Bottle stoppers, bottle openers, and tea light holders....whats your favorite finish?

[George Farra]

Hi all

I am starting on my holiday gifts and am looking for advice on what type of finish is easy to apply and durable for each. My gift list consists of bottle stoppers, bottle openers, and tea light holders.

To date, I have used HUT friction polish on bottle stoppers and bottle opener handles. It seems to hold up on the stoppers but not the bottle openers.

Since these are gifts I don't want a finishing failure to occur in a small matter of time

Thank you

George

[Barry McFadden]

I've made a lot of tea light holders mostly from spalted birch. Before I part them off the lathe I put 3 or 4 coats of WOP on them and they turn out looking great....

[Randy Red Bemont]

I've been messing around with O B's Shine Juice (http://eddiecastelin.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/shinejuice.54184110.pdf) and I'm liking it. Very easy to apply and the results are very nice.

Red

[Dan Masshardt]

My understanding is that wine can break down shellac for the bottle stoppers.

I don't do very many but the ones I do are CA finish with stainless inserts.

[Russell Neyman]

CA. It's fast, polishes well, and is tough as hell.

[Stan Smith]

I've made a lot of tea light holders mostly from spalted birch. Before I part them off the lathe I put 3 or 4 coats of WOP on them and they turn out looking great....

Dittos except I finish mine off the lathe. I use gloss wop.

[Ronald Blue]

+3 on CA. It looks great and is quick.

[David Walser]

It depends on the look I'm after. For a high-gloss finish, I use CA. It's fairly quick. (I generally use 12 coats of thin CA and then wet sand with micromesh through all the grits. The process takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.) If I do not want a high-gloss finish, I'll wet sand with walnut oil as the lubricant. Generally, by the time I sand through 400 grit, one final coat of walnut oil will leave a soft, yet durable finish. If I want something a little more durable than walnut oil or on lighter colored woods, I apply two or three coats of Deft lacquer. The first coat is used as a sanding sealer. The next two are applied on the lathe and "buffed dry" with paper towels after being allowed to soak in for about 10 minutes. Then, I cut back the Deft with 0000 steel wool, lubricated with paste wax. It leaves a durable semi-gloss finish.

[George Farra]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to give WOP a try first since I have it on hand. If I dont like the look I will give CA a run. The O.B.'s shine juice is interesting

George

[Gary Herrmann]

For bottle stoppers, CA or glossy poly. Be careful you don't glue the stopper to the mandrel. I like to buff once the finish dries.