I finished both the upper and lower barrel at the same time. I sanded to 600 and MM'd to 3600. Then with the lathe turning pretty slowly, I put 2-3 drops of blo on a folded paper towel and quickly wiped it across both blanks. I probably went back and forth across both blanks maybe 4-5 times, then moved to a clean spot on the paper towel and went back and forth a few times. When I stopped the lathe the blo was completely worked into the wood. Then I put 2-3 drops (a small puddle) of ca right on top of the blo spot on the towel and did the back and forth thing about the same way I put on the blo, including moving to a clean spot on the paper towel to finish off the "coat". I stopped the lathe and was amazed that the finish already looked like glass.... very wet looking... but it was totally dry. I put on 6 coats repeating the same process (per Bill's Video) and after each coat, the finish was flawless. I NEVER touched sand paper or MM to the blanks during or after this 6 coat process. As a final step I put on some Ren Wax. I was totally amazed that the whole finishing process probably didn't take me more than about 15 minutes... and like I said, I NEVER sanded or MM'd during the finishing steps. I was so amazed by the look and the ease of doing the finish that I just had to tell the forum and publically thank Bill for the great video instruction. Environmentally the temp was about 65 degrees, relatively low humidity.....
And did I mention that I NEVER put sandpaper or MM to the blanks during the whole finishing process?
I hope I just wasn't lucky and that I can repeat this process on future pens.
