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0000 Wire Wool

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0000 Wire Wool

Postby Dr.Al » 18 Feb 2021, 19:02

What am I doing wrong with this stuff? Is it just me or is it really, really horrible to use? I've heard it's a good idea to use it for denibbing between coats (which I've done on almost everything I've finished with Mike G's magic mix) and Paul Sellers also uses it for applying furniture polish or paste wax or something (can't remember now) after doing a few coats of shellac.

When I use it (this stuff specifically: https://www.liberon.co.uk/product/steel-wool-0000/), it disintegrates fairly quickly and lots of black bits of wool go into any open pores of oak. If I use it for paste wax I end up with a waxy wiry mess.

If you look closely at the photos of my first box, you can see bits of the oak grain that look a bit black. It's more obvious in real life than in the photo.

Close-up taken in bad light...

wire_wool.jpg
(65.71 KiB)


That's wire wool remains that I couldn't get back out.

When finishing the most recent box I instead used some 600 grit sandpaper and that seemed a lot easier, although I've no idea whether it does the job right.

Is there something I'm doing wrong with the way I use it? I cut off a length from the roll, probably about 100 mm at a complete guess, then roll it up and rub it along the grain of the wood. I then get the vacuum cleaner (or sometimes air compressor) out to get rid of the resulting mess.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby AJB Temple » 18 Feb 2021, 19:09

Don't use it. It is impossible to guarantee that you have removed all minute fragments. Wire wool is great on metal. I never use it on wood, especially for a fine finish piece.

Much better to use Mirka de-nibbing pads.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Woodbloke » 18 Feb 2021, 19:23

AJB Temple wrote:Don't use it. It is impossible to guarantee that you have removed all minute fragments. Wire wool is great on metal. I never use it on wood, especially for a fine finish piece.

Much better to use Mirka de-nibbing pads.

I would use it but with caution. If the surface is well sealed, with say, several coats of Osmo and it needs to be denibbled then it's fine, but I always make sure that the surface is thoroughly vacuumed afterwards (twin motor Numatic :shock: )
If you were to use it on a surface that wasn't adequately sealed, it's almost impossible to get the detritus out of the grain...as you've found out.
A much safer option are the grey Webrax pads from 'the old firm' - Rob
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Mike G » 18 Feb 2021, 19:56

I've got the same bundle I bought about 30 years ago. Horrible stuff. Don't use it. Really really don't use it anywhere near oak (steel and oak produce a tanin-reaction which stains horribly).

For de-nibbing I use the most worn out piece of 320 or 400 grit wet 'n dry I can find. It's so worn out that it feels completely smooth. I've heard of people just using scrunched up brown paper for de-nibbing.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby MattS » 18 Feb 2021, 20:44

As Mike says a piece of wet and dry the higher the better for fine denibbing. I also like a scotch type pad for denibbing if it feels a little rougher.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Trevanion » 18 Feb 2021, 20:47

I'd say the grade is a bit fine, 000 or 00 might be more suitable as they won't break up as much but modern alternatives like Scotchbrite are just as good really.

Also, it's best used on completely smooth surfaces, open-grained timber that hasn't been grain filled deposits small particles of steel, as you've found out.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby sunnybob » 18 Feb 2021, 20:56

Send me your four 0's. I have been unable to get any here for over 6 months now. :shock: The one shop that I have been buying it from now only does 2 and 3 o's.

I use it for cleaning the shotgun (with oil) mostly, and to clean bright knives with some solvol autosol (not food knives, obviously), but I also use it on wood, although admittedly not oak.
From your description you are just pressing too hard with it and possibly not letting the first coat harden off enough before use. A feather light touch when de nibbing wins the day, and then I always use a long haired 2" paint brush to thoroughly brush all dust away. 8-)
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Just4fun » 19 Feb 2021, 08:15

I wouldn't use it on oak.

About 5 years ago I made a desk from birch and finished it with what felt like 1000 coats of shelac. My version of French polishing basically. I then rubbed on some beeswax using 0000 wire wool. That is the only time I have used it. That worked well because there were no open pores for scraps of wire wool to lodge in and I think the wire wool did any final de-nibbing as I applied the wax.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby sammy.se » 19 Feb 2021, 09:39

The only time I've used wire wool successfully was denibbing primer coats on fine mouldings, because it can fit perfectly around the shape. I then have to do a lot of cleaning.

I keep it as far away from natural wood finishes (e.g. wax, oils) as I can, it's just not right for the job and has ruined my projects in the past

Given that you can buy 1000, 2000, 3000 grit sandpaper nowadays ( or use worn paper!) I don't see a need to use wire wool.

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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Eric the Viking » 19 Feb 2021, 09:46

I use 0000 grade quite a lot, and I do find it's "dusty" - prone to produce fine particles. I can minimise this by cutting it into longer pieces (I use tin snips mostly, scissors when nobody's looking!), and then being careful not to let the ends of the cut off piece of wool get on the work. To be honest it gets most use here for cleaning things, not de-nibbing, so not such an issue.

A suggestion (might not work though):

Old-fashioned electro-mechanical hard disks have the strongest permanent magnets that I've found, used for moving the heads across the platters.

Get one of those magnets, ideally using both N and S pole parts (so it makes an old-style "C" magnet). Put it in a strong plastic bag. Get a thin wad of kitchen paper outside that (maybe two or at most three layers). Gently work that over the surface after using the wire wool.

The small pieces ought to be caught in the kitchen paper, and the bag stops them reaching the actual magnet.

I haven't done this yet with anything I'm finishing, but it's my standard process to clean the bench (beech plywood top) after metalwork. For that it works really well.

Afterwards, simply turn the plastic bag carefully inside out and remove the steel fragments with it.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Malc2098 » 19 Feb 2021, 10:31

For denibbing between the lacquer coats on my Martin 12 String Kit last year, I found that Halfords supply abrasives up to P2500. And they're only round the corner from me.

I agree with other members, steel wool is horrible to get out of pores. I would only use to rub a pore filled finish.

There are interesting developments in the luthier industry for pore filling, including slow curing epoxy, or even CA glue. I've used the latter quite successfully.
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Re: 0000 Wire Wool

Postby Phil » 20 Feb 2021, 11:06

Just4fun wrote:I wouldn't use it on oak.

About 5 years ago I made a desk from birch and finished it with what felt like 1000 coats of shelac. My version of French polishing basically. I then rubbed on some beeswax using 0000 wire wool. That is the only time I have used it. That worked well because there were no open pores for scraps of wire wool to lodge in and I think the wire wool did any final de-nibbing as I applied the wax.



Used 0000 on Beech, Bubinga no issues.

Oak, disaster :(


Mahogany too much open grain unless PU is on the surface.

Otherwise same as Mike, lots of old scrap 340++ and black flatting paper.
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