Deglossing a Waterlox finish: how long until fully cured?

[Larry Jaques]

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 22:28:12 -0500, [e-mail] (Ladd Morse) brought forth from the murky depths:

Wax on, wax off, Grasshoppah. Simple and straightforward.

Care should be used in removing the wax. Try some naphtha first. I believe it's safer on varnish. OTOH, you might try leaving it on and seeing how it wears. You might find it OK if you're not slobs at the table, leaving wet chunks of food on it for hours or days at a time. Married people seldom have that problem, but I've had roommates (eons ago) who wanted to live like that. ;)

Another alternative is a steel wool lube. I've heard about it but never used it. This article says Murphy's oil soap can work and that would keep you from having to use solvents on the fresh finish.

and your white pads are shown, too.

Oil finishes are one of few exceptions to the rule for both application and buffing.

You're better off always working wood -with- the grain.

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[Ladd Morse]

An interesting article. And the link comparing the various roughnesses of steel wool, pads and sandpaper was quite helpful.

Thanks!

[Ladd Morse]

Photo posted of deglossing test:

deglossing of six rag-wiped coats of Waterlox on a white oak table leaf: Used gray "scotch-brite"-type pad by itself (no wax) on half closest to camera. Tried a white pad first and as had been predictied by netizens, its impact was amost unnoticable.

I'm not a big fan of the high shine on the untouched portion on the back half of the leaf, but I'm a bit suprised at my feeling that the deglossed portion seems "dead". Having spent the last three weeks seeing the shine, I'm going to wait a day or two to see if I get used to the deglossed look before continuing.

Perhaps the suggestions to finish up with waxing need to be reconsidered! :-)

Advice, suggestions and critiques welcome -- email or leave 'em in the newsgroup.