A Finishing Question

[James Combs]

I am about to finish up turning a 10" vase with a 1.25 inch opening. I have applied two coats of finish to the outside. My question is "What do you folks do to finish the inside of small mouth hollow-forms. At about 9 inches deep and a mouth opening of only 1.25" a brush is of limited value. What do you folks do?

[John Keeton]

JD, what look are you after? Is it possible to post a pic of the WIP? If you expect folks to look down into the form, sometimes a finish will enhance the roughness of the interior. But, if that is not a concern, then you might consider pouring finish into the form, and taking a piece of paper shop towel taped to a dowel, and move the finish around the interior. You might also consider flat acrylic paint, which might reduce the rough interior - unless of course, you have it sanded smooth!!! Then, I retract all I have said, and henceforth will consider your sanding skills to be legendary!:eek::D

[David E Keller]

I generally dump some BLO into the hole, swirl, and dump it back out. After about 5 minutes, I stuff a paper towel into the hole and spin it around with a dowel, screwdriver, gouge, etc. If the hole is too small to look in, I skip the inside finish.

[Steve Schlumpf]

James... these days it seems I use poly for just about everything. With vases such as you describe - I just pour some poly into the vase and then rotate the vase to make sure everything gets coated, pour out the excess and call it good!

[Prashun Patel]

I haven't done HF's, but I think shellac would be perfect. Dries quick and won't smell.

[James Combs]

JD, what look are you after? Is it possible to post a pic of the WIP? If you expect folks to look down into the form, sometimes a finish will enhance the roughness of the interior. But, if that is not a concern, then you might consider pouring finish into the form, and taking a piece of paper shop towel taped to a dowel, and move the finish around the interior. You might also consider flat acrylic paint, which might reduce the rough interior - unless of course, you have it sanded smooth!!! Then, I retract all I have said, and henceforth will consider your sanding skills to be legendary!:eek::D

John, legendary, I am not, except maybe in my own mine.:rolleyes: However, by using very very light cuts with my mini monster scraper I did manage to get a decent finished surface on the inside. I have also sanded into the mouth as far as my finger could reach. As for a pic, here it is on the lathe. I will post a seperate layout after it is finished for everyone to review.;) In the past I have done as the guys below suggest and just poured some finish into the mouth, swished it around and then poured out the excess.
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I generally dump some BLO into the hole, swirl, and dump it back out. After about 5 minutes, I stuff a paper towel into the hole and spin it around with a dowel, screwdriver, gouge, etc. If the hole is too small to look in, I skip the inside finish.


James... these days it seems I use poly for just about everything. With vases such as you describe - I just pour some poly into the vase and then rotate the vase to make sure everything gets coated, pour out the excess and call it good!

David, Steve, thanks for the response, as I noted to John what you are suggesting is pretty much what I have been doing but I just thought there might be something that I hadn't thought of, maybe even leave it unfinished.:eek:


I haven't done HF's, but I think shellac would be perfect. Dries quick and won't smell.

Thanks Prashun, I have some shellac, I might just give that a try. I have noticed that some of the finishes are fairly odorous in enclosed areas such as HFs.:o

[John Keeton]

JD, that is going to be a nice piece when finished! With that much view into the interior, I would think seriously about avoiding a gloss interior, though one soaking coat of WOP wouldn't leave much in the way of gloss. I have done both it and shellac, and they both work well. The shellac will dry much quicker, and as noted, no lingering smell.

[James Combs]

JD, that is going to be a nice piece when finished! With that much view into the interior, I would think seriously about avoiding a gloss interior, though one soaking coat of WOP wouldn't leave much in the way of gloss. I have done both it and shellac, and they both work well. The shellac will dry much quicker, and as noted, no lingering smell.

I agree with not using anything glossy. The outside is drying with a second coat of Satin WOP which would not be bad on the inside but I am leaning toward the shellac.