Question about grain

ezra_

Hi,

New here.

We are doing up a cottage that we are moving into, and I'd like to make something that will be with us as memento of the work at this time.

While I'm allright at DIY, I have zero woodworking skills bar ripping through planks and (usually) splitting them as I drill in screws.

What I'm looking to do is take a block that has a nice looking grain.
Saw it up into a 1inch chunk
Sand down the face, so its smooth
Do something that brings the grain out
Put in hooks and use it as our key ring thing

As you may have guessed, I tried this and it failed. Horribly.

I cut the 1inch section out of hte block, and it looked ok. Pretty sure this was ash.
But when I sanded it, hte grain went very grey (I used a random orbit sander at 120 grit). I was sanding it down to smooth out the marks of the saw.

I tried wiping it with a damp rag, and that actually looked nice but it dried back grey and awful again. I had some Danish oil in the garage and put that on it, but all that did was make it look worse.

If I was starting again, what would i need to do or am I doing everything wrong?

Thanks!

peter bermingham

The dust from the sanding has gone into the grain ash has a wide grain you could hand plane it start with jack plane and then smoothing plane and if you need use a cabinet scraper to finish. Or try sanding up to 400 grit and blow the dust out with compressed air

woodturner

Sounds like you used a piece of sandpaper that had been used already or maybe isn't an abrasive for wood.

ezra_

Thanks guys. The pad on the sander was fresh, but it was probably too rough.

Will cut another section and hand-sand with 400 grit and see how that goes.

Are there any oils that will help bring out the pattern in the grain?

peter bermingham

Linseed oil danish oil both work good on wood

recipio

I think Peter is correct in that the dust has lodged in the grain. Blow it out with compressed air ( if you have a compressor ) Ash is actually a tricky wood to finish - the grain absorbs stain very unevenly. Close grained woods like beech or maple are better for small treen.