It’s 4 layers - and that top layer is quite delicate. If I made it again I’d probably glue with wood glue again, but also (after finishing) hit those top pieces with some superglue…or fill the entire thing with resin We’re using it as a trivet and I’ve already broken the 4 halfmoons off (you can see it in the picture).
This was cut out of four layers of 1/16th purpleheart using PG medium basswood hardwood settings, glued with Elmer’s, and the outside edges sanded down to plain wood. Then the entire thing was finished with tung oil cut with mineral spirits.
Tung oil is amazing stuff - it brings out all the depth in your material. It takes forever and a day to truly dry even when cut with mineral spirits, but it’s absolutely worth the price of admission.
Danish is a mix of other oils. Linseed and Teak and Tung are the most common base ingredients for the many varieties you can buy. Some include plain mineral oil.
Each has a place, depending on the wood you are treating and also the application. Then you get “paste wax”, varnish, shellac…
Another rabbit hole, but the point is no one is “better” than the other for every application.
@deirdrebeth, this is gorgeous! I’ve tried to make one a time or two, but my designs have failed miserably. Maybe I’ll work up the courage to try again!
One of the wood turning people on YouTube uses a finish (the brand name is escaping me now) that he describes as "polymerized linseed oil.‘’ l keep wondering if that’s just another way of saying “boiled linseed oil.” Do you happen to know anything about that?
Wow. You went deep down that hole. It’s a wonder you popped back out. That is seriously good looking, especially at trivet size. The finishing makes it pop.
There is no official process but it amounts to “reducing” it like thickening a sauce on a stove - except it’s usually a chemical process, not heat. You can also get “boiled” linseed oil which may in fact have been heated, but most often, not.
Both just reduce the curing/drying time. Neither is better than the other, although marketing would have you believe otherwise.
Most “stabilizers” actually have resin/acrylic blended in. When the solvents cures (evaporates), it basically coats the wood, and fills all the grain, with plastic, which makes it very tough - I suspect (but do not know) this is how much of PG wood is treated. It’s very hard compared to untreated material of the same species.
Just like settings for the GF, the only way to know what gives the best results for you is to try them. That leads to shelves full of products you may never use again.
Preach. I have been trying at least to buy small containers - but then if it is a thing you use again you feel stupid for wasting money by not buying the big one :-/
Such a lovely mandala; I could not use it as a trivet…how would it look scaled up and made into wall art? I’m going to add this to all the other things I intend to make.
I am trying my hand at wooden rings and tung oil was suggested, although nothing was said about adding anything to it. Or about keeping the used rags in a metal container with water. i had to put off trying it again until I can find one.
The container mentions the cutting with mineral spirits to speed drying - if you go looking specifically for ways to speed it up you’ll probably run into that advice
Personally I use paper towels 90% of the time and when I really care about lint-free I’ll toss the rag (cut up old t-shirts mostly) when I’m done. I find if you keep them the likelihood that they’ll be crunchy by the time you used them again is far too high - and I don’t want them to be wet so…
We’re using it as a trivet and I’ve already broken the 4 halfmoons off (you can see it in the picture).
