Whats wrong with this finish?

[Hillbilly]

I turned a pen and pencil set today this only gives me a total 3 turnings, but still I want them to look good. The pic looks OK and is close to what they really look like. But what you cant see are micro lines and holes that are filling up with wax and or sanding dust. I promise I am sanding these GOOOD they feel slick as glass but they are no shining like I want them to and they have a little haze. I think this is caused by the wax in the flawed areas.

I did not put anything on them other than sanding them to 12,000 mm and minwax. I thought it was sanding dust but I wiped it off with denatured alcohol between each grit and before I waxed it.

I enjoy the turning part and it has came to me pretty easy. I just have to get the finishing part down this seems to be hardest and most important aspect of penmaking.

Thanks, Brian

 

[wizical]

it is very important to have the correct finish down. What are you using as a finish???

 

[Hillbilly]

On that set all I done was sanded from 400 to 12000mm and then a coat of minwax.
But I just went a got a can of BLO and done my first CA/BLO it came out great.

 

[Russianwolf]

depending on the wood, no matter how much you sand, there will still be pours. Some woods the pours are very tight and nearly unnoticeable, but they are still there.

you can use shellac, or sanding sealer, or CA to fill the pours before doing the final finish.

 

[george]

First step would be filling up the grain. There is very nice video tutorial of R.F. in the library. If you sail the grain, you should have smooth surface before any finish.

 

[bradh]

First step would be filling up the grain. There is very nice video tutorial of R.F. in the library. If you sail the grain, you should have smooth surface before any finish.

I agree with George. Some open pore woods will always show this. Red oak is one of the worst.
I learned this from Russ Fairfield too. I just wet sand with some CA. The sawdust mixes with the CA and fills the open pores. When the CA dries, sand the CA layer off and proceed with the BLO. The pores remain filled and the finish is much smoother and cleaner.

 

[Jack Giovo]

Brian

I followed the advice from the other posts and went to the library and watched the vidio

If you havent done it - go there the information available takes all the guess work out of the application process in two short lessons:biggrin:

Thank you all for helping me out also

Jack

 

[maxwell_smart007]

I found that once I switched to CA, there are no more pores...the CA fills the imperfections nicely....

Andrew