I found this great little site

Buttonhole McGee wrote:
snip of ON Topic past
> Paul Radovanic

Thanks for the memories
Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.Patinatools.org/

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:22:43 +0000, a halfwit wrote something.

But on Tue, 7 Dec 1999, Paul T. Radovanic wrote:

Aslam Hassan <> wrote:
>Today I applied the Tried & True Varnish (from Jeff Jewitt) on my
> Maple/Walnut/!/4-sawn Sycamore panel. The Varnish went on smooth on
>the
> Walnut and Maple. However, it seemed to be soaking in quite a bit into
>the Sycamore. Indeed, in areas of the Sycamore with very pronounced
>grain patterns, the varnish soaked in quite a bit. Several hours after
>the wipe off, those areas still appear darker. Will it stay that
> way...or will it even out as the finish dries? If it does, how can I
>fix it? Of course temperature in my garage is hardly 70 degrees at this
>time of the year. I am hoping this doesn't turn into a "blotchy"
>finish. Would applying a 1# cut of dewaxed super blonde shellac prior
>to the Oil Varnish have prevented the blotchiness? Or will shellac
>prevent the oil-based varnish from properly penetrating like it should?
>Any ideas...Russ, Jeff, jim, Michael, Gerry, Paul, anyone else?

In general terms, I always apply a sealer coat before varnishing.
With standard varnishes, I usually use a 1:1 varnish/mineral spirits
mix. But for spongy woods like your sycamore, I would definitely
apply a washcoat of shellac. Use about a half-pound cut. Flood it on
the wood with a sponge or squeeze bottle, then immediately wipe it dry
with a clean cloth. I use this on things like turnings -- they have a
lot of different grains exposed at once; end grain, edge grain, face
grain. The shellac washcoat seals them all exactly the same, so
subsequent coats of any finish build evenly. So I would think that
your panel of three different woods would benefit from the same
treatment. After the shellac dries (less than 15minutes), scuff-sand
lightly, clean off the dust, and apply the varnish. But I emphasize
that I am not familiar with the T&T stuff, so I'll defer to Jeff on
that.

I think the sycamore will stay dark -- I don't expect it to lighten.
If this dark color is unacceptable to you, I don't think you can
lighten it by sanding or stripping. You mentioned the wild-grain
areas -- these areas probably had the oil soak in pretty deep, like
1/8" or more. I would think that the best solution at this point is
to apply more coats of the varnish until you get a more even color. I
think it would be maddening to try to color each wood differently.

You could also switch to a shellac finish at this point. If you can
describe the panel, and where it will fit into the project, someone
here might have some other ideas.

I should also point out here that you should always experiment on
scrap first when trying a new finish, or trying an old finish on a new
wood.

Remember, if you don't experiment on scrap, you *will* experiment on
your project! ;o)

Don't feel too bad. I've done it more times than I care to admit.
Thing is, no one else will complain about that dark sycamore. Only
you will notice it. So, my advice is to chalk it up to experience and
move on.

BTW, speaking of the panel. If you glued up three boards to make the
panel, I would be concerned about wood-movement. Quartersawn wood
expands in the thickness dimension; plain-sawn wood expands in the
width dimension. Just a thought.

Well, I hope that helps a little. Keep your sense of humor. Next
time you have to finish some wild-grained sycamore, you'll smile to
yourself. ;o)

Paul Radovanic