Finish Techniques

[Matt Coplan]

Greetings everyone. I have been more of a lurker on this forum for the good part of the last year and I have learned a tremendous amount of information from many of you. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to share their wisdom and experiences to the newer members of the woodturning community. Throughout my woodturning learning curve (or spiral), one of the most confusing aspects has been finishing. After I purchased my first lathe, I was thoroughly overwhelmed with all the available finish options that were on the market (waxes, oils, shellacs, buffs, combinations of all the above………..you get the point). Throw in the consideration of sanding between coats, and when not to sand, and etc, just about drove me mad. Sounds a little OCD right? Well, maybe so. I have finishes that are my go-to finishes simply due to the fact that I know how to do them, but I would consider additional options if I was familiar with the steps and/or technique. Getting a smooth and glossy finish with WOP or WTF is still difficult for me as it seems like I can never keep the finish clean from dust, etc in the finish. I thought this would be a thread where we can offer some of our favorite finishes, the steps, and any additional information pertinent to the finish. I’d also encourage everyone to offer C&Cs to any listed method or technique. Hopefully, someone like me who struggled in the beginning can benefit from our help. I’ll start with an easy one:

One of my favorite finishes on bowls and hollow-forms is natural color Danish oil followed with the Beall Buff System.
-First, I typically sand to 320 at a minimum
-Next, I use an old rag (a scrap of old t-shirt works wellas does a paper towel) and apply the DO
-I will continue to apply a small amount of DO to the areas of the piece that are soaking up lots of oil
-After about 15 minutes of soaking, I will completely remove the remaining oil on the surface with a rag or paper towel
-I let the piece cure for at least three days
-After the piece has cured, I will buff and wax via the Beall Buffing System per the manufacturer’s instructions

Pros: easy to do, relatively cheap after the investment of the Beall system, not time consuming
Cons: the DO can give some woods a yellow tint, the carnauba wax from the Beall system can get water spots and discolor in the sunlight

MC

[Jamie Donaldson]

Hi Matt, and this is a tip of the iceberg start on a subject with no absolute resolution. I often observe that turners attempt to use too many finishes, especially in the beginning of their turning journey. Using as few as 3 different finishes will cover most all requirements, and limiting yourself will lead to a better understanding what those specific finishes can achieve for your work. My go-to as a sanding sealer and frequent finish is lacquer, often Deft, both out is a can and rattle can. I dilute Deft gloss with a bit of acetone, maybe 5~10% in a metal can, and that is both sealer and finish on most of my lighter colored woods. Other times I might apply WTF over the lacquer sealer, and on darker woods I often use a variety of WOP for a more durable finish when desired. With the dozen cans of finish typically spread across the back of a workbench, often they will turn to goo before we ever use a fraction of the contents. Standardizing with a few finishes will give more predictable results, rather than each project being a finishing experiment, often with questionable results.

[Dennis Ford]

One of my favorite finishes is lacquer, I use an inexpensive detail gun and spray multiple coats.
-I usually sand the wood to 320 grit and wipe on a coat of sanding sealer (fine grain woods need sanding to a higher grit than 320).
-When the sanding sealer is dry (less than an hour), I sand most of it off.
-Most woods will require multiple coats of sanding sealer
-When I am satisfied with the surface, I spray two or three coats of lacquer
-After a few days of curing, I use 0000 steel wool to smooth out the lacquer and then buff it.

Pros:
-A very nice finish is not difficult, a great finish is possible.
-lacquer does not change the color of wood much at all (important for light colored wood)
-small scratches are not difficult to repair later

Cons:
-Need an air compressor unless you use rattle cans
-a learning curve is involved in use of thinners, retarders & spray equipment.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Like Jamie said I started out trying every finish. Most of it went bad before used. On utility items I use Mahoney's or Drs Workshop walnut oil. Two coats and don't buff. I use a sanding sealer on decorative items and then either water based Target EM 6000 lacquer or EM 9000 water based poly which I airbrushes or use a small piece of T-shirt to apply. On ornaments I use deft rattle can lacquer on ornaments. I do still use some minwax antique oil on HF's. Ren Wax is my wax of choice as carnuba and other waxes like to show fingerprints.

[Dave Mueller]

Like Jaime, I am a proponent of one or two finishes for everything. For the past year, CA was my top choice, but I have had great results with General's water based polyurethane WTF. Originally, I was concerned putting it on bare wood, but it works fine. Just sand off the raised grain from the first application and keep going. Wipe it on and you can do a new coat every 2 minutes, so the total finish time is less than 30 minutes. Sand to 4000 grit for a satin finish or buff to a high gloss.