Finishing stabilized woods

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PaulSF

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I just ordered some stabilized wood blanks from CSUSA, my first order of stabilized wood. The description of the blanks says this:

Stabilized wood is a composite material consisting of plastic and wood. It creates a material which looks like wood, but machines and finishes like acrylic plastic.
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So....when it comes time to finish these blanks, should I just micromesh and use plastic polish, as I would with an acrylic blank, or should I use a CA finish?
 
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Well, I've only sold one pen so far (yesterday!!!!), and I can't say that my skills elevate me yet to a customer base that can request specific finishes.
 
I used to put a finish on each stabilized blank (I use plexi). Recently, I leave the finish off of some and just polish up the blank. Either way is viable - just depends on how you want the pen to look.
 
My advice is to always make one pen either way, use them for a couple weeks and make up your own mind.

The reality is that no piece of stabilized wood is 100% plastic. There will always be some amount of unsaturated wood fibers on the surface, and the amount varies with the species and condition of the wood when it was stabilized, and how it was stabilized. You cannot see these fibers when the pen is new and freshly polished, but wood and plastic don't age and wear the same; and they will start to appear in the surface as the pen ages or is abraded with use. With a finish, you will have to wear through the finish before you can see them. Without a finish they will start to appear as soon as the pen is used and finger oils get absorbed by those unfinished wood fibers.
 
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Stabilized wood is a composite material consisting of plastic and wood. It creates a material which looks like wood, but machines and finishes like acrylic plastic.
Click to expand...

One of the problems in pen turning (and Russ has hammered on this many times) is that there are so many ways to do something and have it come out well. Having said that, commercial companies and catalogs usually give or say one thing and one way. And on top of this, new people to turning don't know who to trust here, and of course their "trust" is derived from their own intuitive feeling. As people look at catalogs and different catalogs, the reasoning is - IF they make and sell, they must be the experts. When people here offered different suggestions, guess who the new turner will initially trust - the catalog people who do have a vested interest in selling their own wares. This is not to say that they are wrong, but some advice is misleading to the advantage of their sales.

IF they (catalog/commercial companies) got into the "teaching" aspect of different methods and varied approaches, their support line would become cost prohibitive. So for them, as concise a statement as possible is best. BUT the real experience is here - among many users with many years of experience.

If 5 catalog companies said one thing and Russ said another, I would trust Russ well before the salesmen. And it is not just Russ per se, it is IAP. Yes, you will get varied responses, but the responses will generally head you in a direction that comes from lots of experience.
 
Stabilized wood MUST be finished with a durable finish if you want the pen to still look good after it is molested by those greasy, grimy, dirty, filthy things we call hands.
 
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