WOP - what do you rest the piece on while the coats dry???

[Jon Prouty]

Hi all -

Ignorant question of the day... as the title asks... "what do you set the piece on while the WOP drys? I have tried a couple things: a board with drywall screws partially driven in and the bowl set on the screw heads ( the WOP cured and left marks where it rested), the bowl setting on a piece of ply (Poly didn't cure right where it contacted the ply).

Thanks for the help... so far, I am not really a fan of the WOP. I like the Danish Oil better. I think it is my technique. I am following Steve's recent posting and with 10 or so light coats after the heavy soak first, the poly does not seem to build up enough to my liking. DO seems to work better for me and after buffing both look about the same. If I am going for a bright gloss finish then I guess I better keep adding coats - but in that case, I think regular poly would be better?

two woods tried - mesquite and dunno.

Jon

[Kathy Marshall]

Hi Jon,
I bought a roll of closed cell foam (it's about 5" wide) to use as a cushion when I use a jam chuck with the tailstock in place and I found the foam very useful for setting my pieces on while I finish them. The foam is ridged on one side so with that side up there's enough space for air flow and I've never noticed it leaving any marks on the bottoms or rims, in fact most times I finish the inside and outside at the same time and use the foam to grip the piece where I have just applied finish (one thing to note is I do very light coats of WOP). On average I probably apply 8-10 coats of WOP for any piece that I want glossy but the type of wood does seem to make a difference as some seem to take longer or shorter to build up coats. Here in Phoenix we have very low humidity so finishes dry pretty quick, most pieces are dry enough to handle within an hour and usually I can recoat after 2-3 hours. I've had great luck with WOP and mesquite.

[Steve R Baker]

IF you have a old bandsaw blade, break a piece off, make a big v, set bowl on teeth side.

[Jim Burr]

I do it in 2 parts...top then bottom after the top dries

[joe greiner]

A variation of the saw blade trick:

For pieces finished all over, I make a tripod of push pins, double-face tape, and corrugated cardboard. The double-face tape goes on the bottom of the cardboard, and secures the heads of the push pins against wobbling. The pointed ends of the push pins leave infinitesimal marks, which get filled by subsequent coats after re-mounting.

For less fine material, e.g. Anchorseal, I support the log on tripods made of three gum balls (i.e. from sweet gum). The gum ball spikes function the same as the push pins, and don't roll on their own.

[Tony De Masi]

Jon, if you want to try what I use then just simply take what you have already been using, and turn it over. Of course you would have to ensure that the screws are exposed enough to keep the drying piece atop the board.

[Bill Bulloch]

I have three lathes, so I leave it on the chuck (or face plate) and finish the piece on one of the lathes that I am not using. This gives me access to everything without leaving finger prints. After I am completely finished with the pieces, I take it off the lathe and finish the bottom.

[Jeff Nicol]

Jon, Tony has it right in my book I have a bunch of blocks with the screws through them in different patterns and sizes to accommodate just about any thing I make. Also with HF's you can make different block with dowels that extend inside the vessel and support it that way, make sure to have different lengths that can be interchanged in the block for different heights of HF's. Works great for me. Also if the wood you are using is very pourous it may be better to use a couple coats of shellac to fill in the pores of the wood before applying the finish coats. This gives you a smoother base to apply the WOP and you will achieve the gloss in less coats.

Jeff

[Roger Chandler]

I use the little "painters pyramids" - you can take a round object and set it atop 3 of them spaced apart for balance, and only the small point of each pyramid is touching the bottom, and it allows the air to circulate all the way around the project.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Images/products/148416.jpg

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use the same method Joe uses. Got the idea from a turner at the Richmond Symposium.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jon - I have to agree with Kathy - the type of wood you are working with makes a heck of a difference as to how many coats of wipe-on you need.

When finishing a bowl - I apply one to two heavy saturation coats and after a few minutes to allow the finish to soak in - I wipe away any of the excess. I usually just place the bowl on top of my tablesaw fence because the faces are made out of HDPE plastic and nothing sticks to it. Once the saturation coats are dry - then I finish the bowl 1/2 at a time, either the inside or the outside but not both at the same time normally. On those occasions that I do apply finish coats to both surfaces - then I use those 3-legged plastic pizza box supports to hold up the bowl. The very small legs of the supports are plenty strong to hold the bowl and - being plastic - do not mark the surface of the bowl.

When finishing hollow forms - after the saturation coats have dried - I use a stand that I made that is nothing more than two 2x4 cutoffs, screwed together for use as a base and a foot long piece of 1" dowel mounted vertically to hold the hollow form when its inverted.

[David Gilbert]

I have another option. I use my brad nailer and nail three 1" brads through thin pieces of wood or plywood. They come to sharp points and don't usually leave much of a mark. I have a series of these in different sizes. They work well as long as your object isn't too heavy.

Cheers,
David