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swirt
282 posts
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7 followers
in over 10 years
in over 10 years
More from swirt
Burned wood shelf with solar powered finish
Probably one of my simpler projects. My son wanted a low shelf underneath his MalletKat (electronic marimba/percussion). He wanted it black to match his desk that it sits next to.
So we grabbed a piece of live edge Cypress and burned it with the torch. Then we brushed it all off with a blue plastic brush chucked in the drill. After all the brushing, the wood looks light brown, several shades lighter than Black Walnut. However when you hit it with finish, it turns black.
In this case the finish was pure Tung Oil. I love the luster on this and that you can see all the texture left by the fire interacting with the wood. (early and late wood erode at different rates)
The surprising thing is that I did this with 5 coats of Tung oil in 7 days. Which is WAAYYYY too fast for Tung oil... under ordinary circumstances. Normally I don't recommend putting tung oil on with less than three days between coats, and even three days is pushing it. The difference is that each coat was VERY thin and cured in the sunshine each day (which is abundant in Florida). UV cures Tung Oil at least 10Xs faster, but things go horribly wrong if you put it on too thick. You get white splotches and wrinkles (which are also abundant in Florida). This is my process for how to do 5 coats of Tung oil in 7 days.
Disclaimer: For anyone in states that don't get daily sunshine, your numbers may vary. ;)
Video of the sheen (not a great video admittedly)
For reference, this board was flat off the plane. I had planed it so it had no texture. The texture only emerged from the fire.
So we grabbed a piece of live edge Cypress and burned it with the torch. Then we brushed it all off with a blue plastic brush chucked in the drill. After all the brushing, the wood looks light brown, several shades lighter than Black Walnut. However when you hit it with finish, it turns black.
In this case the finish was pure Tung Oil. I love the luster on this and that you can see all the texture left by the fire interacting with the wood. (early and late wood erode at different rates)
The surprising thing is that I did this with 5 coats of Tung oil in 7 days. Which is WAAYYYY too fast for Tung oil... under ordinary circumstances. Normally I don't recommend putting tung oil on with less than three days between coats, and even three days is pushing it. The difference is that each coat was VERY thin and cured in the sunshine each day (which is abundant in Florida). UV cures Tung Oil at least 10Xs faster, but things go horribly wrong if you put it on too thick. You get white splotches and wrinkles (which are also abundant in Florida). This is my process for how to do 5 coats of Tung oil in 7 days.
Disclaimer: For anyone in states that don't get daily sunshine, your numbers may vary. ;)
Video of the sheen (not a great video admittedly)
For reference, this board was flat off the plane. I had planed it so it had no texture. The texture only emerged from the fire.
13 Comments
That is cool Swirt, I like the finish on it, and the texture is great. Would make a nice shelf for a natural setting on some carvings.
Main Street to the Mountains
yeah thats a real cool effect.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Very nice!
@eric thanks. I agree that the shelf would look great as a decorative thing. Unfortunately he is going to cover it with a bunch of musical stuff and you won't even be able to see it, but I will know it is there 😀
@pottz and @buck, thank you.
@pottz and @buck, thank you.
I have quite a few of my Dad's carvings, decorative decoys, and need a shelf system in the living room. I saw a while back where someone took wire and made a tree on the wall with rustic shelves on some of the branches. That live edge shelf would fit in the decor nicely.
Main Street to the Mountains
Thanks for the write up. Informative. The shelf is pretty good also.
Ron
That looks really good!
@987Ron Thank you.
@Eric That sounds pretty cool. I don't think I have seen wire tree shelves, but I have seen the ones people make where there are branches holding them up so it looks like a tree.
@Eric That sounds pretty cool. I don't think I have seen wire tree shelves, but I have seen the ones people make where there are branches holding them up so it looks like a tree.
Wish I could find it again, the better half found it. It was like an aluminum wire that was twisted altogether, and the branches were twisted off the main trunk. (Basically, wire art) Something like that would take a big roll of wire to cover a large wall.
Main Street to the Mountains
Nicely done!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Thanks @Steve Rasmussen and @RyanGi
Sharp idea, and it came out real nice. Good job. Mike
Thanks mel52
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