making grain character "pop"? - 07/16/19
I have a few walnut, maple, and cherry stocks with very pretty feather and/or ribbon curl grain that I want to refinish to make the grain character "pop" . They all have years-old finishes at this point, either boiled linseed over varnish, or linseed with paste wax, or tung oil with wax.
I intend to sand them back to bare wood, maybe with a final mineral spirits wet-sand to eliminate any risk of wax residue. I want to do what I can to bring out the grain character, then apply several coats of spar varnish for the hard clear coat finish.
Here is one set that was new wood with several coats of linseed, no wax. Both pieces were ugly muddy brown like the forearm. I sanded down the butt stock with 200g and 400g to what looked like dry bare wood and wiped on one coat of fresh (clean) linseed. The grain is beginning to "pop" on the butt stock.
What are your experienced pros doing to make the grain character pop on new wood and refinishing old wood.
I intend to sand them back to bare wood, maybe with a final mineral spirits wet-sand to eliminate any risk of wax residue. I want to do what I can to bring out the grain character, then apply several coats of spar varnish for the hard clear coat finish.
Here is one set that was new wood with several coats of linseed, no wax. Both pieces were ugly muddy brown like the forearm. I sanded down the butt stock with 200g and 400g to what looked like dry bare wood and wiped on one coat of fresh (clean) linseed. The grain is beginning to "pop" on the butt stock.
What are your experienced pros doing to make the grain character pop on new wood and refinishing old wood.