Red Elm Finish sugestions

[Kirk Miller]

I am a newbie at the whole making square stuff round game and need the wisdom of the more experienced. I have made a cool little Bud vase out of Red Elm for my GF as a Valentines suprise (and she will be suprised that I made something bigger than a bottle topper or more usefull than more firewood) I just finish sanded it before I came to work so I didn't get the opportunity to take a picture. I have had some problems with finish on the multitude of bottle toppers that I have produced (Mostly staying sticky after 2-3 days of drying time). I am fielding suggestions for finish as I don't have long to get this thing finished before Valentines. Has anyone worked with Red Elm? What do you reccomend for finish. I thinkit is dry enough to put finish on. I roughed it out about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't get time to check the moisture content. P.S. I will try not to ramble in my future posts

[John Fricke]

A friction wax finish works nice when you don't have much time for finish to dry

[Curt Fuller]

My favorite finish for almost anything is to first apply a liberal amount of Watco Natural Danish Oil to pop out the color in the wood, let it soak in for 5 or 10 minutes and then wipe it down good with a rag or paper towel. Then spray it with the rattle can Deft Semigloss lacquer, just lightly so it doesn't run or anything. That will dry in 30 minutes or less and you can rub it down with a scotchbrite pad and spray it again. Repeat the Deft one more time and you have a pretty nice finish, more coats and it gets even nicer. In cold weather, keep the Deft inside at room temps and the piece your finishing also at room temp to prevent it from getting an orange peel look to it. But mostly remember that several light coats of Deft look way better than one heavy coat that will often run. That finish is usually pretty bullet proof within a few hours at room temp.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Curt on this one for a fast finish. I am not a user of wax on things that will be handled a lot. Danish oil with Deft lacquer is a good fast choice as you can put 3 to 6 coats on every 30 minutes and you will have a good hard finish.

[Kirk Miller]

I thank everyone for their input on this. I will try to get some pictures of this before the GF hauls it off to work to show off. I am starting to wonder how big her desk is as she seems to cart all kinds of stuff in there....lol:D

[William Bachtel]

I use General Finishes on Red Elm green all the time and have no problems.