Finish experiment

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I did a fast experiment with WoodTurners Finish, Wipe On Poly and blonde dewaxed shellac. Left to right. Attached is the results.

There are 4 coats each. 2 coats, sanded with 320, 2 more coats, no sanding. The purpose is to illustrate what the first few coats of each finish generates.
The top turning is koa, the bottom is hard maple. They are about 3/4 inch or an inch thick.
Sorry for the less than stellar pics, but my good camera takes pictures that are too big to load.

My OPINION
For the koa, it appears that there is virtually no difference in the finish and what they do to enhance the wood. If I had to chose I would choose the WOP.
For the maple though, what is obvious, is the lack of coloration of the WTF, and the high amount of grain enhancement and coloration of the shellac.

A few tidbits, WOP takes a couple days to get 4 coats down, WTF and shellac can get 4 coats with sanding in a couple hours. WTF washes up with water and soap, the others do not. The WOP seems to bring out the lack of sanding skill prior to finishing.

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[Jamie Donaldson]

Those are exactly the results I would have expected Kyle.

[Jim Burr]

I airbrushed WTF on a pen last weekend, talk about fast drying! I don't have buffing stuff and I didn't use Hutts on it, but some more gloss would have been cool.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Those are exactly the results I would have expected Kyle.

What, the lack of sanding skill? :D

[Greg Just]

Which one would you expect to be the most durable on something like a pepper mill or a coffee mug? Poly?

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have found WTF to be pretty tough. I have a bowl I use for cereal several days a week and it still looks good. Easy clean up and no fumes works for me.

[Rob Price]

I like shellac underneath to bring out the grain and color, maybe even oil under the shellac, and then WTF on top for durability to get the best of both worlds. The WTF is a waterbased poly. It should be just as durable as the other poly.

[Greg Just]

anyone know how WTF compares to the MiniWax waterbased poly?

[Rob Price]

I've never used the minwax. For me, what sets the WTF apart is that I can re-coat in 5 minutes, sometimes less. Dries faster than lacquer. Goes on pretty thin though, so you do need several coats.