# Finishing Curly Oak - Keeping the Grain?



## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Im working on a little project for a friend and im using some very nice curly red oak. Id like to keep the grain of the oak showing as well as show off the curl. My finishing skills are limited and curly oak is a new wood to me. Learn me …..

Heres a pic of what im working with.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Check this out:
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/69163










That's watco natural Danish oil, about 5 coats. I put on the first 2 per the instructions. The last 2 or 3 I applied with 1000 grit wet/dry paper. This filled the pours a bit making it glass smooth. I followed it up with some renaissance wax applied with steel wool then buffed out with lambswool. NO Poly of any kind. I wish I still had the scrap I tried poly on. In the pic you can see it looks really wavy and almost 3D. The ploy took all of that away.

Here is what it looked like sanded to 150:









I found the more I sanded, the more it showed me. I worked from 60 all the way to 220. I've found anything more than 220 before applying finish really messes up the absorption of finishes. If I was doing only poly which dries on top, I may go to 320


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

dead nuts exactly what i was lookin for! thanks joe. You got some killer looking oak there.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

You can also try some wax and turpentine mix. Then oil. Mix some wax and turpentine and apply it with steel wool. Then add oil (danish, tung or blo)


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

You will probably get a lot of suggestions from people much more skilled than I am, but the finish on that box came out amazing. Not "amazing for me", plain old amazing. My wife is not at all into natural finishes and even she said it was the nicest piece of wood she has ever seen.

Experiment on some scraps if you have any.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Also Chris, I am headed up again on Saturday, but Oleksak lumber in westfield has about 200 BF of this stuff. 3.50/bf S2S


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Don - beeswax? I could probably get it local if thats the case. Ive got a nice 6/4 piece about 4" x 6' left. Ive caught some of your totes finished like that, its a great lookin finish. Im gonna gives yours a shot down the road when ive got a little more time to play with the recipe. Whats the ratio of wax to turpentine? Or is it like my mothers recipes … A little bit a dis a lil bit a dat.

Joe - ive used this Method on oak before with good results but wasnt very confident in my judgement but youve firmed it up. Id love to go lumber shoppin but i gotta tighten up the ship a little. Theres a babystef due in 4 weeks!


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

beeswax or paraffin Chris. I'm not sure of the ratio. You want it to sit (best in a glass jar in the sun) and mix it to a constancy you like. I have to keep adding turpentine because I forget to close the jar a lot.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Thanks Don ill scoop up the ingredients and play around with the mixture a bit until i find something i like.


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