
-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com
gagewestern
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143 posts in 245 days
posted 78 days ago
very nice is the top round brian
-- gagewestern
CaptainSkully
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482 posts in 453 days
posted 78 days ago
Wow Todd, coming from you, that’s a pretty serious compliment.
Brian, the top is a 20” x 20” square with a 3-4” radius on all the corners (I used a paint can). It softens the look, but gives more surface area than a round top. Remember, I’m using this as a sideboard until the sideboard is done. I’ve seen TreeFrog's Limbert Fern Stand with a round top, and I like the more masculine square top. Of course, he made it for a woman, so it’s all good.
-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails
Scarcraig01
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72 posts in 89 days
posted 78 days ago
Great post, looking forward to seeing that authentic fumed finish, pretty cool.
-- Craig, Springfield Ohio
Mike Gager
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225 posts in 162 days
posted 77 days ago
urging of your girlfriend? come on guy! lets see the results!
oh btw i did some testing of ammonia fuming the other day, regular grocery store ammonia works you just got to leave it in longer. i left the piece in for like 72 hours and it was almost black
also i lightly sanded the surfaces after it was fumed and it really made the rays pop. just something to consider
CaptainSkully
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482 posts in 453 days
posted 77 days ago
Oh, post a pic of the fumed sample. Duh. Here it is.
This is the raw quartersawn white oak after fuming for approximately 21 hours. Nice and dark. I put was on the right edge for comparison. You can see the ghost of a painter’s pyramid in the fuming.
Here’s several coats of thin amber shellac. I put wax on the right half. Pretty nice, huh?
-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails
Vincent Nocito
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152 posts in 259 days
posted 77 days ago
Very nice. Can’t wait to see the finished piece. Did you use 28% ammonia (blue print grade)?
CaptainSkully
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482 posts in 453 days
posted 77 days ago
Yeah, I think mine’s 29%. I got it at a chemical warehouse for a lot more than a blueprint shop. It’s wicked stuff. I wear rubber gloves, goggles and a chemical respirator when I use it. It’s very harsh on any membrane (i.e. eyes, nose, throat, etc.).
-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails
Mike Gager
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225 posts in 162 days
posted 77 days ago
nice job!
Scarcraig01
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72 posts in 89 days
posted 77 days ago
That’s exactly the look I was after on my white oak barristers, but yours looks much, much, better! I tried some formula from FWW that used amber dye, followed by shellac, a Minwax stain, and then a regular topcoat. It was supposed to mimic what you did…..it didn’t…oh well! That looks terrific, nice work.
-- Craig, Springfield Ohio
CaptainSkully
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482 posts in 453 days
posted 77 days ago
Thanks. I’ve got a Forum thread going about Stickley finishes. I’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to concoct a recipe. With the convoluted way this table goes together, I didn’t want to have to prefinish it, then assemble it. This way, I was able to assemble it, sand out all of the clamp marks, and then fume the whole thing at once. I know it’ll be fun applying the shellac, but if I don’t thin it too much, I should have enough working time to do an entire face with a wet edge. For some reason, the ammonia isn’t nearly as noxious as I remember it being when I fumed the red oak tabouret tables. I tried Valspar’s dark fumed oak aniline dye in distilled water and didn’t get quite the look I was going for. I guess there’s no substitute for the real thing.
-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails