finish for best "deep shine" in wood

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xxShadowxx

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after doing a few woods for past month and noticing some have a good reflective shine, i did a few more of each of those woods, different finishes, sanding amount, etc - then learned it's called chatoyancy :biggrin: obviously the wood, the finish, sanding amount, etc all contribute to how much it shines/reflects, but any suggested finishes that really bring it out far more than others?:biggrin:
 
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Most will probably say a CA finish, high gloss and durable. Others will say -- looks like plastic ;) You will find a lot of different methods to do a ca finish here & on youtube. Monty on the forum here sells CA at a good price.
 
I agree here, CA when done correctly looks simply amazing and Monty is the one to help you out with the cheapest option. Everyone has a different method that works for them but for me I start off by blasting the freshly sanded wood with some denatured alcohol or accellerator to clean it off from any residue or dust. Once dried I use a single coat of thin CA to seal it then I do my coats in medium CA. I do about 8 coats before I micro sand and plastic polish. Hope that helps.
 
Chatoyance

xxShadowxx said:
after doing a few woods for past month and noticing some have a good reflective shine, i did a few more of each of those woods, different finishes, sanding amount, etc - then learned it's called chatoyancy :biggrin: obviously the wood, the finish, sanding amount, etc all contribute to how much it shines/reflects, but any suggested finishes that really bring it out far more than others?:biggrin:
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You get the most chatoyance or reflectivity cutting your blanks cross grain. I Don't know your experience, but turning cross grain is a bit more difficult than turning with the grain.

As the gentlemen before me said, CA/BLO is the finish I would use, followed by a good friction polish a couple of hours later.
 
my experience is moot, if i don't know it i can learn it :biggrin:

hmm cross grain, but that is only seen on 2 sides of 6 (for a block)
i guess since it would be round, it would show at angle still :biggrin: will try
 
Some woods have a natural chatoyancy Koa is one of them. You dont have to cut it cross grain. There are several more woods that exhibit the same properties. CA will give you the best layered glass on top look. Wipe on poly done properly will come close but not quite get there. I have been working with the "Doctors Woodshop: friction polishes lately to see if the results will measure up and hold up. I have pens finished with wipe on poly that are over ten years old and still hold up. They do not have the glass like coating affect of CA. I have also tried Catalized Lacquer. Great shine but I dont feel that the finsh lasts wear wise.
 
The chatoyance does seem to show up more with CA from my experience. The cut and the kind of wood also play a factor.

One thing that often overlooked is that the chatoyance reflectivity seems to be greatly enhanced by the clarity and fineness of a clear CA/acrylic type of finish. Of course chatoyance does and has occurred without CA/Acrylic finishes, but the better the outer finish the better the chatoyance. Almost like the outer angles (cuts) of a diamond determine how much light is reflected around inside and then back to the eye.
 
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I really like the new Stick Fast finish. It has two polishes, one for satin finish and one for hi gloss finish. So far, it has produced the best looking results for me.
 
leehljp said:
The chatoyance does seem to show up more with CA from my experience. The cut and the kind of wood also play a factor.

One thing that often overlooked is that the chatoyance reflectivity seems to be greatly enhanced by the clarity and fineness of a clear CA/acrylic type of finish. Of course chatoyance does and has occurred without CA/Acrylic finishes, but the better the outer finish the better the chatoyance. Almost like the outer angles (cuts) of a diamond determine how much light is reflected around inside and then back to the eye.
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thats one of the first things i thought of, and tried thin/medium/thick as start layers, thinking soaking into the wood vs jagged on surface bumps of the wood would act like diamonds do

also tried it with different sanding amounts, thick as a start layer on non sanded (rather rough/jagged) surface left from the gouge, was sparkly as hell, not too pretty to see the wood itself though in such a state - which greatly enforces the diamond theory

so far my best woods for chatoyancy though seem to be maple, mahogany, black locust, and this piece of 2000+ yr old sequoia (redwood) :biggrin: havent gotten my hands on koa yet
 
AceHoleInOne said:
A friend of mine who is a furniture maker and also sells figured woods. Suggest the bark side of the wood always has the best chatoyance.

-Ace-
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sadly its sometimes hard to tell which side had the bark :frown:
can see which way the rings of grain curl, but many times they're far too straight
 
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