Sycamore spoon "stain"- help!

[xavierdoc]

Hi all,

I searched the forum for advice on finishing my first spoon; so after several soak and sand cycles I moved onto fine wire wool.

This gave a lovely finish but the grey "dust" from the wool has impregnated the grain of the wood. I've tried repeated alcohol treatments (and for the spoon ) but it isn't budging.

Any clever ideas or do I have to go back to sandpaper to get this out?

Thanks,



P.S. Love the forum and wish I could have made the bushmoot (family hol in Devon was a great alternative, though!)

 

[Draven]

hmm...
Assuming it's steel wool, a (very) long soak in water would probably rust the bits of steel wool, they'd break apart and wash away with the water, presumably. Just a suggestion, dunno if it'd actually work, you might get a red or red-speckled spoon from the rust. In fact you probably would, so I dunno if that's a good idea. Just a thought
Sanding would probably be best.

 

[lardbloke]

I agree with the the above. Sycamore is a lovely soft wood so will easily incorporate the steel into its own fabric. The best way is to sand it out using a course sand paper and then move onto fine (all good things take time, my first sycamore spoon took me over a year to get it finally finished), boil the spoon in salt water to release any sap contained in the wood and then soak in oil for a couple of days. I suppose wire wool would be more suited to hardwoods, can anyone shed light on this please??

 

[swyn]

Sycamore is very prone to stain, being a white wood, and any strand of wire wool left in it's fibers will show terribly. I would have stayed away from any wire wool use. I would probably use a very fine sandpaper to finish and this may get the wire strands out. I feel that any harsh treatment too early will spoil its colour. Handling and just finger rubbing over time is probably the best way to get a good patina along with some good oil such as walnut or tung or even good old sunflower. You will find that it will settle into a happy middle ground when being used for camp cooking/eating off.
As far as I am concerned wire wool is a no go area in finishing. It's only good use is that of polish removal with the aid of meths on brown furniture! Steel and fine timber are not good bedfellows. I hope that this helps?? Swyn.

 

[xavierdoc]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Ironic (no pun intended) that I only chose to use wire wool after searching the forum!

I've used wool on arizona desert ironwood knife handles which, of course, don't admit atomic particles let alone wire wool dust.

I'll go back to sanding and then try the other suggestions given. The spoon is intended as a christening "gift" for my son so getting a used-patina isn't the goal at the mo. I started the spoon (and a knife) during paternity leave but he won't get the knife for a while yet!

Thanks again, I'll let you see the result!

Xav

 

[Stoker37]

Rather than trying to finish wood products with wire wool try using scotch-brite type pads. They dont leave behind any of that irritating gray dust.

You can get them from good old Axminster! http://www.axminster.co.uk/category-Abrasive-Hand-Pads-553859.htm

From past experience you are going to have to sand out your iron problem.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Try using mares tail stalks. That is the dried stalk of the mare's tail plant. It's very abraisive and was what was used in the early days before sandpaper. It'll smooth the wood without scoring it deeply. A soak in white malt vinegar for a couple of days will disolve the steel wool particles, but might leave a permanent stain.

A solution of one pint of vinegar and a golf ball size piece of steel wool disolved in it over a week or so will produce a solution that will age the apearance of wood (it'll give new wood that grey oxidised look if you want a piece to look as if it has been outdoors for a few years).

For your new sycamore spoon though, I'd go with sandpaper or mare's tail.

Eric

 

[Armleywhite]

I have made several spoons from an old Rowan tree that was taken down. They were my first attempts and I was quite pleased with the outcome. Once I have the shape as right as I want it I then smooth it out with my knife, to a point that the knife becomes too bulky to smooth further. I then use sandpaper to take it to smooth, ie no spells etc.

Once get the item to the "smoth as a babies bum" stage I wash it in soapy water and the heat it gently over the flame and oil with paper towel soaked in Olive oil.

none of them have split and some stunning red veins of colour have come to the surface. I use them all on a regualr basis. I made a kuska, but left it out and forgot all about it, when I went back it had started to split, due to it getting wet in the rain and drying out etc.

Am I doing it wrong if not using all the methods for smothing it out etc? Having asked that, I'm really happy with my efforts so far, so I suppose thats all that matters to me.

 

[Diligence]

...just a crazy thought, but if you have access to a strong magnet - you may be able to pick up some of the dust.....

..and could you use a cabinet scraper instead of sandpaper for the finish? Then no abrasives will get clogged in the wood's pores.

I've ruined several light colored wood scales for folders by using dirty sandpaper, or clogging with buffing compound. I can fully appreciate your "distress"....one of my solutions has been to embrace the "error" and let nature show you the way. Perhaps a handle with slight red rusty spots is just exactly what your bushcraft knife needs?
Or you can try a dark stain to see if you can mask it.

Cheers,
D

 

[Fraxinus]

Wire wool/steel wool will react with tanins present in timber, most commonly the likes of Oak & Ash. This fact is sometimes used as a stain for furniture by mixing vinegar, water and steel/iron in a bucket for several days then using the solution to cause the item to turn black.
So it is best to keep to abrasive papers and scrapers to achieve the desired finish, do use a fresh piece for each project to prevent contamination.
Fraxinus.