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Dfariswheel · December 18, 2006, 02:15 PM

In order:

I've applied the coats with brushes, a paper towel or cloth pad, and even with my fingers smoothing it out with my hand. (Gooey, and messy, but it worked).
I also apply one or two coats in the inletting to seal it, and often 3 or more coats on open grain wood like on the end of the butt and end grain in the inletting. These end grain areas will absorb the finish almost instantly for the first coat or two.
For the first coat, I use a small brush to continue applying finish to these end grain areas while I wait the 5 to 10 minutes for the coat to start getting tacky.
This insures plenty of finish penetrates and seals the end grain areas.

Room temp is normal room temp. I've done it in hot summers in a garage, and in the winter inside a building.
As long as the temp is above 60 degrees or so, it's fine.

For steel wool, I've used #0000 to #One, but I think something in between the two extremes is best. I seem to recall having best results with #00 or #000.
Too fine and it takes a lot of rubbing.
Too coarse and you can scratch the wood, or round off sharp corners.
This time out, I tried some of the synthetic abrasive pads similar to Scotchbrite or the green pot scrubber pads sold in grocery stores.
These did NOT work very well, and even the coarser type took forever to get all the dried finish off, even then leaving some on.
Steel wool just works faster and better.

To clean the steel wool and debris off the wood, I've used a clean paint brush, soft toothbrush, compressed air, and paper towel.
The idea is to get the debris off the surface of the wood, and out of the inletting so as not to contaminate the next coat, and "glue" some steel wool particles into the wood with the finish.
It isn't necessary to get the stock perfectly clean, just clean enough that the exterior surface is cleaned off.
This is usually just a fast blow or quick brush off.

If you hold the wood up to a light, and sight along the surface in the direction of the grain, you'll see the open grain as what looks like tiny scratches in the surface.
The idea is to continue applying coats until you see only a smooth level surface with no open grain.
If you see open grain ANYWHERE, continue applying coats to the entire stock, since there'll usually be some open grain in other places, unnoticed.
As the wood fills up, the open grain becomes more and more apparent.

After steel wooling off the last coat, simply do a better job of cleaning the stock, using the brushes, compressed air or whatever.
Any steel wool left inside the inletting will rust later, and can damage your metal.
I just spend more time than the quicker cleaning I do while applying the finish.

To buff the finish off, I like old linen sheets. These are easy to rip up into pads, and are pretty lint-free.
Since a sheet is large, I use the pads one time and pitch them.

The entire process is not difficult, just time consuming and rather messy, with sticky finish on your hands and loose steel wool particles getting everywhere.
As long as you allow the finish to dry there's not much that can go wrong.
Unlike coating-type finishes like polyurethane, it's not really possible to botch up and ruin the entire job.

December 18, 2006, 02:15 PM	#9
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	In order: I've applied the coats with brushes, a paper towel or cloth pad, and even with my fingers smoothing it out with my hand. (Gooey, and messy, but it worked). I also apply one or two coats in the inletting to seal it, and often 3 or more coats on open grain wood like on the end of the butt and end grain in the inletting. These end grain areas will absorb the finish almost instantly for the first coat or two. For the first coat, I use a small brush to continue applying finish to these end grain areas while I wait the 5 to 10 minutes for the coat to start getting tacky. This insures plenty of finish penetrates and seals the end grain areas. Room temp is normal room temp. I've done it in hot summers in a garage, and in the winter inside a building. As long as the temp is above 60 degrees or so, it's fine. For steel wool, I've used #0000 to #One, but I think something in between the two extremes is best. I seem to recall having best results with #00 or #000. Too fine and it takes a lot of rubbing. Too coarse and you can scratch the wood, or round off sharp corners. This time out, I tried some of the synthetic abrasive pads similar to Scotchbrite or the green pot scrubber pads sold in grocery stores. These did NOT work very well, and even the coarser type took forever to get all the dried finish off, even then leaving some on. Steel wool just works faster and better. To clean the steel wool and debris off the wood, I've used a clean paint brush, soft toothbrush, compressed air, and paper towel. The idea is to get the debris off the surface of the wood, and out of the inletting so as not to contaminate the next coat, and "glue" some steel wool particles into the wood with the finish. It isn't necessary to get the stock perfectly clean, just clean enough that the exterior surface is cleaned off. This is usually just a fast blow or quick brush off. If you hold the wood up to a light, and sight along the surface in the direction of the grain, you'll see the open grain as what looks like tiny scratches in the surface. The idea is to continue applying coats until you see only a smooth level surface with no open grain. If you see open grain ANYWHERE, continue applying coats to the entire stock, since there'll usually be some open grain in other places, unnoticed. As the wood fills up, the open grain becomes more and more apparent. After steel wooling off the last coat, simply do a better job of cleaning the stock, using the brushes, compressed air or whatever. Any steel wool left inside the inletting will rust later, and can damage your metal. I just spend more time than the quicker cleaning I do while applying the finish. To buff the finish off, I like old linen sheets. These are easy to rip up into pads, and are pretty lint-free. Since a sheet is large, I use the pads one time and pitch them. The entire process is not difficult, just time consuming and rather messy, with sticky finish on your hands and loose steel wool particles getting everywhere. As long as you allow the finish to dry there's not much that can go wrong. Unlike coating-type finishes like polyurethane, it's not really possible to botch up and ruin the entire job.