It may be logical to assume, when making a floorboard floor for example, that sticking all the boards securely on a base first will prevent the whole thing from warping when painted.
stained and left to dry before sticking down. but it will differ according to wood thickness and type.Īlthough it might be an annoying way to work, I would recommend if you want to treat wood with anything water-based (including water-based commercial wood stains) that the pieces are treated like this i.e. As I’ve said, if using 0.8mm obeche wood this will take at least 2 hours. But as the piece slowly dries it returns to almost complete flatness again. especially if as here the wood grain is perpendicular to the length of the strip. So one has to deal with the fact that the water will make thin wood warp! It can look rather alarming. The Kiwi polish gave a good sheen after three coats but the polishing cream remained matt. If you intend to cover large areas you could use the sponge applicator attached, but for these small ones it was easier to press out a small amount of polish on a tile and use a rigid synthetic brush.Īll of the polish types I’ve featured so far are ‘water-carried’ including the polishing cream. The sample to the left is the brown Kiwi Colour Shine shown in the photo, also found in Poundland, and next to it is one made with Clarks brown polishing cream, which is thin enough to brush on easily and infiltrate the fibres.
Here are just two more, but also showing how best to apply the liquid polish. All of these gave a visible, regular sheen to the wood surface on the second coat, and more pronounced on the third. the colours are richer and deeper in reality. I’ve overdone the photo exposure a little . the ‘Neutral’ had so little visible effect on the wood, even after three coats, that I didn’t even notice that I’d photographed the piece upside down! The brown and black did impart some even colouring as you can see, but even after three coats and rubbing afterwards there was only slightly more ‘sheen’ than the obeche wood has on its own.īut there are much better ones! The lighter brown sample on the left below is brown liquid polish from Tiger, the one in the middle is brown Cherry Blossom Readiwax brand found in Poundland and the last is Kiwi Wax Rich Colour Shine also from Poundland but a while ago. but I gave these the same intervals anyway. As you may know, warping doesn’t occur with oil or spirit-based media, and with spirits the ‘drying’ is a lot quicker. so I figured these were sufficiently dry for the next coat. I then waited a minimum of 2 hours before applying the second coat up to the line below and then another 2 hours before applying the third. I chose 2 hours in between because this was the time it took for the pieces of wood to return to almost complete flatness after warping. Each of the sample pieces featured in this post was made with a fixed procedure! Firstly I ruled three faint pencil lines and applied the first coat up to the top pencil line, leaving a little of the wood bare above. I’ve made these tests on pieces of 0.8mm sheet obeche wood, which normally accepts stain very well. with very good results!īut these ones currently in 99p Store are, as you can see below, unusually weak in terms of colour. I’ve used similar bottled shoe polishes many times in the past, particularly for staining model floorboards. This was meant to be just another short ‘hidden treasures of the pound-shop’ piece recommending the value of cheap liquid polishes such as these below as alternatives to more expensive wood stains.