uv or not uv?

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MedWoodWorx

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Hello fellow penturners, since most of you are seasoned penturners i would like to hear a few words of wisdom. In my quest to find alternative finishes to ca and other nasty chemicals, i am experimenting with all kind of oils: walnut oil, boiled lineseed oil etc. The latest part in my saga was the use of stand oil (polymerised linseed oil used for painting) which is very thick and takes ages to cure. My question is: has anyone used uv lamps to improve and/or accelerate curing of such oils? a uv light setup can help cure any finish (including ca)? (since it provides a bit of warmth as well as sun-like radiation) i am not talking about uv-curing varnishes or paints, just ordinary oil, in theory uv-c lamps could help the polymerisation of polyunsaturated oils like walnut and linseed. Thank you in advance for any advice, greetings from Greece.
 
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MRDucks2

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Not tried a UV light, but I do know that Japan Drier will speed the cure time of some oil based finishes.
 

jrista

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Have you tried Pens Plus? Walnut Oil, Shellac, alcohol, and a microcrystalline synthetic wax. Its now my go-to finish as an alternative to CA, which is extremely toxic to me. Its a friction polish, so it dries fast. I recommend first finishing the blank in pure walnut oil (same brand, Doctor's Woodshop) first to saturate the wood a bit, then use the Pens Plus.
 

leehljp

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Tung oil is the very best against moisture and toughest. UV? I think I have seen it on TO.

AS a tip, for pens with finishes that require long curing times, the time per pen can be greatly reduced by doing them in batches, say 5 or 10 a day, set them aside to cure; Next day, do the same, and so on. Then after a week to a month you are finishing that many per day. Most of those who use urushi, do this. Urushi typically takes 2 weeks to a month to do a pen right, but, but, but, it takes skill and urushi in its raw form can make the CA seem as innocuous as water. However, when cured it handles the highest temps of most any finish, is tough and lasts longer, amd makes a beautiful finish.
Oh, and I almost forgot, when urushi is done right, it can command $1000+ per pen easily, and $3000 - $5000 in the right markets.
 
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TonyL

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I have used UV lamps for UV activated finishes.

Separately but somewhat related, I have called paint manufactures to ask them about any way to rapidly accelerate the curing of paint beyond controlling temperature and moving air over painted object. They all said the same thing. Additional heat or more air will ensure a quicker cure of the very top layer which will delay or totally prevent the total curing on the paint under the "skin".

I do not how how much this applies to autobody paint. I should aske my son; he sell for Axalta

Don't know if it is true or if they are all just covering their butts.

Let me know what you learn.
 

MedWoodWorx

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Have you tried Pens Plus? Walnut Oil, Shellac, alcohol, and a microcrystalline synthetic wax. Its now my go-to finish as an alternative to CA, which is extremely toxic to me. Its a friction polish, so it dries fast. I recommend first finishing the blank in pure walnut oil (same brand, Doctor's Woodshop) first to saturate the wood a bit, then use the Pens Plus

I wish i could find pens plus or other dr's products in a e shop that ships to europe in a reasonable price. I have tried to make my own blend with walnut oil and shellac as well as a finishing wax made up from walnut oil and beeswax. The thing is that my walnut oil is ordianary edible oil that is not polymerised that's why i am thinking about uv lamps. Bare in mind that i work in a non heated workshop that is quite humid during winter months. Therefore i think that even the warmth produced from the light, let alone the uv light will help the curing process. This guy https://www.andrewcarruthers.com/led-light-box/ inspired me to try to make a uv cabinet of some sort. Anyway trial and error is the way forward i suppose..
 

MedWoodWorx

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Greece
Tung oil is the very best against moisture and toughest. UV? I think I have seen it on TO.

AS a tip, for pens with finishes that require long curing times, the time per pen can be greatly reduced by doing them in batches, say 5 or 10 a day, set them aside to cure; Next day, do the same, and so on. Then after a week to a month you are finishing that many per day. Most of those who use urushi, do this. Urushi typically takes 2 weeks to a month to do a pen right, but, but, but, it takes skill and urushi in its raw form can make the CA seem as innocuous as water. However, when cured it handles the highest temps of most any finish, is tough and lasts longer, amd makes a beautiful finish.
Oh, and I almost forgot, when urushi is done right, it can command $1000+ per pen easily, and $3000 - $5000 in the right markets.
urushi is next level stuff for me, i wish i could use but i feel i lack the expertise. the thing is that i don't enjoy wearing a facemask, goggles and gloves in my passtime. I am a healthcare worker and for the last two years i wear a mask for 10 hours a day ....tung oil is interesting but i think it would act in a similar fashion as walnut oil.
 

jrista

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I wish i could find pens plus or other dr's products in a e shop that ships to europe in a reasonable price. I have tried to make my own blend with walnut oil and shellac as well as a finishing wax made up from walnut oil and beeswax. The thing is that my walnut oil is ordianary edible oil that is not polymerised that's why i am thinking about uv lamps. Bare in mind that i work in a non heated workshop that is quite humid during winter months. Therefore i think that even the warmth produced from the light, let alone the uv light will help the curing process. This guy https://www.andrewcarruthers.com/led-light-box/ inspired me to try to make a uv cabinet of some sort. Anyway trial and error is the way forward i suppose..
Fundamentally speaking, heat also makes oil polymerize. I also use friction to kick off the polymerization process of the Doctor's Woodshop walnut oil so that I don't have to wait days for it to be ready to put the Pens Plus finish on.

Doctor's Woodshop's description of their Walnut Oil is that it is just pure, filtered walnut oil, nothing special has been done to it as far as I know. They recommend using either head, or UV light, or both (i.e. put the item outside in the sun) to speed up the polymerization process.

So if you have pure walnut oil, then I would friction polish it, and yes...I'd use UV light. I picked up a basic LED based UV light bar for something like $12 the other day, more for glow in the dark blanks and getting sufficient photos of them, but its definitely true UV light and it pumps out quite a lot of it.
 

MRDucks2

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Captain Eddie's finish actually works pretty well, I received some in a pen swap, and is made of readily available materials. Somewhat along the lines of the recipe you are chasing I believe he offers the recipe either on his website or one of his videos.
 

MedWoodWorx

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Fundamentally speaking, heat also makes oil polymerize. I also use friction to kick off the polymerization process of the Doctor's Woodshop walnut oil so that I don't have to wait days for it to be ready to put the Pens Plus finish on.

Doctor's Woodshop's description of their Walnut Oil is that it is just pure, filtered walnut oil, nothing special has been done to it as far as I know. They recommend using either head, or UV light, or both (i.e. put the item outside in the sun) to speed up the polymerization process.

So if you have pure walnut oil, then I would friction polish it, and yes...I'd use UV light. I picked up a basic LED based UV light bar for something like $12 the other day, more for glow in the dark blanks and getting sufficient photos of them, but its definitely true UV light and it pumps out quite a lot of it.
finally i found a canadian e-shop willing to send me doctor's pens plus so i ll give it a try. However i believe that the good doctor somehow polymerises his walnut oil, is nothing high tech anyway just heat at a steady high temperature for some time. i am very curious to see for myself what is this finish like.
 

TonyL

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I have spoken to this guy several times about his products - good guy. I don't know if you have seen this video.

I also use his high build frictions polish - same formula as PP, but no wax. I like both products, but doesn't last nearly as long as CA.

Pens Plus
 

jrista

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finally i found a canadian e-shop willing to send me doctor's pens plus so i ll give it a try. However i believe that the good doctor somehow polymerises his walnut oil, is nothing high tech anyway just heat at a steady high temperature for some time. i am very curious to see for myself what is this finish like.
I don't know that he does anything special. It just says pure walnut oil, and he also states that to start the polymerization process you should use heat or UV light. He recommends friction polishing it in to generate some heat from friction and start the polymerization, because otherwise it could take some time to harden properly.
 

MedWoodWorx

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I don't know that he does anything special. It just says pure walnut oil, and he also states that to start the polymerization process you should use heat or UV light. He recommends friction polishing it in to generate some heat from friction and start the polymerization, because otherwise it could take some time to harden properly.
i have experimented with walnut oil (ordinary edible) but not systematically so that i can draw conclusions. the last pen i made with olive wood was finished with walnut oil (which i used also during fine sanding) with satisfactory results but i don't know if the oil was polymerised from the heat or if the wood looked nice and shiny temporarily. polymerisation needs time. if you are interested have a look at this legend https://www.violincellomaker.com/2020/03/06/preparing-the-oil-for-the-oil-varnish/ he talks about linseed oil but walnut oil is pretty much the same in terms of unsaturation.cheers
 
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