Best finish for bottle stoppers?

[Jim Smith]

I am about to try my hand at a couple of bottle stoppers and I was wondering what the best finish was that was resistent to alcohol. The stoppers I will be making do not lend themselves to CA finish so it will have to be spray-on. I was going to use Polyurethane, but I thought I'd check here first.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Jim Smith

 

[StephenM]

Most of the furniture I've made is finished with shellac and wax and has had its share of Guinness, Bushmills, wine, etc. spilled on it with no ill effects. 12% alcohol in wine isn't going to have an effect on shellac.

If they're using it to stopper a bottle of Everclear, that might be a different story...

 

[PaulDoug]

I just use a good spray on lacquer or polyurethane. Never had any complaints. I usually put on 6 or 7 coats. The alcohol shouldn't be a problem for a finish. I'd be more concern about what the actual stopper part is made of. I like Ruth Niles' the best, personally.

 

[Seer]

Believe it or not I have put a CA finsh on most of mine and Deft on the rest.

 

[monophoto]

I usually use gloss WOP - cured WOP is impervious to alcohol. I typically apply 4-5 coats, waiting a couple of hours between applications. I have a couple of 'finishing mandrels' - maple blocks that have been drilled and tapped to screw onto the spindle of my lathe, and with a 3/8x16 bolt embedded in the end to hold stoppers. There is usually a little runout on these, so I don't use them for turning, but they are fine for applying finish. Having a few of these makes it possible to not 'mortgage' the lathe to partially-finished stoppers while the WOP is curing between applications.

By the way, I always apply a coat of finish to the underside of stoppers. Stoppers generally don't require serious washing, but it's common to rinse them off between uses. Applying a coat of WOP to the underside seals the wood so that water can't penetrate the wood and cause mold.

Recently, I gave myself a 'self-assignment' to do a captive ring on a stopper. Captive rings have to be finished in two steps - the outer portion is finished after the surface is rounded over but before the ring is cut free. Then, the underside is finished after the turning has been completed. Since I didn't want to extend the project in order to apply multiple applications of WOP, I opted to use Tung Oil instead, using the 'fat over lean' technique - the first application was a 1:1 mixture of pure Tung Oil and turpentine. After burnishing at high speed, I applied a second application of pure Tung Oil straight from the bottle. Burnishing at high speed caused it to cure enough to be able to immediately cut the ring free and then complete the stopper without further delay. The result is actually quite nice - a soft matte finish.

I really enjoy making stoppers, and they are great gifts to accompany a bottle of wine when invited to friends home for parties. The down side is that they encourage a really bad habit - leftover wine.

 

[Bezdomni]

I've been using the Beall system to finish my stoppers and most of my other projects. I usually just buff over raw sanded wood but occasionally I have used something like HUT liquid or WATCO Natural as an undercoat, then buffed. I really like the way the wood looks after the three-step buffing. I'll sometimes use the undercoat if the wood is very light or plain. That's also the only time I'll decorate them with lines and the like. Otherwise, the buffed wood makes its own statement.

I absolutely agree with the recommendation for Ruth Niles stoppers and I recommend that you buy them directly from her. You can't do any better and you can pay more elsewhere and get less. I just don't use anything else any more except for one shop that wants the cheapest possible stoppers. I don't like using my time making things that aren't as good as they might be, so I'm going to stop making those as soon as my small supply of other stoppers runs out.

All the usual disclaimers, of course. Good luck and have fun.

Chuck