Walnut, slate over glass

[msmith]

A couple of pots in walnut.

Had a little trouble with the finish. I'm not real pleased, but the recipients like them.

[Frogman]

Nice Mike!!

[Bills Custom Calls]

Without holding it in my hand I would have to say they are lookin good man 

[duckslayer]

great looking calls, they look great and I bet they sound just as good.

[HaMeR]

I like the way you dished out the bottom.

What was your problem with the finish? It's just walnut. 

[Jimmie in Ky]

It looks like the end grain pores sucked the finish up a bit if that is what he's talking about. I have a lot of trouble filling end grain myself. Any sugestions? Jimmie

[alscalls]

Wow Mike Great job!!!!!

[iahntr]

Look good! 

[Hidehunter]

Looks REAL nice 

[HaMeR]

Jimmie-- This may be hard to do on round items like the slate call above but it does work on flat wood projects with end grain. I'll include some pics that if I did a good job taking them will show end grain blending nicely into the flat face grain.

1st-- I wiped the end grain down with denatured alcohol. This raises the end grain fibers somewhat & cleans any loose dust off that will absorb more stain.

2nd-- I sanded with worn 220 grit to burnish the end grain fibers. Then wipe down with a tack cloth.

3rd-- I taped off the areas along the edges on the face grain. You don't want anything getting on the flat surfaces.

4th-- I applied a sanding sealer ONLY to the end grain areas. The Oak I was using took two coats of sealer before the stain went on. I made a scrap piece for testing to establish this.

5th-- I just let it dry overnight & stained as I normally would with an old worn out cotton t-shirt & removing the excess after a few minutes & working the stain for an even look. Then apply 2-4 coats of poly depending on it's intended use.

There is another method using carpenters glue & water mixed that works extremely well too. I can't seem to find that recipe but I do know it does work. If I come across it I'll post it up.

This is from a Bible stand I made for Diane's (Great?)Grandmother's Bible that is over 100years old.

Here is a pic of the base from the end grain.


And another pic.

[msmith]

Hey HaMeR, nice looking stand! And thanks for the info regarding end grain. It looks good on the stand you made.

End grain wasn't a problem on the calls. What bothered me most is; the one on the left ended up with a small bubble that I didn't notice until I got the slate glued in. I could still repair it, but it is hardly noticeable, so I left it. The one on the right ended up with some high spots in the finish due to the method I was using to apply. I applied spar varnish with my finger with the lathe spinning on low speed. This worked well, but left a slight high spot at the trailing edge of each hole. They were easily sanded out and I then applied the spar while spinning the lathe by hand. This worked well, but in the right light, you can see some spider web like lines where I THOUGHT I got all of the sanding marks polished out. Like I said, it has to be in the RIGHT light, but it bothers me none the less. I took them to work and had offers to buy, but these are going to family due to where the wood came from. The wood is leftover pieces that I got off of a fireplace surrond that I dug out of an old house on my Mother-in-law's property. I stripped and refinished the surround/mantle and had a couple of boards left over that I could not use due to space constraints in our house. I sanded some of the paint off and seen that it was walnut and done these two calls. The mantle is well over 100 years old.

[HaMeR]

Thanks Mike.

How about taking a piece of electrical wire 24" long & bending it in the middle. Bend small hooks on the ends & put them in the sound holes. Now spray the finish on them. Make things tight enough the spray doesn't blow the call off the hooks.

[wvhillbillyhowler]

Whats wrong with those calls  nothing thats what 

[Jimmie in Ky]

That may be my trouble onlyone coat of sealer instead of two. I am getting what looks like orange peel on some surfaces so a secong coat should cover it.


The glue recipe is 50/50 water and school glue. And it alone makes some very interesting finishes when you mix in acryilic artists colors.I have a couple of recipes for antique pine and aged wood using these colors with the glue finsh. I have only tried the anitque pine so far but it holds up really well and looks great. Just add coats until you get the desired look. I put it on a bench and left it out in the weather for 8 weeks and it still looks great. Although I am not sure how it would hold up on calls, haven't tried it on them. Jimmie