Thread: Problem finishing Silky Oak lid

Nah.... that just looks like a good old silky oak problem where there is either the shellac or oil has trapped air bubbles in the grain and once dried it will look like that. Usually a gold or silver colour depending on what colour the finish tends towards. Gold for shellac or honey coloured oil, silver for a poly or clear oil.

Struck it before on silky and other slightly open grained timbers. Also happens if some of the sanding dust is trapped in the pores as it won't allow the finish to penetrate fully in some instances,

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

PS only fix will most likely be to fully sand back to to completely bare timber and begin again without the shellac sanding sealer base and saturate the surface with a good wipe in of the oil. Still may happen, but not as likely to be any where near as obvious.

Haven't seen that before, I suspect it's because the shellac has soaked in more in some spots than others.
My first try would be to go over it with 0000 steel wool & oil, then wipe off as much as you can. Hopefully, that will remove the shellac that's built up on the less absorbent parts of the surface.

Hope this helps.

Sincere thanks to Neil and Alex for their replies. It has bewen so frustrating - so near to the end, the last step being this finishing.

I decided to start with Alex's possible solution, as it was easiest to do, so I lightly oiled and scrubbed the lid with 0000 steel wool, then wiped it dry with a cotton rag. Bit worried I was going through to the bare wood I was scrubbing so hard, but it already had two coats of Livos Kunos Oil soaked into the silky oak.

End result: still lots of glitter spots, but smaller in size, like specks.

Could possible get away with it, but am interested in the next phase of sanding back and seeing how it goes, as recommended by Neil. I suspect it really needs some grain filler, so am open to suggestions on that for silky oak.

I suppose if all else fails, there is still Plan C: sand the lid back and then coat it with several coats of Ubeaut white shellac

Being able to feel the grain after sanding is something that I experience especially in softer woods. I understand this is due to the differing hardness of the growth rings in the tree. The sandpaper deforms and cuts one (the softer?) growth ring to a greater extent than the other resulting in an uneven surface.

You could try hand sanding the lid using sandpaper wrapped around a block of smooth hard wood rather than a power sander with a flexible backer. And by flexible I mean cork, sponge or velcro hooks.

Plane or scrape the lid rather than sand.

Accept wood is wood and this is the way it is. In other words let the grain ripple become a feature.


In the beginning............I was so keen to get my projects made I did the construction then the finish. Now I try to be a little more patient and pre-finish some components before assembly. This is especially the case with floating panels in doors, carcasses or boxes. It makes sense, too, as if there is any shrinking of the panel, its unfinished edge is revealed. It is a PITA having to wash brushes three or four times rather than once or twice but the end result is better (for me).


I've never used silky oak as I'm on the West Coast so I'll defer to those more experienced. Interesting, though.


Good luck with the box!

I wonder if you did try to achieve such a sparkly effect, if you could?

I think what has happened is that by using the Shellac (sealer) as a first coat it sealed the pores. Then by sanding up to 800 # this has then glazed the pores further....then you applied the Livos Kunos, which is a penetrating oil....but it cannot penetrate due to the shellac, so the oil has dried in those little pockets. The thinner mixed with the Kunos is too little to break through the shellac layer for it to be absorbed (which you don’t want anyway).

To fix, as Neil suggests, sand back and don’t use the shellac.
Or you may want to try something else...not very technical but may work and save you some work. If you had some of the thinner, apply a small amount with a toothbrush, this just may dissolve the oil in those pockets, if it does, then you can maybe apply a thin coat of oil and wipe off with a dry brush where the bristles get into the little pockets stopping the accumulation of the oil. If you had an off cut, try on that first maybe...

Good luck.

I wonder if you did try to achieve such a sparkly effect, if you could?

He He He....Never in a million years, Angela !!

Update on progress:

Because it was easier to do, I first carried out Alex's suggestion, going over it again with #0000 steel wool and oil and rubbing vigorously, but without any luck. There were still hundreds of little glitter spots, mostly on the darker grain

So following Neil's suggestion, I rubbed it back to bare timber as far as possible and then started from scratch sanding, but only up to 400 grit, washing out with plenty of white spirits and then blasting all the grains with compressed air.

I then applied a first coat of Kunos Oil, rubbing it in vigorously with a dry clean cotton rag, but there were still plenty of glitter spots, but not so numerous as before, as Neil predicted.

The next step was interesting. Imagine, if you would, standing in the hot tropical mid-day sun, rotating a slippery wet box lid with rubber gloves at all sorts of funny angles to the sun looking for glitter, then rubbing each glitter spot individually until it disappeared. BUT IT WORKED !! Next morning there were only a few tiny spots here and there that you would be hard pressed to find. The result is a super smooth floating lid. But is it still not a satin finish like the rest of the box, being only the first coat.

Going to put the second coat on today, but only a very light film with a rag - how's that for tempting fate, eh?

Glad you finally had a good result.
That was an interesting problem, one I've never come across before. Will have to store the fix in the memory bank in case it ever happens to me.

Ran a rag over the lid today, with just a tiny smear of oil barely noticeable, and the end result is a beautifully smooth satin finish, no additional glitter. YES !!!!!

Will give it a week to cure a bit, screw the lid and box together, fit the red felt to the tray and the bottom of the box, post some pics on this forum, and then mail it off to some relatives in southern NSW as a gift for having us for a wonderful few days last year. They have strong family history connections with WA and QLD, hence the jarrah box and northern silky oak lid. I threw the Qld Silver Ash tray in because it looked so good against these timbers. Tried a darker timber, but it didn't look so nice

Thanks for your help and support, Alex. I was looking at the lid of your fishing lures box, and it was not unlike my silky oak lid. Yet I presume you used shellac as a sanding sealer first, and did not get any problems? Possibly the southern SO ( Grevillea Robusta) may not have as much coarse grain as the northern SO ( Cardwellia sublimis) ?

I am wondering how best to do my next northern silky oak lid - avoid the shellac, and make the first coat much more thinner to better soak in to the deep grains ?

I've used that method on both northern & southern silky, and never had the problem, so I can't think why it happened to you.
I may use a heavier shellac mix than you. I put the flakes in a jar, and fill with metho to twice the height. Sometimes if I'm getting towards the bottom of the jar and likely to run out, I'll add some more metho. I'm not too concerned about the mix, as it's not for polishing, it's just a sanding sealer.