Do You Finish On or Off the Lathe?...

[Wally Dickerman]

I usually finish with oil, Daly's Ben Matte tung oil. I've tried most of the popular finishes and always seem to come back to my favorite. Over the years I've found that finishing with oil, and in fact, most other finishes, works best for me if I do it with the piece mounted on the lathe.

My first step is to put some oil inside the HF and run the lathe for a few minutes. Some of the oil will usually penetrate and show up on the outside of the piece. I then apply a liberal amount of oil on the outside and let it soak in for a few minutes. Then I run the lathe slowly and polish with a paper towel. In 4 or 5 minutes I apply more oil and polish it in, again with a paper towel.

The oil bleeds out in little dots. If not polished, they will harden, so for an hour or so, every 10 minutes I run the lathe for a few seconds and polish with a rag. I use 6 inch squares of T-shirt cloth. Large pieces of cloth are unsafe to use.

I usually apply 3 or 4 coats of oil before parting the piece off the tenon or glue block.

I have examined pieces that I've done several years before and my oil finishes hold up very well.

Daly's finishes are made in Seattle and are distributed in the NW. They have a reputation for putting out top-notch products and I recommend them. When I was into boating I used Daly's Sea-Fin oil on my teak decks and rails. I have no connection with Daly's, I just like their products.:)

[Jim Burr]

I've been on a Tung oil finish lately. It goes on well on the lathe. I also worry about handling the piece to much while finishing, so the lathe acts as a 3rd hand. Now I'm wondering about application method..papertowel or cotton towel.

[Wally Dickerman]

Forgot to show a finish in progress. This is a piece of maple burl after applying the second coat. The third and fourth coats will bring up a shine. 230940

[Ted Evans]

Forgot to show a finish in progress. This is a piece of maple burl after applying the second coat. The third and fourth coats will bring up a shine. 230940

Beautiful piece of wood!

You do some beautiful work Wally and your method of finishing works extremely well as that work shows. I hate finishing therefore I tend to go the quickest and simplest way possible. I have tried different methods but like you, I seem to return to the one that is most comfortable for me. Sand to 320, apply a coat of lacquer sanding sealer, sand with 320, shoot a coat of pre-catalyzed lacquer, wait 20 minutes or so, de-nib with 320 or the 3M purple pads, then shoot a finishing coat. The lacquer stays in the pressure pot until the next job and the pot and gun are cleaned when they stop spraying correctly, sometimes it is weeks, sometimes it is months between cleanings, depending on how often it is used. All sanding is done on the lathe, finishing is off. The actual work time on say a 10" bowl is only a few minutes, total elapsed time is perhaps 90 or so from applying sealer to handling the piece after the finish coat.

[charlie knighton]

Wally, what do you do if wood is very green and is turned to finish thickness, its too wet to sand or apply finish, tendon cut off??????????

[Wally Dickerman]

Wally, what do you do if wood is very green and is turned to finish thickness, its too wet to sand or apply finish, tendon cut off??????????

Simple answer Charlie....I don't turn green to finish.

[charlie knighton]

well that's simple enough, thanks Wally

[Jim Underwood]

I had to laugh at your statement that a few more coats would bring up the shine...

If a few more coats will bring up the shine, whaddya call the finish in that photo? Dull? :D

Nice!

[Ken Glass]

Wally,
I have to say, I finish most of my turning off the Lathe. I do use a lot of Tung Oil, to bring out the depth of grain and figure though, but rarely finish the inside of a HF.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I do all my finishing off the lathe but there is no arguing with the great finishes you achieve!

[Baxter Smith]

Wally, the photo of your finished piece brings a question to mind that I have had for awhile. I have gotten into trouble several times recently when trying to complete a smooth curve on the lower portion of a hollowform because I had initially hollowed too deep. I had tried to make the thickness at the bottom of my roughout, very close to the thickness of the sidewalls to avoid checking through the tenon as it dried. I imagine your answer will include "it depends"... but in general, if you rough a 5 or 6" diameter hollowform to 1/2" in thickness, how deep do you tend to drill your hole/how thick in depth to the bottom of the tenon do you feel comfortable leaving it?

In answer to your original question, off the lathe since I haven't had that much wood at the base to play with and still keep a tenon to be held in the chuck.

[John Keeton]

For a base coat, I use BLO and shellac, or just shellac if I am concerned about too much darkening. I apply those on the lathe, but for the final finish, I do that off the lathe. I recently began using the General WTF finish, but Ted's spray setup sure sounds enticing!

[joel nucifore]

90% of the time on the lathe.............

[Bill Hensley]

The majority of my finishing is done on the lathe but I remove it from the chuck. I mount a tapered spindle in the chuck, flip the piece around and finish turn the base between centers. I'll leave a little nub for the tailstock so the piece is held well enough for me to apply my finish and sand as needed between spray or wipe on coats. Mostly I spray lacquer so I can build the finish much quicker.

[Bill Wyko]

With the new lathe I'm trying to break the habit. I just ordered this articulating stand to do more carving and also finishing. By the time you have all the parts it gets pricy but I know I'll use it all the time.
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=packard&Product_Code=301700&Category_Code=

[Kenny Jacobson]

Thank you, Wally, for describing your finishing process. I'm always looking to improve my own, and based on your beautiful work and years of experience, I'm eager to give your process a try on my next project (I even order a quart of the Daly's BenMatte Danish Tung Oil :))

My question is what grit do you sand to before appying the tung oil?

Thanks!

[Eric Holmquist]

Generally off the lathe, but once in a while, on the lathe.

I typically spray waterborn lacquer with an HVLP spray gun and don't want the ovespray near my lathe.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I use a High Gloss Varnish on most of my pieces & always finish them on the lathe.

[Wally Dickerman]

Wally, the photo of your finished piece brings a question to mind that I have had for awhile. I have gotten into trouble several times recently when trying to complete a smooth curve on the lower portion of a hollowform because I had initially hollowed too deep. I had tried to make the thickness at the bottom of my roughout, very close to the thickness of the sidewalls to avoid checking through the tenon as it dried. I imagine your answer will include "it depends"... but in general, if you rough a 5 or 6" diameter hollowform to 1/2" in thickness, how deep do you tend to drill your hole/how thick in depth to the bottom of the tenon do you feel comfortable leaving it?

In answer to your original question, off the lathe since I haven't had that much wood at the base to play with and still keep a tenon to be held in the chuck.
Baxter, you're right..it depends on several things. I leave what I call heavy wood in the bottom area of a roughed out piece. Thicker than the upper portion. I very seldom experience cracking because of that.

If I'm turning wood that's prone to cracking such as fruitwood, then I'll leave all of the wood a bit thicker so that it evens out. Also...I have a fairly large wood stash so I seldom rough turn really wet wood. Most of the blanks in my shop are partly dry by the time I get to them.

I apply a very heavy coat of Johnson's paste wax to all of my roughouts and seldom experience any cracking. I live in hot dry Arizona so I don't do any roughing in the summer months.

[Wally Dickerman]

Thank you, Wally, for describing your finishing process. I'm always looking to improve my own, and based on your beautiful work and years of experience, I'm eager to give your process a try on my next project (I even order a quart of the Daly's BenMatte Danish Tung Oil :))

My question is what grit do you sand to before appying the tung oil?

Thanks!

Depends on the wood. If it's a porous wood such as walnut, I sand to 400, then sand with 600 while the oil is still wet. The slurry will partly fill the pores. On maple etc. I just sand to 600 or sometimes 1500.

Way back in the 50's the NRA was selling Springfield military rifles for $15. People were sporterizing them with new stocks and sights. I got into the stockmaking business as a sideline. I used mostly walnut. I oiled and sanded until the pores were filled. Sometimes took a lot of coats.

[Russell Neyman]

Ah, tung oil. It was my favorite finish for cabinets and cases for many years, and for some reason I wandered away from it and have never used it on one of my turnings. Tell us, Wally, do you buff out your tung oil finishes?

[Nathan Hawkes]

Wally, I do all my bowl finishing off the lathe, in groups of several bowls at a time, so as to try and be efficient-- I can oil several bowls in the same amount of time it takes for just one. I usually use Minwax antique oil, which is a varnish/linseed oil blend. I have the same problem with oil bleeding out in little dots as well. I try and stick around the shop for at least half an hour after applying the oil, trying to polish away any dots that appear. It can be quite tedious, and certain woods tend to bleed out more than others. The more open grained the wood, the worse the bleed out. I use 3M gray ultra fine synthetic steel wool to remove the little nibs that I miss, and re-apply a second and third much lighter coat, sometimes a fourth if I really want a shine. Between each successive coat, I use the white 3M synthetic abrasive, which contrary to advertising is really quite a bit higher grit than 4/0 steel wool. In my experience, the gray ultra fine is more like 4/0, and the white is more of a polishing--2000 grit or so.

[Wally Dickerman]

Ah, tung oil. It was my favorite finish for cabinets and cases for many years, and for some reason I wandered away from it and have never used it on one of my turnings. Tell us, Wally, do you buff out your tung oil finishes?

If I want a high shine I do the Beall system, usually w/o the wax. I sometimes add another coat of oil over the Beall buffing.

[Eric Holmquist]

With the new lathe I'm trying to break the habit. I just ordered this articulating stand to do more carving and also finishing. By the time you have all the parts it gets pricy but I know I'll use it all the time.
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=packard&Product_Code=301700&Category_Code=

I am curious what the practical function is for the air fitting on the bottom?

[Bill Hensley]

Eric it appears you can mount a vacuum chuck to it and then apply the vacuum. Pretty clever.

"The Pro-Mount spindle has threads to match your lathe and is also drilled through to allow for a vacuum set up to be used if needed. The bottom of the spindle has a 1/4" BSP Thread for a air fitting to screw in."

[Eric Holmquist]

Ah! Thanks, I somehow missed the word vacuum when I first read it, and was trying to figure out how pressure would be helpfull. Very clever feature, these guys put a lot of thought into making a nice product.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Most of my finishing is off the lathe except for shellac.

[Rob Price]

Pens and pepper mills on the lathe. I'll usually oil my bowls on the lathe but film finish (if any) is usually wiped on off the lathe. I get less ridges that way. I spray lacquer with my cheapo hvlp. Considering an airbrush to spray general WTF....

[Vince Welch]

Generally, for bowls and platters I slow sand till about 320 maybe 400. Then I apply a sanding sealer or lacquer that has been thin to penetrate and fill the pours. I immediately wipe off any excess and let it sit for just a moment. Then I sand again with 320 or 400 to ensure I have a level surface. After that... I apply my oil. By doing this prep work my coats start to build right from the first coat B/C the end grain is sealed and I will not get blotches but rather a more even coat as I apply my finish. I often will sand between coats 600 add a coat 800 add a coat till achieve the gloss or sheen I want. I let the finish coat dry well then apply mylands wax and do not touch allow wax to set up and harden. Hope this helps.

[Russell Neyman]

Vince, you apply an oil finish over lacquer? I take it that you've sanded it down to almost nothing before you do.

[robert baccus]

I use mostly laq. because gloss sells well. i powersand to 220 and hand sand 220 for 2-3 minutes. apply heavy SS with a sponge(2 coats) sand with a 220 sponge and shoot cat. laquer. i then wetsand with a 220 sponge for a few minutes, apply megulars compound (2 grits) with a wet sponge and wax. all this is done on the lathe. reverse and finish the bottom and sign. i'm not famous for my immaculate bottoms but they sell. I do wheel buff small pieces on my homemade buffer. Beales and buffer are not one word.------never spray lacquer at nite during june bug season.----------------------old forester