Thread: Applying 1:1:1 (BLO:Turps:Poly) mix

First coat , brush or rag, recoat any dry areas for about 20 min. wipe dry. You can wet sand if you like, the gravy acts as a grain filler on porus timber. 24hr dry repeat 3,4,5 times. Lately I mix 75% turps and only one coat just to bring out the grain. It dries for a week then I french polish.

Basically, treat it as a Danish Oil.

Possibly overkill for a pine, mdf and ratty old hardwood bench but worth doing for the experience.

Ta muchly

Got a couple of coats on the frame and it's looking bewt.

A late follow up question though...when I "wipe dry", how dry is dry? Should the rag be staying reasonably clean or is it ok if it very slowly gets dirty.

I've been doing a wipe down to remove the excess with one rag, then another one or two go overs with a fresh rag that is barely reaching the end of it's usefullness by the time I'm done. Should I be going over with another freshie or is the idea to leave just a smidge of finish on the surface to build up the barrier? It's certainly not wet to the touch at this stage, but does leave a tiny little bit of oil on the fingers and doesn't leave marks if I touch it.

" wipe dry " = no pools, or runs, it will still be moist

Thanks Bill. Sounds like I should back it off a bit.

This is a newby type question, but what is the "poly" part of this formula?
TT

Polyurethane.

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

Polyurethane.

Thanks for that. So if I wanted to make this what are the brand names for Poly I would look for?

TT

In my limited understanding, it can be anything. The common suggestion seems to be to use whatever you have left over from other finishing jobs (which is what I'm doing).

The key thing to avoid is a water based finished. This mixture won't work with it.

Most of the time any poly finish I've used has been from Wattyl (Estapol) or Feast Watson and they're often suggested brands for a proper finish, but anything you can get your hands on should do the trick as long as you're not mixing sheens (matt/satin/gloss). I *think* that satin is suggested as a good sheen for a workbench.

Great. Thanks for that.

TT

Look for ........." clean up with turps" on the label.

Thanks Bill. Sometimes I don't see the wood for the trees

TT