Final coat or polish

[Bill Schoppert]

I'm new to turning but this is just way to much fun. It can pure pleasure as you gouge out the inside of your bowl or pure agony as you see your bowl flying across the shop. :eek: I've finished this, to me beautiful bowl but I need to put one ore coat on. It has a few very miner rough spots and a few small bump in the finish. It has 5 coats of WOP on it now and I worried if I sand again and put another coat on it will be the same or at least have the little bumps. Is there a way to sand and then polish. Using 4/0 steel wool does a nice job but it's not shining. Here's the bowl. It's 8" across and 4" tall. This was a piece of maple fire wood in the pile that I cut about 4 years ago.


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[Baxter Smith]

Not a WOP expert but a beautiful bowl!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very pretty wood and a really nice looking bowl! With 5 coats of poly on it - you have enough finish that you can lightly sand the small bumps off. Make sure that you use a 320 or 400 grit or even higher if you have it because all you want to do is knock off the small bumps and not remove any more finish than needed. You didn't say it you are using regular poly or wipe-on - with wipe-on being a very thinned down version. Once you have it 'very' lightly sanded, then apply another very thin coat of poly using a folded up piece of paper towel or a small square of soft fabric. That thin coat will cover all the fine sanding scratches and should give you a very nice gloss - if you are using gloss poly.

[Lee Koepke]

Not answering your question, but I do like that bowl. Especially the edge treatment on the rim. Very nice touch!

[Bill Schoppert]

Thanks guys. I will sand with 400 and I do have 600 so maybe I'll use both. It's wipe on poly so I will try and get a thin coat on. Thanks

[John Keeton]

Bill, very nice bowl - love the black accents! Good advice on the finish. One thing I sometimes do is wet sand with 600 grit - keeps the paper from loading up so much. Use some mineral oil, BLO, walnut oil - whatever you have around. Seems to help get a smooth surface. If you use mineral oil or walnut oil, I would probably wipe down with MS afterward. The BLO will do fine with the WOP, and in fact, I have used it to extend the dry time when I needed that for leveling on flatwork.

[Michelle Rich]

great firewood bowl..you sure rescued a pretty piece

[Donny Lawson]

Great looking bowl. What did you use to add the nice color on the rim?

[David Reed]

Great looking firewood. Western Washingtonians seem to have an abundance of spalted BLM in our piles. I have struggled a bit with the finishes especially on spalted wood which may be just a little soft and must agree with JK's wet sanding recommendation. Having said that, if the wood has any roughness before finish, it will be tough to get this adequately resolved by layering on finish although tempting to try. (not sure if your roughness is nibs or from the wood).

a firewood turner from WW

[Bill Schoppert]

Bill, very nice bowl - love the black accents! Good advice on the finish. One thing I sometimes do is wet sand with 600 grit - keeps the paper from loading up so much. Use some mineral oil, BLO, walnut oil - whatever you have around. Seems to help get a smooth surface. If you use mineral oil or walnut oil, I would probably wipe down with MS afterward. The BLO will do fine with the WOP, and in fact, I have used it to extend the dry time when I needed that for leveling on flatwork.

Thanks John. I will give the wet sand idea a try.

[Bill Schoppert]

Great looking bowl. What did you use to add the nice color on the rim?

Thanks everyone for the praises The black is burnt wood. I turn the rpm's up to around 1500 to 1800 and take 4/0 steel wool and hold it against the area that I want to burn. You have to use a good amount of pressure. You have to be careful because it happens fast and if you do it for to long it will put check cracks along the edge. You will know it is happening because all of a sudden your shop will fill up with smoke. I does accent the area really nice.

[Bill Schoppert]

Great looking firewood. Western Washingtonians seem to have an abundance of spalted BLM in our piles. I have struggled a bit with the finishes especially on spalted wood which may be just a little soft and must agree with JK's wet sanding recommendation. Having said that, if the wood has any roughness before finish, it will be tough to get this adequately resolved by layering on finish although tempting to try. (not sure if your roughness is nibs or from the wood).

a firewood turner from WW

Yes we do have a lot of Big Leaf Maple. You are probably right about the roughness. The end grain is hard to get smooth. I sanded with 80 on up to 400 for a long time and it was still a little rough.
I'm tired of the rain.

[bob svoboda]

Really nice bowl, Bill. Love the burnt accents.

[David Reed]

The black is burnt wood....... You will know it is happening because all of a sudden your shop will fill up with smoke.

Maybe you are best served to move it outdoors - perhaps the rain will keep it from combusting.
Where do you reside in WW? I turn between Olalla and Gig Harbor

[Bill Schoppert]

Maybe you are best served to move it outdoors - perhaps the rain will keep it from combusting.
Where do you reside in WW? I turn between Olalla and Gig Harbor

Heck a person can't even walk between the shop and the house without getting wet, if I moved outside to turn the lathe would rust tight. :D I live east of Issaquah by Preston. Nice place when the sun is out.

[James Combs]

That is a great looking bowl and some of the most fantastic looking wood that I have seen in a while.

[Bill Schoppert]

T some of the most fantastic looking wood that I have seen in a while.

It was a nice find and thanks