Unbend it Like Beckham: from
WoodCentral
"I am rebuilding a couple of really old kitchen type pressback chairs for a friend. They want me to put on a pair of the bent oak 'L' brackets to support the back. I purchased a couple pair of bent oak brackets, and they are bent to about 90 degrees out of the package. I need to relax them 10 degrees or so. Am I correct in thinking that putting them in some boiling water, then, as they relax, clamping them in the new angle desired [will work]?" — Pete
A couple of people gave steaming, boiling and bending, or re-bending advice. — Editor
"Steaming or wetting a piece a second time can be problematic. It depends on how they set the piece after they bent it. The lignin usually sets after wetting or steaming followed by heating. Sometimes steaming or wetting a piece again can weaken the piece. Not necessarily a good idea for supporting brackets! I've re-steamed wood before. I've had a few successes. I cracked one and successfully re-bent three. If there is finish on the brackets, it would be a good idea to remove it. I'd say give it a try. As you purchased the brackets, you can always buy a couple of spares." — JL
"You would probably do better to steam them. Less water will get into the wood. If you soak them in boiling water, it will probably take quite a while before they are dry enough to stain and finish. Don't forget to bend them a little bit more than you need to allow for spring back. Lastly, the pieces are close to an inch in diameter, and wood is a poor conductor of heat. Allow a good hour of steaming." — Ralph
One person, thinking outside the box of bending and unbending, suggested a cutting solution that seemed vastly simpler. — Editor
"Can't you just cut the angle on the ends to what you need? Ten degrees is about three-eighths of an inch at two inches. If that is too much to take off of the heel of one end, then take five degrees off of each face." — Keith
Sidestepping Silicone: from
WoodCentral
"My wife wants me to refinish our family room card table. It has a square top with a walnut/maple checkerboard built in. My concern is that, for years, she has been using a spray when dusting that contains silicones. After I strip the tabletop, I am sure that the silicones will remain and have a disastrous effect on the final finish. Any ideas on a way to clean the top that will remove the silicones?" — Ralph
"Here's the process. First, use a chemical stripper containing methylene chloride to remove all the finish. Do the process twice. Now, wipe down the surface with lacquer thinner using lots of fresh clean paper towels. Even as clean as this will get it, there will still be silicone contamination in the wood. You need to create a barrier coat between it and any finish you now apply. You cannot apply a stain at this point. Unless you have spray equipment, buy a couple of cans of Zinsser Spray Can shellac. Spray an even coat on, let it dry, and then spray a second coat. Do not sand after either coat. After at least 24 hours, you can use a gel wiping stain to color the wood. Do not try to use a regular oil-based stain. You will probably have to mask off the inlay game squares area. Let the stain dry. Apply your first coat of clear finish, let it dry 24 hours, and lightly sand it with 320 paper, being sure not to sand through or you will have destroyed the barrier coat. Then apply two or three more coats of your clear coat." — Howard
We are not sure why Howard thought you cannot stain the stripped wood, and others pointed that out, along with a more aggressive approach to eliminating the silicone. — Editor
"Compliments of Michael Dresdner mid-April 2007: The solvent for silicone oil is mineral spirits. Scrub contaminated raw wood with liberal amounts of mineral spirits and sop up as much as possible; don't just spread it around. Follow that with a scrub of liberal amounts of warm water laced with household ammonia, which is a surfactant for silicone oil. Again, mop up as much as possible. This one-two punch will remove the lion's share of the silicone oil." — Al
"The washes Al described are right, but you must really scrub and sop, and repeat until the solvent wipes clear. All that must be done after stripping but prior to sanding. After sanding, you may stain the raw wood if you like prior to the first coats of finish. The first coat of finish, as Howard suggested, should indeed be dewaxed shellac. You can buy that as Zinsser SealCoat™ or in aerosol cans as Zinsser Shellac, but not as liquid cans of shellac. However, you may not need to go this far. Silicone creates surface tension issues, which are significant for both water-based and lacquer finishes, but are far less of a concern for oil-based finishes, and almost no concern at all for wipe-on oil-based finishes, such as gel urethanes or Danish oils. SealCoat won't hurt, mind you, but may not be necessary under these two finishes." — Michael