# my adventures with silky oak



## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

I've heard so many woeful tales about the toxicity of silky oak that I was initially reluctant to ever buy a single board. Yet, over the years I've bought at least 200 board feet and never had a problem. Last month when I was finishing up the renovation of the master bath, I framed the doorway and windows with that wood and finished it with polyurethane. Every time I look at the window frames, I smile at that beautiful grain. Even the electrician and plumber remarked at how stunning it looked. So it would naturally follow then that I should consider using my leftovers for my upcoming fair. I had enough for a pair of lamps. The lamps were made of multiple layers of wood and then turned on the lathe. Of course the silky oak was layer one, followed by Cuban mahogany and then Honduran mahogany with a mahogany base and cap. They looked great, but just about the time I decided to give myself a pat on the back, my luck suddenly changed.

I always apply Myland's sanding sealer and friction polish to my lamps. I've made well over 100 lamps and never had a problem. It dries with minutes, but it didn't dry on the silky oak. Not in a few minutes or 24 hours or 48 hours, yikes! (You know how it goes, these hurdles only happen when you have a deadline-right?) I wasn't willing to abandon those lamps.

Here is the series of miscues that followed, until I figured out the problem. I wiped my tacky lamps with naphtha and decided, that maybe a more oil based finish would help. WRONG?


> ?


? The mix was linseed oil, turpentine and polyurethane. After 48 hours, I removed most of that sticky mess with naphtha again. Then I put them back on the lathe and sanded them down to bare wood as much as possible. Next I tried Olympic sanding sealer, which actually dried. At this point, I thought I was in the clear. Just three weeks earlier, I had trimmed out the bathroom with this wood and the polyurethane worked great. So of course, I tried polyurethane over the sanding sealer. It didn't dry agin. Today I decided to treat the silky oak like milo ( a wood so oily that the best finish is just wax). Back to the naphtha and the lathe and once the wood was bare again, I applied a coat of Liberon Black Bison paste wax and it worked! The lamps look fabulous and will go the fair after all that.

There is no moral to this story. I have no explanation to account for what happened. In fact, it will be some time until I tackle silky oak again. Has anyone had a similar finishing nightmare?


----------



## vonhagen (Dec 5, 2011)

i have never heard of silky oak doing that, i just shoot it with sanding sealer and clear lacquer. maybe the naptha did something? i also use conversion varnish without a problem but i have not turned any on a lathe and i think finishing on the lathe is the way to go but not spraying. i did some teak shutters once and used man of war marine varnish and it took over a month to dry. please post some pics of what your working on cathy as i would like to see your work.
blaine


----------



## JohnGray (Oct 6, 2007)

Good story!!! THANKS!!! Looking forward to some pictures!!


----------



## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

Sounds like a nightmare, but, glad you were able to fix it.


----------



## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

Don't Know about"silky oak" but I had an incident sanding red oak in an enclosed space with a garage syle heater. My eyes were burning. My friend whom I was helping didn'thave a reaction. checked out the toxicity factors of wood dust and decided air cleaner for my shop when sanding inside?

As far as finish I have heard Charles Neil say how much he hates BLO because it is extremely slow to dry. He uses more waterbased finishes. Has a DVD on finishing from A to Z. since the VOV's are problematic there has been a reduction of oil based products in USA.

Good luck!


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

The silky oak I've seen is beautiful. All of your work is great Kathy .From your approach on this finishing problem I can tell you have experience over coming finishing problems. I agree with Tom about Charles Neil's A-Z DVDs . Water borne finishes make life so much easier.


----------



## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

Couldn't think of waterbourne..said water based which is inaccurate . LOL! Thanks Jim. Soon I've got to go to work, although not with wood. LOL!


----------



## vonhagen (Dec 5, 2011)

silky oak is also known as Australian lace wood


----------



## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

No help from me Cathy but good to see you back in the shop and online.


----------



## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

Thanks for your support guys. I have never used a water based finish and maybe I should check it out. Honestly I continue to be baffled by what happened. I have another idea of how that disaster unfolded. It might be a red herring, but here goes: A few years ago I bought some no load 320 grit Norton sandpaper. It felt a little waxy and my guess is that it had silicon or some additive to facilitate the sanding. I had used it a few times and didn't feel that it worked as well as my standard cloth backed paper from Klingspor. I should have thrown it away, but there is was last week and I was low on 320 grid. It is possible that the paper left a residue on the wood that prevented the finish from adhering. Both mahogany and silky oak have wide open pores so that the naphtha couldn't remove it all, which prevented the second finish from curing. Remember this wasn't just silky oak, it was also mahogany. Mahogany will take just about any finish. Something else had to be happening to sabotage my effort to finish those lamps. It's just a hunch, but it had to be the paper. What do you think?


----------



## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

Never hear of that before with sand paper.Silky oak is natuarlly oily maybe a problem.I have had good luck with different finishes never heard of that before.


----------



## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

The lamps are beautiful, as is all of your work. I'm pretty sure I know your problem. I thinks it the place where you live. Maybe you should move back to the mainland…...??


----------



## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

Hahaha  that's it! I just talked to my sister on the phone. She lives near Harrisburg, PA. It's sweltering over there. Although it is always humid here, Hawaii is rarely in the 90's. I love the Mainland and might move back there one day. We'll see…....


----------



## vonhagen (Dec 5, 2011)

stay where your at cathy, i would love to be living in kauai. the lamps are a work of art as all your work is. the sandpaper could be a issue looking at it in a microscopic way we dont always see whats really going on until we look at it under high magnification and in stereo and 3d. i use only klingspor paper because i have had finish problems with cheap paper both on our wide belt and dynabrade sanders.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Glad to hear you got your problem solved Cathy. I keep hearing from a lot of different sources that shellac is an ideal sanding sealer and that other finishes can easily be used on top of it. I don't really know if this would have worked in your particular instance though. Ironically, I don't seem able to source shellac here in Norway.


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Great looking lamps, I was wondering if your finish is old or contaminated ? You can do a test to see if it dry's properly on something else.


----------



## Boxguy (Mar 11, 2012)

Cathy, thanks for the added pictures. I always like seeing your beautiful work. The lamp bases are no exception.

A friend gave me a scrap of silky oak and I made a box of it. It was one of the strangest woods I have ever worked with. The finger indent seemed to disappear. It was as if the wood camouflaged the contours…weird.

My hypothesis is that you are on to the cause with the sand paper and that it is a combination of factors brought on by the heat generated by the spinning piece and friction. Flat sanding, shaping and planing may not have generated enough friction heat to get the wax/oil in the wood to move to the surface. This same heat may have brought out the worst in your sand paper.

Naptha needs plenty of ventilation too. Take care.


----------



## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

Big Al, I think you are correct. Who knows what lubricant Norton added to that paper to make it a no-load paper. As you pointed out, by adding heat from the spinning lathe, that compound became imbedded in the pores of my mahogany and silky oak. There was no way any finish, other than wax, would adhere to the surface and dry. Hmm, it was a very interesting experience. Woodworking is always full of surprises and that's one way it keeps you form becoming complacent. Have a great day.
Thank you all for your support and suggestions.


----------



## ArlinEastman (May 22, 2011)

Silky Oak is one of my favorite, however, I have only used it once so no suggestions or help here.

Arlin


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Sorry Cathy, I forgot to say how beautiful and well made I think your lamps are. I have turned and carved a few lamps myself and I am surprised that more woodworkers don't make them as they offer a lot of design latitude and they can be a nice finishing decorative touch to almost any room..


----------



## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

Thanks Stefang. I couldn't agree with you more. I have another pair of lamps that I'll be finishing up today. Lamps are just amazing….......


----------

