It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
The above two challenges led me to Osmo. I knew about the product from a professional furniture maker a number of years ago but, at that time, it was only available in industrial quantities. But now, people like Wood Finishes Direct sell it in quite small tins
Over the next few posts I will cover some of my experiments and results and, as I continue to experiment, I will update the thread from time to time. Other Osmo users are very welcome indeed to post how they find the best way of using it
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Well - it was a specific project. Remember the Psilos Bass?
One of the things Mick, the chap who commissioned it, wanted, was for the bass to look as close to 'sanded colour' as possible. Added to that, I wanted as little colour difference between the white sycamore body and rock maple integrated neck as possible.
This was as it was freshly sanded:
But this is what a very thin coat of tru-oil, slurried and wiped off immediately, looked like after drying:
In normal circumstances, just what you would want - a bit of warmth added and a major enhancement of the figuring in the sycamore.
But quite different to the sanded colour and now a major contrast between the maple and the sycamore.
Some internet searching, especially on furniture making forums, led me to a specialist version of Osmo Polyx - their product 3044.
It has a whitener in it and is designed to minimise the 'wetting' effect of the finish on light coloured woods.
Having got it and doing a few trials, and knowing that it needs to be applied VERY thinly to avoid white patches or streaks, I had a thought. Any reason why I couldn't slurry and buff it?
No reason at all The result was a super silky feeling surface with very little (compared with the tru-oil above) colour change but still with a touch of enhancement of the figuring:
Also - it was as hard as nails once fully dried.
Next post I'll cover my first experiment with the Gloss version 3011, and my ongoing experiments with the whitening 3044 and the Satin version 3032 on darker woods.
Actually, as long as it is 'wipe over with a dampened cloth' thin, the white doesn't show even on ebony - this is the back of the Psilos bass:
But - how would it fare with a more standard application?
Maybe a little more mixed.
For my present project of re-bodying a Fender Rascal bass with a walnut-topped, sapele-backed Precision-Lyte inspired shape, the owner wanted the walnut to be only darkened to a limited degree, if possible.
Good opportunity to experiment.
This was the sanded top:
So first of all I did a Tru-oil slurry and buff (one coat only). And a pretty decent standard 'black walnut' type of result:
I then sanded it back down to fresh wood and, with apols for the different background colour but the aspect and light level striking it was very similar, this was Osmo 3044 slurry and buffed one coat:
Quite different. And against the other background it was even more different to the Tru-oil version
Now, ignore that some people will prefer the darker one at the top, in terms of whether 3044 is doing what it claims to do, this was the air-exposed untreated billet the wood came from:
Very sandy-coloured, which the 3044 reflects closer than the Tru-oil, even though the Tru-oil is slightly reddish in tinge and the 3044 is milky white.
So my conclusion is that yes - even on some dark woods 3044 broadly does what it claims to do. But is that good for all dark woods? No - but you'll have to wait for the next post
Instagram
The full process I used was:
-
Apply a decent coat of the whitened 3044 with a soft brush and slurried with 400 grit wet and dry, working with the grain
-
Wipe off with (industrial - cheaper and bigger rolls) kitchen roll
-
Let dry overnight
- Repeat
- Apply a thin coat of Satin 3032 with a soft brush and wipe off with the industrial kitchen roll
- Let dry overnight
-
Add a further decent coat of 3032, slurried gently with 800 grit, and wipe off with the industrial kitchen roll
- Let it dry overnight
- Apply a thin coat of 3032 and wipe off with the industrial kitchen roll
And this is what it looks like:The sapele also looks pretty good - however, I would make a change here in future builds:
The change I would make is that, in the future, I would stick with Satin 3032 for sapele or mahogany. This looks OK, but close to, it does look a teeny bit milky. With the more open grain, the whitened slurry of the 3044 first coat is thicker and you see the milkiness, just a tad.
But folks - this is four days, done in the spare bedroom - very low VOC, very low fumes with a cheap artists fan brush and a few sheets of cheapo kitchen roll... and by tomorrow or worst case the next day this will be hard enough to give a light buffing polish and it's ready to use!
And it's tough stuff....