mineral spirits on wood

[Basspro*]

I'm currently rebuilding an old antique dresser that my wife bought at an antique store for pennies due to serious water damage, wood rot, etc. It's going to be a beatiful dresser once I'm done but right now its in bad shape. My wife wanted to help me and without me knowing glued the top planks together with liquid nails. I then tried to sand down the excess glue with my belt sander and it clogged up my sander faster than you can snap your fingers. I then read that easy cleanup for this glue is mineral spirits. I rubbed the top down with mineral spirits using steel wool and it immediately came off. However its now darkened the wood quite a bit. I've given it 1 day to dry but it still feels damp. Should I wait several more days to see if the wood will lighten or is the wood permanently dark? (It's oak by the way). Can I apply varnish over this wood now that it's been subjected to mineral spirits?

[Toller]

Wood darkens with mineral spirits, but should lighten up when it is evaporated (at least mine always does; I use it sometimes to remove dust after sanding)

It should evaporate in under an hour. You might try sanding a bit to see if it is some residue from the liquid nails. I would not varnish until it is lightened; either by evaporation or by sanding.

My wife refuses to help me at all; maybe I should be grateful.

[Bob S.]

Steelwool + bare Oak = Bad ! Sanding time.... and not with a belt sander. Use a ROS or by hand working your way up from 100 grit to 220.

Is the liquid nails still holding the pieces together? If so, get rid of the liquid nails, clean it all off down to fresh wood and re-glue using PVA. I'd rip right down the center of the glue line if you can't get these apart by using a shearing force - like trying to tear a phone book in half - very carefully. Getting the liquid nails off the edges probably means jointing the edges again in order to get a clean surface again. The liquid nails has been forced into the wood grain and needs to be removed.

Bob S.

[Bay Area Dave]

I use mineral spirits on oak to judge how it will look when stained, by bringing out the grain better. It clears up (lightens) within a day, tops. I don't flood it though...

If it feels damp and is dark, give it more time before stain or finish.

dave

Basspro* wrote:

[DarylRos]

Use denatured alcohol. It evaporates faster, and will leave no residue. You can even shellac over it after the alcohol has evaporated.

Mark all defects with chalk.

[Dustmaker]

Be patient with allowing the mineral spirits to dry out. On some woods where I used MS to see what the grain would look like I could still see traces of the corner I darkened after more than a day. However, it eventually dried out. I have also had a similar experience when I used acetone. I did it by accident and do not recommend using anything other than mineral spirits which are very user friendly to a varnish finish. For a Lacquer finish I would think (but don't know) if Lacquer thinner would be a good solvent to remove goop and preview the grain.

[Basspro*]

Everyone thanks for the advice. I'm not sure about the alcohol suggestion though. Any more of you out there suggest using denatured alcohol on bare oak? Its been a couple of days now and the wood is still darker than origianally but much lighter than yesterday. It may take a few more days because I really flooded the wood with this stuff trying to remove that damn liquid nail glue. I have that stuff!! I ended up prying the boards apart (carefully) and decided to joint the edges like one of you said. This has created a nice new start for the board's edge to work with. I'm considering bisquit joining these boards together once the mineral spirits has totally evaporated. Do you know if I can apply Shellac to the wood and then put varnish on top of that once the shellac is dry?

[DarylRos]

When I posted this suggestion, it not only works for me, but was suggested by Mario Rodriguez. I don't work much with oak, bu tit works with all types of veneer, and with cherry. I can't see any reaon why it would not work.

[Greg]

I recently started using shellac so I'm still a novice. Are you saying that using mineral spirits to remove saw dust is a bad thing if you plan on shellacing? I just did this recently and it didn't seem to be a problem. I've even used mineral spirits as a lubricant on the steel wool after finishing a piece with shellac (did this after reading a recommendation some where). Was this bad?

Thanks, Greg

[DarylRos]

Not at all. You have to be careful when you use alcohol, since that will dissolve the shellac (makes since considering that is what you mix the flakes with).