Why Has My Spoon Gone Hairy ??

[IntrepidStu]

Well..they are not REALY hairs but they kind of feel like it. It is a new spoon made from Ash. It had Flax seed iol rubbed into it and was left for about 4 weeks. It was then washed , used a couple of times with aditional washes. Now though the bowl has gone rough again. It feels like a elm leaf.
Anyone know what has gone wrong. This is actualy the first spoon ive made that has been USED, so im expecting that the rest will probably do the same thing.

Stu

 

[SteveW]

Puberty

 

[NatG]

The problem is that when you sanded it , rather than removing the little wood fibres, you just oushed them into the wood, sand it smooth again, then wet with a damp cloth, allow it to dry andthen sand again. Repeat this until when you wetit, the hairs no longer come up.

voila, smooth spoon

 

[DoctorSpoon]

Puberty

It sounds to me like the grain has raised. This often happens if you've been a bit impatient with a sanded finish so you still have scratches left by the coarser grits. The water gets in there and makes it furry. What you need to do is resand more patiently, wetting to raise the grain in between each grit and again before you oil.

What I do is take a bit more time with the hook knife and leave it with a tooled finish. The clean cut straight off the knife doesn't go hairy ... forever youthful!
Nicola

 

[weaver]

Puberty

That is funny!

 

[IntrepidStu]

It sounds to me like the grain has raised. This often happens if you've been a bit impatient with a sanded finish so you still have scratches left by the coarser grits. The water gets in there and makes it furry. What you need to do is resand more patiently, wetting to raise the grain in between each grit and again before you oil.

What I do is take a bit more time with the hook knife and leave it with a tooled finish. The clean cut straight off the knife doesn't go hairy ... forever youthful!
Nicola

It was as smooth as the proverbial babies..
Is it possible that I wouldnt have noticed the scratches??

Oh..thanxs guys for the other responces (even the funnies: I cant beleive I didnt see that one coming)

 

[headrox_inc]

as anything else gone harry, never heard of a harry spoon before if you can save the recently decovered hair can you send it me so i can put it on my head lol

The Survivalists

 

[IntrepidStu]

as anything else gone harry, never heard of a harry spoon before if you can save the recently decovered hair can you send it me so i can put it on my head lol

The Survivalists

Who is Harry???

 

[headrox_inc]

Ha I just cant spell thats all hairy, and I type very fast *looks shifty* oftern making honest mistakes

Laters

 

[DoctorSpoon]

It was as smooth as the proverbial babies..
Is it possible that I wouldnt have noticed the scratches??

Yes, easily. We're talking tiny scratches which wouldn't easily be visible, particularly if your wood has a strong grain pattern. I used to hate sanding, that's why I learned to do a tooled finish!

 

[brancho]

I would suggest different wood as Ash is a bit course grained for an eating spoon hawthorn is very good as is sycamore and birch is OK IMO.

 

[robin wood]

How did you sand the spoon? What grit paper? Did you work down through the grits ie starting say at 120 then 180 then 240 etc?

A sanded finish always feels best just after you finish with the paper, wet it then dry it and it will straight away raise the grain. If you were happy with the dry finish you had first time round you should be able to get back to that, then wet it, dry it and then give a final very light sand with your final grit. Then oil it which will raise the grain a little again so whilst it is still covered in oil sand it gently with your final grit paper lubricated by oil. Wipe off and it should be fine to use.

 

[IntrepidStu]

How did you sand the spoon? What grit paper? Did you work down through the grits ie starting say at 120 then 180 then 240 etc?

A sanded finish always feels best just after you finish with the paper, wet it then dry it and it will straight away raise the grain. If you were happy with the dry finish you had first time round you should be able to get back to that, then wet it, dry it and then give a final very light sand with your final grit. Then oil it which will raise the grain a little again so whilst it is still covered in oil sand it gently with your final grit paper lubricated by oil. Wipe off and it should be fine to use.

Course / Medium / then Fine.
I do actualy have some wet and dry 240, 400, 600, and 1500 paper that I use for my knives but when I used it, It left dark marks on the spoons (from the dark material of the paper).

 

[hiraeth]

For finishing work to gunstocks i have used Rustins 0000 wirewool after sanding, should think it would work with spoons.

 

[Squidders]

After a bit of spooning, I will immerse the spoon in some boiling water for a minute, this will bring the grain up again. Then sand it some more, then repeat until the grain doesn't come up.

Once that's done, give it some oil (I cheat by sticking it in the chip fryer for 3 seconds (don't overcook it!)) and then it's done.

Spoon puberty is normal but easily avoided.