Buffed no finish

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cowchaser

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Sep 14, 2007
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Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA.
I have a guy that has asked me to make him a few barons. He does not want any finish (ca) just raw wood buffed out. I was going to use blo which he is fine with to bring out the grain. Will the blo leave a oily residue on them when done? Do I need to put any kind of sealer before buffing them?

I have only done ca finishes and this whole buffing only is new to me. Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
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A lacquer based sanding sealer is a finish IMO. Bare wood buffed through tripoli, white diamond, and wax is all you need to do to give your client exactly what they want.
 
I know this is going to sound silly, why are you trying to put a finish when the customer does not want one? I have several pens I made more years than I care to remember wit no finish. Simply wood and paste wax.
 
Dustin,
What does your customer want? BLO is a "finish" so is "sanding sealer" so is "wax." If you customer wants buffed wood. Sand to 2,000 or micromesh all the way. OR, sand to 600, then Tripoli, then white diamond, neither are a "finish" they are buffing compounds. They will not "pop" the wood grain. After White diamond, you can buff on a clean buffing wheel, preferably loose cotton. If you customer wants a shine then you can "burnish" the wood. This can be done several ways, "burnishing is a wood finishing technique where the wood is rubbed with smooth piece of harder wood or a polished piece of harder material and a lot of pressure. It leaves behind a very hard glossy finish as a result of crushing the surface of the wood. Ivan begins the thread questioning the longevity of the effect." http://carverscompanion.com/Ezine/Vol11Issue2/NFTN/NFTN.html
Now you have used NO "Finish", no CA, no BLO, no Poly, no sanding sealer (shellac), just wood, buffed, shined and burnished.
(I've done this when making smoking pipes, some people want, "just wood" nothing else.)
Good Luck.
 
I would just use a hard wood. Thuya Burl looks great and is so oily, almost waxy -- I bet it'd do fine with just buffing to 12000MM or just buffing with white diamond. Any of the hard woods should do fine without a hard finish like CA though. Bottom line, if the pen ends up with hand curd, the customer probably won't care/notice and for what it's worth, some people don't have acidic hands or at least wash them enough to not damage the wood...I've had a purple heart slimline for nearly 2 years that only had PPP wax on it and it still looks great (I use it several times a day during work).
Jason
 
I would be more willing to bet that the customer wan't the appearance of bare wood without the shine more than no finish at all. My concern would be the durability of the wood over time. I guess you didn't mention the type of wood requested, but if it is light, there might be issues with dirt and grime. Hand oils are the worst around!

Cheers,

Fangar
 
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