is there a way to get rid of the sawdust inside the pores?

[Pete TGIF]

Hi,

just finished (better say ended the Woodwork) on my first project not using premilled wood. I build a smal box for a special knife I got from Japan, as this knife is pure in its metal, the blade isn´t even stainless, I decided to aply some coats of beewax to the wood, without filling the pores or doing anything else to the surface, then sanding. The problem I came up are these small white dots inside the pores, which disturb the figure of the wood. I used cherry for the box, which is seated on a wenge "board" on (I don´t realy know what type of wood, but beautiful black) feet. So, how can i get rid of these white spots on the wood resulting from sanddust in the pores. Someone sugested to whipe them out with a fine copper brush, lots of work, but I think this might be the only way, once again, i do not want anythig else on the wood than sandpaper and some wax for minimum protection, as the knife also never touches anything else than a stone and some camellin-oil for rust protection.

Looking foreward to your answers.

Peter - Thank god it´s friday

sorry for my poor english, for this is not my first language, and I do have to practice in writing, (You´ll forget a lot in 20 years not writing in english)

[duckkisser]

ok i think you have a couple of possible reasons for the wood eather the spots are just wax in the pores. or saw dust in the pores and then the wax put on the top. or a mixture of the two. since your using wax as a finish you could try geting a buffing wheel and let the buffing wheel to both polish and clean up your pore problem. you can get a cheap small one that you can put into a drill press and buff the wax up. the worst thing you can have happen is that you wood is not polished. they sell at most box stores small 4 inch wheels they even have hardware in the package. in the future you might want to make shure that you wipe off the wood between sandings or before you put wax on top.

[Pete TGIF]

There is no finish on the wood at the moment.

I tried the wax finish on a peace of scrab wood from the project, but it did not cure the white spots, they are only dust from sanding.

I do wipe the wood between the changes of sandpaper, i even use a vacum with a soft brush, normaly used for curtains, a blow of air from the compressor does not realy help, it cures some spots, but the majority stay with white spots.

Its definitly only dust inside open pores. I´ll try to scan the wood to get a magnified picture of my problem.

Thank you for your first reply

Peter - Thank God it´s Friday

[Josh the Grain Guy]

Try blowing it out with compressed air.

[Jfitz]

I would try vacuuming it with a good brush attachment.

[Beechwood Chip]

tack cloth?

[duckkisser]

i seem to remember that this wood worker i knew put rubing alchole on a rag and wiped his box off to get dust off drift wood. the alch would swell up the dust and then he could wip it off. dont know if it would work for this but cant hurt on scrap wood. still think a buffing wheel would work down into the pores and work it out.

[Pete TGIF]

First of all: THANK YOU ALL for you trying to share your experience with me to help on my project.

So the final solution has been:

Vacuuming between the sanding, blowing the dust with the compressor (this give a mess of dust in the aiar, for me wearing brething protection its not the thing, but the workpeace had to be finished in another room!) and finaly i used the "alcohol-trick" i hope the dehydrating effect of the alcohol will do no harm to the wood.

The last second before getting the wax to the surface I decided to use linseed-oil prior the wax, so i finishe the peace this weekend, or better say by tomorrow because i foun some bad gluespots i had to get rid os in the lid of the box.

I learned this weekend, if you are a little more self cocnfident it´ll work ot nice.

Thanks for your assistance

I´ll show the box in the gallery.

Peter Thank God it´s Friday

[Pete TGIF]

Here is the Box,

the marked spots still on the box (not that bad as they have been before treatment) have been the cause of my post.

[duckkisser]

looks good perhaps once ist been polished a bit with some furniture polish it will not stand out i dont realy see the color changes that much. also are you shure you are working with cherry for the box because it does not look like any cherry i have worked with.