Built some railings for my deck. Railings are mahogany hand
rail/nailing strips and bottom rail. Balusters are KD Doug Fir. Must
say the whole thing came out pretty sweet. I treated the mahogany
elements with two coats of Cabot's ATO then a coat of the GF Outdoor
Oil. Looks excellent. I am wondering if I should lightly sand the
railings with some 220 grit paper before putting on another coat of the

oil. The can says nothing about sanding between coats. Checked the GF
website, nothing there either. The dried coating looks a lot like poly
or shellac. With all the labor I put into these I really don't mind
another step or two. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
John

"jk" wrote in message
I am wondering if I should lightly sand the
railings with some 220 grit paper before putting on another coat of the

oil. The can says nothing about sanding between coats. Checked the GF
website, nothing there either. The dried coating looks a lot like poly
or shellac. With all the labor I put into these I really don't mind
another step or two. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
John

Sanding between coats smoothes any imperfections and helps the next coat of
finish to stick better. This is not a factor with oil finishes. If the
wood feels a little rough from raised grain and you want to sand it, go
ahead, but it is not required at all.

Thanks Ed. Wondering if you or for that matter anyone else has any
experience with the GF Outdoor Oil. The guy at Rocklers talked it up.
Like I said in previous message the coats I put on the mahogany have
dried like Poly, shiny and bright. Is this to be expected? Thanks.
John

jk wrote:
Thanks Ed. Wondering if you or for that matter anyone else has any
experience with the GF Outdoor Oil. The guy at Rocklers talked it up.
Like I said in previous message the coats I put on the mahogany have
dried like Poly, shiny and bright. Is this to be expected? Thanks.
John

John:

I am wondering if you have an actual oil finish, or if you have an oil
based finish. Oil finish is along the line of tung oil, linseed oil, mineral oil, walnut oil, etc. They can be buffed to a sheen, but cannot be made into "shiny and bright" just by applying and leaving them alone.

Ed is right; if you have an oil finish, no sanding required. Slap more
on and go watch TV.

But if you are getting "shiny and bright" you almost certainly have an
oil based finish that has a fair amount of resin to create the
reflectivity. In the case of oil based finish, you should sand
to break the top layer of the hardened resin if you have allowed it to
dry. This will also provide better adhesion for you next coat, keeping
in mind that oil based (as opposed to true oil) finishes are film
finishes, meaning they do not melt into the previous coat, but simply
bond to it.

If I saw shiny and bright, I would know that it had a good amount of
cured resins, their job being a barrier of protection for the wood. I
would sand until slightly dull, then reapply.

Robert

thanks Robert, et al. By your definition, which I agree with, I have
an "oil-based" finish. Lot of resins in it. As compared with the true
oil finishes you mentioned, tung, linseed, teak, and all the witches
brews in between. In fact I have been using Orange oil on the teak
furniture in the house, load it on, wait fifteen minutes or more, wipe
of excess, buff with clean dry cloth. Finish is a matte. No
reflectivity. Just a nice warm glow. Well, the General Finishes Outdoor
Oil is hereby declared an "oil based" finish. That's cool. It looks
excellent. The mahogany is just beautiful with it. I ended up putting
on three coats over the two thin coats of Cabot's ATO. Sanding in
between all coats with 220, tack cloth, quick wipe with a barley wet
turp cloth. I guess we're now into enviromental testing. Railings are
mounted (finally) on deck. Soon winter will be upon us.....Frankly, the
railings looked so good I kept procrastinating putting them up and
outside. We will have a report on how the finish held up in the spring!
Now, on to the next project. I ended up with one 12 foot section of the
mahogany railing left and some 2x4 mahogany stock. The railing section
has some breath taking grain, almost "birds eye" maple like, shimmers,
changes depending on angle of view. Thinking of making a modified
mission style sofa with the railing around the perimiter of the back of
the sofa so it can be seen. Gonna sit with some paper and pencil and
see what God gives me for inspiration. Keep me out of trouble this
winter.....Thanks.
John