best olivewood finish?

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steve_mcloon

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Roseville, MN, USA.
I am about to make a few Bethlehem olivewood pens for an order. Are there any finishes to avoid or that work particularly well with this oily wood? Also, is it ok to use EEE (Tripoli) on it? (I have vague recollections of hearing about problems with EEE or certain finishes with BOW.) Thanks for any advice.
-Steve
 
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I sand BOW to 6000 micromesh, EEE polish, wipe down with lint free cloth, then Myland's friction polish.

I have been real pleased with the finish.
 
I don't have a good answer.

But, I made one recently, did a CA finish - was pretty happy with it. Took it to a show, it cracked ACROSS the grain, not with it.

Still don't have a GOOD answer, but don't take it to an outdoor show!!!
 
I use CA/BLO on olivewood, but I wouldn't call it a finish that works particularily well. Sometimes it starts great and stays great, other times is seems to cloud up over time. One variation on CA/BLO that I do for olive wood is to put on pure CA (I use thin) for the first coat or two until I'm sure that it is totally encased in CA. Then use CA/BLO for 3-4 additional coats to build it up thicker. Never use accelerant on olivewood, it clouds up enough by itself.
 
THarvey said:
I sand BOW to 6000 micromesh, EEE polish, wipe down with lint free cloth, then Myland's friction polish.

I have been real pleased with the finish.
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What is the oldest finish done and the pen in reasonable use that you've seen? I've some folks say they've seen pens returned for refills or mechanical failure, and after about a year the friction finishes are worn off in places, has this been your experience? or have you seen them last longer, and most of the Bethlehem Olive I've turned is very oily to beginwith, I had to replace a transmission in one that I did a little over a year ago it looked pretty bad, but this was like the 3rd pen I made.
It's been my limited experience that wiping the blank down with Denatured Alcohol and letting it dry a wile helps any finish on BOW,in fact it flat work wonders with CA on it, I think it's too bad it needs any finish, the fragrance of the naked wood is so great!
 
The oldest BOW pen I have made is about nine months. The last time I saw it (about a week ago) it looked great. The owner is still happy with it.

I tried CA, but could not get a finish I was happy with. I have seen some posted here that I envied.

With the shine I have after 6000 mm, I have considered going through 12000 mm and leaving unfinished. I may try that with a pen I keep for myself.
 
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The trick getting a CA finish is get the oil off the surface, The one I fixed the Gent. is a local Minister and he uses the pen a lot, I've sold him 3 refills for it, I made him a pencil about 6 months ago that has a CA finish, it doesn't get used much (if at all) but it's still in great shape
 
I have used CA on olive, and at the moment its standing up fine.

Did a coat of BLO, to pop the grain/colour. Then 10 coats of Medium CA. Polished to 12000mm then some Ren Wax! Looks as good as any of the other woods i've done the finish on?
 
My Olivewood pens are all wiped down with BLO, allowed to dry and then CA.

Because I prefer a satin finish, after the CA finish, I hit the blank with some 0000 steel wool. This gives the pen a nice satin finish that will never wear off.

My personal carry is a Baron about 3-4 Years old. Still looks good! I also have an El Grande that is on my desk. You can't beat Bethlehem Olivewood for beauty!
 
One of the tricks we have used when dealing with oily woods is to spray the blank real well with accelerate after we have sanded and before we start the CA. With the lathe on slow rpms just spray the blank and wipe with a paper towel much like you would if you were using denatured alcohol.

Mike
 
Gotta go with the bare wood crowd on this one. My first cigar was a Olive that I still have on my desk in the house. It's used frequently and after 1.5 years, still looks great. In fact I think the wood looks richer with the aging patina.
 
bitshird said:
What is the oldest finish done and the pen in reasonable use that you've seen? I've some folks say they've seen pens returned for refills or mechanical failure, and after about a year the friction finishes are worn off in places, has this been your experience? or have you seen them last longer, and most of the Bethlehem Olive I've turned is very oily to beginwith,
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Ken; On the back of my business card, I offer free free refills if the pen is returned to me. Since most of my sales are Word-of-mouth local, there isn't a shipping problem. While I replace the refill, I let the person browse thru my pen cases... I often sell another pen this way!

I refinished some of the pens I sold before I switched to CA finishing.
 
I have made several BOW and I have used Mylands after sanding to 12,000 MM and I also have burnished the finish with shavings and then applied Lieberon or Mylands.
 
I think the main reason people don't recommend tripoli or EEE on olivewood is that the wood is light, and the tripoli can pull the steel dust from the bushings into the wood. This either leaves a gray streak in the wood, or (if it is spread out enough) just dulls the color of the wood and lowers the apparent contrast.

I've had decent luck with CA by wiping it down with either alcohol or mineral spirits before applying it. Haven't tried the accelerator yet, but that's a good idea.
 
I just finished some BOW pens and I used a combination of Tru-Oil and CA.

I'm no expert by no means. That declaration being made I use a combination of Tru-Oil and CA on BOW.

Most of my turnings are for reel seats but I've made a few pens now.

I've found that you cannot apply finishes to many woods in the what I call the "oily" wood family (Rosewood especially), as they are so highly resinous that nothing can adhere or dry on them very well.

I take the wood and dunk them in a container (small V8 juice can) of DNA.

Let them sit in the stuff for a couple hours.

Then rinse with a fresh wash of new alcohol (repeat if very oily). Let dry overnight.

If the wood had a lot of resin in it you might notice the wood to be much lighter in weight and color, as much of the resin has now been removed.

I now apply a few coats of Tru-Oil (000 steel wool between coats) because I like the warm glow it gives the wood and then CA.

WPPFOM002.jpg
 
Personally, I would not leave it bare. The oils from your hand are not particularly clean. The dirt from your hands will transfer to your pen and, over time, you will have a dull, dingy looking pen (been there, done that).

CA is a good finish, but I prefer spraying lacquer. Right before spraying, I wipe the blank with lacquer thinner to create better adhesion.

jeff
 
MLKWoodWorking said:
One of the tricks we have used when dealing with oily woods is to spray the blank real well with accelerate after we have sanded and before we start the CA. With the lathe on slow rpms just spray the blank and wipe with a paper towel much like you would if you were using denatured alcohol.

Mike
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I am with Mike on this one.

After sanding, clean the barrel with accelerator then CA finish.

Then again, this is the method I use on most of my pens. :biggrin:
 
I'm with the accelerator crowd. Alcohol and DNA contain water and you have to wait for them to dry. Wiping with accelerator you can IMMEDIATELY go to finishing. I also wipe down with accelerator after sanding in between coats of CA.
 
RHossack said:
I've found that you cannot apply finishes to many woods in the what I call the "oily" wood family (Rosewood especially), as they are so highly resinous that nothing can adhere or dry on them very well.
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I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. There's a lot of rosewood family furniture, vases, guitars, etc. out there that have marvelous finishes. The problems most folks experience is due to not understanding that not all finishes are equally well-suited for all woods nor for all purposes.

For those who may be interested in some excellent discussions on the topic, read Russ Fairfield's "Finishing Secrets" on his website.
 
Even old dogs can learn new tricks here. I'm somewhat proficient at a CA finish (7 out of 10 ) but on Olivewood not at all.
Today I read this thread and took Mikes and Darios suggestion and damn if it didn't work and gave me the best CA finish I've ever got on Olivewood. Thanks Guys...
 
Ok I keep hearing about BLO. I am VERY confused. As I am learning, I am trying to figure out a lot of acronyms. 17years in the Navy and here I am adding more of these damn letter combinations to my vocabulary!!!!
 
Slyotter said:
Ok I keep hearing about BLO. I am VERY confused. As I am learning, I am trying to figure out a lot of acronyms. 17years in the Navy and here I am adding more of these damn letter combinations to my vocabulary!!!!
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Never mind! LOL I found another post that explained what BLO is. Now I am researching how to use it as a finish. I am sure it is here somewhere. :tongue:
 
Hi All,

I am new here, but I have finished a few pens made out of Cocobolo. Cocobolo is also one of those "oily" woods, which over time, tend to release its oils. I have experience using the wood as a fretboard on guitars, and for those, I just leave it polished with no finish.

For the pens I build with it, I have found CA to work extremely well.

-I sand the blank down to 12000 with Micro-mesh, then use Denaturated alcohol to clean (DNA), and then I spray CA accelerator on the raw wood, wipping it down to make sure it is dry.

I then layer about 10-12 coats of very thin CA over the wood, letting it dry between each coat, and NOT using accelerator at this stage.

After this is done, I use a "guitar finishing" method on the wood, to achieve a very glossy finish. I start with 400-all the way to 12000 MM sheets, and I WET sand it. This levels the finish.

After this, I use a guitar polishing compound from Stew Mac here:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishi...s,_buffers/ColorTone_Polishing_Compounds.html

It brings the finish to a brilliant shine.

I have found that this method works well for closed grained woods like cocobolo, kingwood, etc. others, like mahogany will require filling. The CA finish is very hard, and stand up to use quite well.

I will post some pictures soon, for you all to see (as soon as I can take them).

My 2 cents....

:-)
 
steve_mcloon said:
I am about to make a few Bethlehem olivewood pens for an order. Are there any finishes to avoid or that work particularly well with this oily wood? Also, is it ok to use EEE (Tripoli) on it? (I have vague recollections of hearing about problems with EEE or certain finishes with BOW.) Thanks for any advice.
-Steve
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Steve,
On my BOW pens, I used a Blo/Ca finish, but before I started the BLO, I wiped the blanks down with mineral spirits.. then added the BLO, spun the blank against a paper towel to wipe off excess oil and then did my Medium CA finish... the finish was very nice.

You can use either mineral spirits or acetone... your choice, I prefer the mineral spirits since it acts a little like the BLO to pop up the grain some.
 
Maybe I'm just weird, but I haven't had any issues with my BOL or Cocobolo pens and a CA finish. My method is to sand up to 400 grit, then I put on 4 coats of thin CA. Next 3 or 4 coats of thick CA. I sand to get everything nice and flat then maybe 1 or 2 coats of thin again. Finally wet sand with micro mesh from 1500 to 12000.
 
DCBluesman said:
I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. There's a lot of rosewood family furniture, vases, guitars, etc. out there that have marvelous finishes. The problems most folks experience is due to not understanding that not all finishes are equally well-suited for all woods nor for all purposes.
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I think you may be misunderstanding me.

The rosewood family of wood do have nice finishes applied bit I believe there is some prep work of some nature to make the wood take the finish I'm using.

I'm using Birchwood Casey TRU-OIL Gun Stock Finish as a finish and it will not adhere to the rosewood family of wood without some prep work. I do know they sell a sealer but the alcohol bath works for me and removes a lot of the resin which could cause problems down the road.

I mainly use this product for my reel seats.

Most folks here seem to like Micro Mesh. I don't because I can't feel with my finger tips and with the padded back I burn holes in the stuff so I use TRI-M-ITE polishing paper.

One of the great things about this forum is the different approach used by others to accomplishing a finished product. This works for me but I'm certainly open to learn better and easier methods.

At our last penturners club meeting Russ Fairfield demonstrated his CA/BLO method and made it really simple. I'll try this on some cocbolo and see how it adheres to the untreated wood.
 
RHossack said:
I

Most folks here seem to like Micro Mesh. I don't because I can't feel with my finger tips and with the padded back I burn holes in the stuff so I use TRI-M-ITE polishing paper.
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I don't use the padded backed stuff and I only use the included pad to help
level the surface. But I use that pad with the sandpaper, not the micromesh.
Like you, I want to feel the wood through my fingers so I use the MM wet
and no backing.

Sanding wet eliminates the burn holes, too.
 
Worked for Me

MLKWoodWorking said:
One of the tricks we have used when dealing with oily woods is to spray the blank real well with accelerate after we have sanded and before we start the CA. With the lathe on slow rpms just spray the blank and wipe with a paper towel much like you would if you were using denatured alcohol.

Mike
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Mike-

After reading your post a couple of days ago and having trial and error with olive wood, I knew I had to give it a try. Worked like a charm! Thanks for the tip!
 
Anyone try Les Elm's Minwax Polyurethane finishing method on BOL?

I just bought my first olive wood blanks today. I've been using Les' method on my other pens and have been very happy with the results, but I haven't yet used it on any oily wood.

Paul
 
I just tried out a BLO/CA finish on a BOW blank and it looks very nice. I cleaned the wood very thoroughly with denatured alcohol, which I believe made a big difference. Only time will tell if the finish will last.
 
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