hi guys,
i just bought a 2 wood to complete my set of 945W Super EOM’s. its in good condition but looks a bit tired so i was thinking of giving it a spruce up. as im not a woodworking geek, could someone suggest the type and colour of stain i should use on the head?
You should probably go for a similar colour or a slightly darker shade, it’s often not possible to go for a lighter shade cause sometimes you can’t remove all the old stain from the wood. You can apply a wood bleach to try to remove the old stain, but it doesn’t always work.
i want to do my best to preserve the beatiful grain my heads have so i found a fully transparent timber stain, however its intended for interior use. i asume this would mean it is more likely to fade when exposed to sunlight. As such, would multiple coats of UV stabilised polyurethane protect against fading?
also, Dave Woods’ instructional piece on restoring persimmon heads says that one should apply grain filler after staining to fill all the pores. would this not effect the colour?
You will find that wood filler (oil based) will darken the stain so test on the neck area first.
so i would be completing the sanding and staining then applying the grain filler?
a product like this http://www.wattyl.com.au/en/find-the-right-product/wood-care/Interior/FurnitureBuiltinFurniture/Stains/WattylCraftsmanGrainFiller.html
the product description states that it should go under the stain not over
spoke to a mate last night who is a keen wood worker and he suggested that i sand with 200 grit paper, then apply 2 coats of tung oil (letting it soak then wipe off after 10min) then flood with oil and sand. this will provide a super smooth surface with beautiful grain acentuation. i then am to apply 3 more coats and thats it. i will end up with a beautifully grained, weatherproof, silky smooth head.
although the satin smooth look sounds great, my concern with this is the lack of mechanical protection for the face.
thoughts?
Many Ace Hardware stores sell a half can of paste filler (or full). For years I have used water based stain first then filler. Oil based stains will also work. You need to wipe the filler off fairly quickly or it dries too hard and is very difficult to get off. Make sure you buff the head well using a soft cloth to remove residual filler. Recommend you let it sit 24 hours or more before applying finish so that the solvents can aerate off - buff again. The filler smooths out the finish and you will not get an orange peel look. Many modern polys will tarnish a brass soleplate after a while so consider a coat of spray lacquer on brass.
ok so its underway. ive decided to go with a tung oil coating rather than poly and will be staining them mahogany.
how i bought them: they had been refurbished previously. the stain was a mid brown, the poly had yellowed, the paintfills were not sharp.
Post sanding: i did strugle to get all the stain off the 4w so its a little darker than the others and as the previous refurb was done without the removal of the whipping, the nexks came up much whiter and the sweep between the neck and crown had far more saturation of stain as that must have been where the previous owner started each stroke.
after 1st coat of tung oil: this layer should ensure an even absorption of the stain, which come next. the oil realy excetuated the grain
stain layer: i decided to tint the oil rather than apply a neat layer of stain. i chose mahogany. it came up nice and red but had a problem with the 4w as i left it till last so i can take some photos of before and after and forgot to re stir the pot before applying. this meant that ive ended up with a slightly less red hue to the finish. i think im going to leave it as i fear than any recoat would make it much darker than the others. oh well.
Sorry I had photo embedment issues. I will try again
Things are developing quite well. I’m surprised and happy how a patina is developing after each coat of tung oil. This is after the 4th layers was rubbed back. Now that the oil is creating a hard ended coat I will again try the paint fills. Previously the lack of coat meant that the timber was sucking up the paint.
Those look nice. One issue I think you will find is that over time you will need to reapply and rub in coats of oil periodically. I really love a nice piece of wood with a rubbed finish. It feels like satin.
im aware of the “extra” maintenance with the oil finish but the look is so much nicer than poly.
my 3w had its final paintfilling last night so now its time for one more burnishing layer then its done!