Wood working project- Ashes Urn :(

Tom Morris

Tom Morris

Power User
My father passed away last year and I wanted to make an ashes urn that he would be proud of. He road a full dressed Harley in his later years to and from work as well as him and my mom belonging to a 65 and over Harley biker club called the retreads. They traveled most of the USA during that time on one of three bike he owned over several years. The local deal would buy back bikes from my dad and keep them for himself they were in such good shape, matter of fact he has all three of my dads full dressed Haleys in his collection in storage. Anyway I'm making this urn for his ashes out of a Harley Davidson cylinder and so far has come out pretty nice but now I'm kins stumped on how to finish it. Its black walnut wood and my head is spinning reading about it on the internet. I would like to have a nice completely filled super gloss finish on the wood like a nice quality guitar. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

urn.jpg
 
Like on a guitar? I use sanding sealer so the paint doesn't get soaked up into the wood, sanding, then endless layers of primer and endless sanding with fine grits until its finally smooth all over. Then several coats of the actual paint, more sanding, then the gloss coat, and more endless sanding. Until you are finally ready to buff it for that final factory finish smooth look. Did I say there was lots of sanding involved?

If you want it to have a clear gloss look you can skip the primer and go straight to the clear gloss paint, but you still have to apply lots of paint layers and sand them down again until its smooth all over. The trick is to never sand down to the bare wood though. This is why you have to apply LOTS of paint layers. And don't forget to add plenty of time to let the paint dry and cure before sanding. If I work full-time I can build a guitar in probably a couple of weeks. But the paint job will take many months because of the drying and curing thing. Best to take your time with that and not rush it is my experience.
 
Well, you apply gloss coat on a wood surface you're gonna get a darker color anyway.
  • apply sanding sealer, at least two layers.
  • sand down almost to the wood but not quite, grit 220, use good quality sanding paper, it will last longer and not clog up as fast.
  • apply multiple layers of gloss coat
  • sand down, grit 220 again or finer. For finer I prefer to wet sand.
  • rinse and repeat until all the tiny holes and crevasses are filled.
  • apply final coats, wet sand down with really fine grits, 1200 or finer, just so its smooth overall.
  • apply a polishing paste, I use car polishing paste, Commandant, no. 5 (they have different strengths), you can use an old but clean rag for that.

As with everything, allow plenty of time between applying paints and sanding. And get your supplies from a good paint store who can offer you far better advice on what materials to get then I ever can. And don't mix up your water, acryllic, cellulose and oil based paints. If you're going to do wet sanding best to have the sanding paper soak up in a bowl of soapy water for a week beforehand.
 
Tom, I bet your Dad would be proud of what you've done for him. :)
What a lovely piece of work you have done in making that urn. I have my own little spray shop ( I paint motorbikes and occasionally guitars) so I would repeat the above comments. Just take your time, build the coats up before carefully sanding them down with 1200, 1500,2000 and higher wet n dry paper (used wet with a little bit of soap to lubricate). Then buff up, stand back and admire.
 
How about a black wrinkle finish like the cases of that bike?
would hide the wood work, but be fitting for a lover of the Harley finishes.
thanks
pauly
 
A clear finish on that particular piece of wood isn't going to get much darker. On walnut, a good oil finish works great, just make sure it's not a varnish or shellac. A varnish or shellac will work as well but will require a lot of work to get a smooth, grain free finish. After the oil, follow the sanding sealer in coats advice to fill in the grain, then a gloss clear coat to complete the finish. High fill sealers are available that will make the process easier. As long as there are no imperfections in the finish like dust or "fish eyes", additional wet-sanding and buffing may not be necessary.
 
Condolences on the loss of your dad. I'm a woodturner, and I've made urns. It's always been a pretty reflective time in the shop for me.

My suggestion on the walnut would be to start with a coat of boiled linseed oil (BLO), and then finish with clear spray lacquer. Wipe on a liberal coat of BLO, then after about 5 minutes wipe off as much as possible with a clean, lint-free cloth. The BLO will darken the wood some, and help accentuate the wood grain. After giving the BLO a week or more to cure (you'll know it's cured when it doesn't smell like BLO anymore), build up multiple LIGHT coats of spray gloss lacquer, sanding lightly with 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper between every couple of coats, being careful to avoid sanding down to the bare wood. After the first few coats, I usually wet sand. Once it's built up enough that the wood pores are filled (might be a dozen or more light coats) and you have a level surface from the sanding between coats, you can bring out the high gloss with automotive rubbing compound, followed by polishing compound, and then a light coat of microcrystaline wax (I recommend Renaissance Wax). Spray-on sanding sealer (which is often shellac based) will help fill the pores quicker than lacquer if you're in a hurry. (That said, most of the time I try to hurry a finish, I end up spending more time because I have to fix mistakes that are the result of hurrying.)

Another alternative would be to use an oil-based wipe-on polyurethane after the BLO, but I personally prefer the look of lacquer even though it's a lot more work. Here's an example of a walnut piece (not an urn, though) I did years ago with the BLO/lacquer finish:

HF052 - 04 1024.jpg
 
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Sorry about your dad. Really cool project--very nice work. Might be fun to do a French Polish. It's a lot of time, but such a project seems worthy of the time.
 
Thank you for the replies. I have been testing shellac on some scraps, not really digging the results however it could be in part to not using sanding sealer. Im thinking I'm going to do a water base stain. Then a sanding sealer. I keep leaning towards that Spraymax 2K clear two part in a rattle can for the final clear coat. Spray multiple build up coats in a couple hours no scuff or sand between. Wet level sand in 12 hours then cures completely in 48 hours to buff.
 
I've finished 2 guitars with hand rubbed poly. One was Formby's, can't remember the other one.

It's not going to be a thick, smooth finish like you want but it will be a beautiful finish.

Rub on a coat with a rag, let it dry, hit it with some #0000 steel wool. Repeat until you are happy.

This type of finish really let's the grain and pores stand out.

Whatever you do, you've already got a beautiful project as it is. I'm sure you Dad would be proud!
 
Tom Morris said:
Thank you for the replies. I have been testing shellac on some scraps, not really digging the results however it could be in part to not using sanding sealer. Im thinking I'm going to do a water base stain. Then a sanding sealer. I keep leaning towards that Spraymax 2K clear two part in a rattle can for the final clear coat. Spray multiple build up coats in a couple hours no scuff or sand between. Wet level sand in 12 hours then cures completely in 48 hours to buff.
Click to expand...

You probably know this, but you might want to fill the pores before finishing for a smoother look.
 
Excited its SprsyMAX 2K clear coat day! Just shot the first coat, 3 to go. Still seeing some grain but after two fills staining and shellac sanding in between with micro mesh I don't know how you could get it much smoother. Should have enough spray to build up for a mirror finish after wet sand and buff.
 
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