How many times do you whisker your stock

[lost arrow 801]

How many times do you guys whisker your stocks? I"m working on one now that I've whiskered 3 or 4 times and it still keeps raising. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Greg Pennell]

The short answer is until it stops raising whiskers.  Each piece of wood is different, some will slick up after a time or two, some take several more. Be sure to cut the whiskers down with sharp, new, sanldpaper...dull paper will only press the whiskers back down instead of cutting them off.

Greg

[flehto]

I whisker 3 times w/ water but after the stain is dry, the stock is rubbed hard w/ 0000 steel wool.  This really smooths the surface and gets rid of any errant whiskers......Fred

[rich pierce]

American black walnut will raise whiskers forever. Gets to a diminishing returns situation. The whiskers will get cut off when filling the grain, if that is desired.

[P.W.Berkuta]

I also do as Flehto -- I stop at 320 - 400 grit sandpaper for maple & 400 for most walnuts. I also finish up with 4/0 steel wool. I've used gray Scotch-Brite but like 4/0 steel wool better.  Like Rich Pierce said "American black walnut will raise whiskers forever. Gets to a diminishing returns situation"

[Mr. Bubbles]

Be careful not to go too fine with the sand paper, and to use fresh new stuff each time.  If it's old and worn, it may be pushing the whiskers back in to the wood.  Likewise if you are using paper that is too fine. 

Regarding steel wool; some people are fine with it, and some stay away.  Many of the books will say to stay away from it if you  are planning on using an acid treatment for your staining process such as AF or FN.  Reason; the little flecks of steel wool that come off the pad may imbed themselves in the wood and the acid will turn them black, so you will get a freckled stock.  If you wait until after the neutralizing process for the steel wool you'll be fine though.  Others steel wool with relative impunity when it comes to acid treatments.  It's up to you regarding what you want to do there. 

Personally, if I'm going to use FN I stay away from steel wool. I figured it's not worth the risk if there are other options available.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I whisker once. I then seal with a 1#  cut of dewaxed garnet shellac. I then scrape back to bare wood (shellac stays in the low microgrooves. I then burnish hard with a wadded up brown paper bag (Tip from Don Getz) and then an antler tip for small areas,  The shellac and heat from burnishing seal any remaining whiskers down. The shellac is a great filler.

[Huntschool]

In years past I worked a bunch with walnut.  Got the wood from various suppliers so there was a mixture in quality of wood.

What I found to work best was 3-5 wet wiskering and knocking back with 400 grit.  Then I used a highly dilute mixture of terps and linseed oil ( we are talking 1 part linseed to 20 parts terps) with 400 wet dry.  Did a wipe down, let it set up, 0000 steel wool and then went to the  stain and final finish.  The mixture worked as a filler for me.

Here is an example but not the best pic....  This was a fairly plain grain gun but there was some sweeping grain from nose to toes.



I have not used AF more then 3-4 times on maple choosing to mix my own stains so no acid for me at that point.....  steel wool worked quite well.

Just some thoughts.

[Daryl]

I sanded, then finished this black walnut stock - No whiskering.
Yes- it has 2 barrels, one tapered oct. round in .54 66" twist, the other straight octagonal in .45 quick twist.

[Mark Elliott]

I whisker a minimum of 3 times before applying a water based stain.    It might be necessary to whisker many more times than that.    I keep whiskering until I have little to no grain raising.   I whisker the last time after the stain has been applied and heated using a lt gray Scotchbrite pad.    That is roughly equal to 0000 steel wool.    I stopped using steel wool some time ago because the Scotchbrite pads are cleaner. 

[davec2]

What do you do to whisker around and over carving ?

[Blacksmoke]

I whisker up to 20 times and each time I use a finer grit paper finishing with 1200-1500 grit.  I also whisker the carving using sand paper that has been folded several times to get into the crevasses and ground areas. I like the stock to have a sheen to it before applying any stain or finish to it.  "Just sayin"   Hugh Toenjes

[lost arrow 801]

Thanks for all the replies.

I switched to new sandpaper after whiskering and it has worked great.

[Mark Elliott]

What do you do to whisker around and over carving ?

I whisker before carving and whisker after, up to the carving with my utility knife blade/scraper.   I run the Scotchbrite pad over everything after the staining.   Basically,  the Scotchbrite serves to burnish carving and background alike.   

[kutter]

I never whisker the wood. I finish sand then stain with alcohol based stain. Then sand in the finish to fill the grain. Each coat with a finer grade paper. I sometimes add color to the finish as I sand it in. Finish off the surface with simple rubbed out to nothing coats of linseed.
Never had any whisker problems with any type of wood.

[Angus]

Anyone else raise with rubbing alcohol?

[bob in the woods]

I only whisker once, and then burnish .  That pretty much does the trick.

[BOB HILL]

Angus, I’ve always used alcohol to raise the grain. It drys faster I usually put a little bit of alcohol based dark brown leather die in it, just enough to give you a hint of color. This will show any scratch or blemish you have missed.
Bob

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I never whisker more than three times, having scraped and sanded to 400 grit paper.  Like Hugh, I use fine sandpaper folded, and popsicle sticks with paper glued on, to get into carving details and the ground adjacent.  these can be cut with scissors to get the appropriate shape.  I keep clipping off the ends of the sticks to expose new paper.  I burnish with 0000 steel wool, a stiff toothbrush, and the end of a 1" manila rope bound tightly just up from the ends.  Walnut needs further work:  filling the pores.  For that I sand wet with tung oil finish and 220 grit paper until a mud is produced which I leave on the wood and move to another part of the stock.  I let the mud/finish cure for several days and then sand the whole stock back down to wood, removing the mud from the surface but leaving it in the open pores of the walnut.  I often have to do that twice on American walnut, but the result is a flawless surface that is easy to put finishing coats of tung oil on.

[Craig Wilcox]

For Angus - I use alcohol to whisker walnut, but with this maple, I sometimes dilute the stain with alcohol, then whisker several times, maybe twice.  Maple is a really hard wood, and doesn't need much.  Seems like with walnut, you can whisker and whisker and whisker again - then you say "Heck with it", and go ahead with the rest of the finish!

[Angus]

I like alcohol, dries fast and does the job.
Sometimes my thinkin is a little slooooww.. not sure I understand why to whisker so many times and between grits. I whisker at the end of final passes.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Whiskering is a step in the stock finishing process all by itself.  One should not be removing stock during that process, even removing scratches, just the fibres of wood that raise with the wetting.

[bob in the woods]

Thanks for mentioning that, Taylor. I use a mild yellow food dye /water mix to go over the stock in order to show up any scratches etc ...ie areas that need more work.  When I'm happy with the stock,  by that time the one additional whiskering is usually all it needs ..then comes the burnishing.  I favour burnishing , because some stocks will just require endless whiskering.  Sometimes I'll burnish after the initial wash of finish as well.

[J Henry]

  I whisker it once, then smooth it by using it,between cleaning and carrying it will come around.