Sangaku Japanese case mod

Author: Geoff Richards
Published: 6th April 2006

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Wood treatment

Unlike metal or plastic, wood requires treatment to preserve its appearance. For the regular Joe, a coat of woodstain would probably be all he would be bothered with. Fortunately, Nick was a bit more adventurous than that. Armed with an article on different wood finishes, he was determined to attempt a technique that he hadn't tried before. The goal was to end up with a finish that had depth, with a hand-rubbed lustre that was neither too dull nor overly glossy.

Sangaku Japanese case mod Wood treatment

The main ingredients for this technique are are spar urethane and turpentine as a thinner. Be sure to have excellent ventilation when working with either of these two products (let alone both!). "These things smell great," says Nick.

The first coat is pretty much just a sealer, but the procedure is essentially laying down coats of the urethane and sanding them into the wood while still wet using finer and finer grits of sandpaper, moving up to around 600. You can see the contrast of the raw wood with the finished wood above after just one coat.

Sangaku Japanese case mod Wood treatment