What finishes and paints do I Use- chat with a shillelagh maker
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- 3 day world wide deliver by courier with all my blackthorn shillelagh walking sticks,
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Lots of things to think about while working on your sticks.
Francis I’m waiting on my blackthorn for a drying out to make my nunchucks to practice with I want a very heavy tool for exercises as for finish I just sand it then use veg cooking oil then beeswax with lavender oil in to bring out purple hues but I did find that Wilkos do a great paint that’s black dry shiny for interior and exterior wood and metal bonus is it’s cheap and wash brushes out with water. 🇬🇧👍🦊🐾🇮🇹
I’m one that loves the look of the woodgrain. As my old woodworking teacher always said “ natural woodgrain is sexy”. LOL
I agree it just looks really good
ive been playing around with making my own colors using some natural and not so natural materials. some were bunk and i wasted alot of time and stuff, but the few that came out nice were really nice and instantly caught peoples eye. its fun to expirement and sometimes you come out with something that you just cant buy. some could see it as a waste of time but i dont sell often anyway and i get bored of the same finish. like you said every stick is different and can use something a bit different from the last.
Happy Birthday Tontojacks 🍷🍷
Hi Francis. I am making my first shillelagh here in Ireland out of blackthorn using a mix of methods found online and from yourself and have gotten past the seasoning stage which went relatively well: Sealed both ends with weather shield paint, applied coconut oil (in place of butter, bark on) to the shaft's length, and placed it in our chimney (used regularly) for 6+ months. This gave the stick a nice dark colouring, so I decided to leave the bark on for the finished product and just add a glossy finish. I used 151 Coatings Yacht Varnish - Gloss Finish, trialling it first on the handle (bark removed, shaped/sanded), which cured great but took longer than expected. Knowing that finish applied to the bark on the shaft can be a tough cure, I applied only a thin layer (to my eye) of the same varnish by brush.
It has been nearly 48 hours now, and sure enough varnish applied to the shaft is still tacky. I expect my living in an old traditional cottage with poor ventilation is partly to blame here, but was hoping you might could offer some wisdom related to this problem. FYI, the stick chosen was a thicker main branch with only a few knots and is naturally smooth/shiny on one side, coarsely textured on the other. Oddly enough, the rough and smooth areas have the same level of tackiness at this stage (not wet, just sticky to the touch). Any advice on what methods you might would recommend trying to get my finish to dry completely? Thanks a million!
So many mistakes here, you can’t season blackthorn in 6 months, yacht varnish is a terrible finish in my opinion , did you check the expiry date on the paint , room temperature, reaction to coming in contact with something, coconut oil that is for cooking !! When I get time I might make a video response to this.
@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 Thanks for getting back to me! I would be honoured if you made a video response, if only to call out my rookie mistakes (though any advice would still be appreciated)!
I remember seeing online somewhere that 6mos was maybe a MINIMUM time needed to season it and used that as justification to begin working on it early. 😂But I agree this was too soon to work away, because after working the handle I noticed some small cracks beginning to spread. This played into my hasty decision on the finish to apply. The yacht varnish actually worked well to stop cracks propagation and the handle turned out looking/feeling great (for a novice craftsman)!
The yacht varnish was bought new with expiry in 2023, and does say the surface should be free of dust, rust, and oil. I made sure to remove as much of the oil left on the stick as possible prior to applying the varnish layer (for what its worth). As for using coconut oil, it was meant to replace traditional butter use for the protective coating applied prior to seasoning it in a chimney.
I would be happy to send a picture of my shillelagh at its current progression if it would help! Thanks again.
Hi Mike, I have a question. Were blackthorn shafts dried in a chimney or were they dried and placed in a chimney for a period of time to darken? The reason I ask is it takes 2-3 years to season blackthorn in a dryish cool environment from what I've heard. Surely, putting a green stick in a chimney would cause it to dry too quickly and cracks and warping would be guaranteed@@michaeloutlaw1989
Thanks Francis I agree with you
Thank you. I got first comment and it's my birthday!
How old are you today ?
@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 61, love your casual video style.
My blackthorn walking is developing some cracks how do I stop and fill them?
Wood filler will fill any cracks