Thread: sealing problem

Could the knot holes, being end grain, have wicked in more oil than the surrounds? Enough oil that it isn't going to dry properly? Excess/sticky oil should be removeable with the combination of robust towel(s), turps, and elbow grease.

Do you know what type of Sanding Sealer was used? There are a few possibilities as to why it may not have been particularly effective over the problem areas.

Have you any idea as to how well dried the timber was? Natural resins may not have been fully polymerised and thrown the curative power of the finish askew.

Have tried texting the young fella but he may be out sowing his wild oats.

he surprised me....
Feast Watson sanding sealer 2 coats. Once dried sanded down to 4000 grit

Feast Watson Scandinavian oil, 1 coat worked in with fine steel wool, 2nd coat worked in with micofiber cloth.

well no responses so far so I will ask for other options.

what if we sand the whole table back to raw timber and start from scratch.
How do we deal with the knot holes? as they are still tacky

As I mentioned earlier, it sounds like the end-grain sealer didn't do it's job and the knots have wicked up excess finish.

My approach would be more or less as Alkahestic described above; moisten a cloth with turps (or appropriate thinner) to wipe away the excess bloom from the knots, then buff the heck out of it. Wait a while (I'm thinking a day or thereabouts) and repeat the process until it stops weeping. It takes time 'n effort, but it's still quicker than waiting for it to dry naturally. (Which it would... eventually.)

Then it should be a simple matter of an overall sand and a final coat or two over the whole piece.

Depending on how many times I had to repeat the wipe-down process, I may apply a thin smear of finish over the knots and then do a wet power-sand with finishing grade paper. The slurry formed this way tends to block the grain, much like an end-grain sealer, and the heat from sanding generally tends to 'assist' the finish with setting.

I should point out that I don't use F&W for a couple of (different) reasons, so it may not react the way I'd expect and the wet sand may actually exacerbate the problem.

Anyways, with the above approach, there should be no need to sand any area except the affected ones IF doing the wet sand step. Which always simplifies things.

I really don't think that sanding the whole piece and starting again would have any benefit whatsoever... the knots would still be holding excess finish and carry the problem forward.

I threw my 2c in the ring and I'm all out of 2c now. On the removal of the tacky bits, turpentine and a rag should get rid of it. Sanding to 4000 grit is probably a bit excessive though. My understanding of (non burnishing) oil finishes is that they need to soak into the timber and only a thin layer of the oil actually adheres and dries to the surface of the timber, which is why the application is normally wipe it on, wait a short period, and wipe it off. Sanding beyond 240 grit closes off the timber pores such that the oil penetration becomes limited. Any oil left on the surface beyond what bonds to the timber is what becomes tacky.