Bottle stoppers finished with HUT.....mistake??

[George Farra]

Hi All

Recently I asked about proper finishes for bottle stoppers and other items as I am making then for holiday gifts. I was advised that shellac based finished like HUT are not a great choice for things that will come into contact with alcohol or water.

Well....I made a bunch of bottle stoppers a while back that are all finished with HUT friction polish. Rather than making them display items, is there anyway I can salvage them for stopper use? Should I sand them all to remove the HUT and refinish them? Is there anything I can use over the HUT?

TIA

George

[Patrick Morris IV]

Shellac based finishes can be stripped with DNA(Denatured alcohol). I would try that before sanding, may require a little touchup sanding afterwards.

Pat

[George Farra]

Thanks Patrick. Will give it a shot

George

[Kyle Iwamoto]

When I first started, I tried HUT PPP on pens, and was somewhat unsatisfied. I applied oil over the HUT and got better results. I'd give an oil a shot, the HUT seems to not penetrate and seal the wood very well, and the oil seems to penetrate through and makes the pens look and last longer. Now I use the HUT AFTER the finish dries, more to polish it and smooth it out vice sanding with many grits. Seems to work better that way. I like the way HUT feels, but not how it makes the wood look. Good luck in the salvage.....

[Mark Greenbaum]

Can you just mask off the stopper, and shoot with spray on acrylic lacquer?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'd try an additional coat of dewaxed shellac and then use the finish of your choice. I don't know if HUT is dewaxed. A lot of finishes have long term problems sticking to shellac that contains wax but most finishes can be put on over dewaxed shellac.

I have used brushing lacquer successfully on bottles stoppers after using BLO to pop the grain and then dewaxed shellac to isolate the BLO from the brushing lacquer.

My most recent bottle stoppers I finished with CA glue and BLO.

[George Farra]

Can you just mask off the stopper, and shoot with spray on acrylic lacquer?

Mark, the turned portion unscrews from the business end of the stopper so yes I can easily set them up for a spray lacquer. Will the lacquer adhere to the HUT friction polish?? HUT is a blend of shellac and carnuba wax.

Thanks

George

[George Farra]

Ken,

I hear the BLO/CA combo is relatively easy to apply. how have you found it on turnings with some details like a double bead? Do you have enough working time to get good coverage into the crevices?

Thanks

George

[Ken Fitzgerald]

George,

BLO/CA is relatively easy to apply.

Here's a link to a thread displaying some bottle stoppers I turned earlier this spring. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...hink&highlight= A friend asked me to do it. I decided to try a BLO/CA on these bottle stoppers. While I had used BLO/CA on pens, I had never tried it on bottle stoppers or anything else. I hadn't turned anything for a while so I figured I might have a relearning process to experience but everything went fine.

[Marty Tippin]

I'm interested in the CA / BLO finish technique as well. Found a YouTube video from WWGOA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-FXOsMR2tY

Is this pretty much how you applied the finish, Ken? Seems waaay too easy!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Marty....I had used CA/BLO on pens using the technique shown in Russ Fairfield's video. The video to which you linked is the video where I got the idea of trying CA/BLO on bottlestoppers.

That is the technique I used.

[Marty Tippin]

I tried the CA / BLO finish on a stopper last night and the results were atrocious. My technique is most likely to blame, but I couldn't get the CA finish either smooth or glossy - tried both medium and thin CA. Really not sure I see the point of the BLO in the first place and not convinced very much of the CA is sticking to the work piece when applied over the BLO...

I gave up and sanded it all down and hit it with some spray lacquer, which didn't come out too good either.

So I went inside and had a beer. At least that part came out well.... ;-)

[Jeff Holoboski]

I have recently been using Stickfast ca glue.Its advertised as having a longer working time and I believe it.I turn my lathe down real slow.I apply 2-3 coats of thin ca using white paper towels followed with 4-6 coats of medium ca.Between coats I use accelerator.After all the coats of medium ca have been applied I let it set-up for 15-30 minutes.Next I sand with 400 grit to knock down all the ca glue ridges and make sure it is dull.Next I wet micro mesh 1500-12000.I follow it with some Meguiars plastic polish.The result is a glossy glass finish.

[Jeramie Johnson]

I have recently been using Stickfast ca glue.Its advertised as having a longer working time and I believe it.I turn my lathe down real slow.I apply 2-3 coats of thin ca using white paper towels followed with 4-6 coats of medium ca.Between coats I use accelerator.After all the coats of medium ca have been applied I let it set-up for 15-30 minutes.Next I sand with 400 grit to knock down all the ca glue ridges and make sure it is dull.Next I wet micro mesh 1500-12000.I follow it with some Meguiars plastic polish.The result is a glossy glass finish.

Yep, this is the best approach. Timing on how long you hold the paper towel is key. Too long.....your paper sticks. Not long enough......glue will be bumpy.

[Scott Underwood]

I finished a few bottle stoppers with Hut. I left one on a wine bottle in the fridge for two days and it completely dried out the finish to the point that it looked dull and unfinished. Not sure if anybody else has had this problem.