Other than using CA for a nice, smooth and durable finish, I have been using the penn state friction finishes. I sell them so I don't really know how durable the finish is. Has any of you received any feedback or use a pen with these finishes to know how durable they are? I am open to any other friction finish. I am short on patience and I really want something that sets fast. Thanks.
Al
A normal friction polish, which is usually some combination of shellac, DNA and oil, will not withstand normal pen use. In particular, such finishes will often react with sweat from fingers, and break down. I started using Mylands friction polish, but once I started actually using one of those pens, I found that the finish did not hold up.
I eventually found Pens Plus. This is a friction polish, but it has a magic ingredient: Microcrystalline Wax. Specifically Cosmoloid 80H, which is the same stuff found in the expensive Renaissance Wax. Pens Plus, when applied right, will solidify such that the wax is in the upper layer, which protects the oil and shellac. The wax also gives a crystal clear finish, which looks glasslike and reflects about as well as a good CA finish.
If you want to use a friction polish, then Pens Plus is the ONLY friction polish I would recommend. I have pens I made as long as two years ago with this finish, that are still looking as good as the day I made them. One is a lever-action pen I've used most days since around late August or September 2021. It is still in pristine condition. The microcrystalline wax is fingerprint resistant, and a good protectant for the highly chatoyant finish below (on woods anyway). I would not recommend any other friction polish for pens, though...lacking the microcrystalline wax component, they won't hold up.
Some notes:
I've used Pens Plus for...well, about two years now, I think. It works real well, until it does not. When it suddenly does not, that usually means the bottle has gone bad. Its around $30 a bottle, which technically should last for a ton of pens (its a lot of finish in the bottle!) If you make a lot of pens, then you should get through a bottle before it goes bad. In my case, I guess, within about a year, it goes bad and it starts not applying as well, and it gets hard to prevent the dull spots that can appear. This just happened to me again on a bottle, and I am pretty sure its because the bottle is bad. At the rate I make pens, that is usually about half a bottle used.
What I've considered doing is using stop-loss bags. The key problem with finishes going bad is oxygen, and when a bottle or can of finish is half empty, its also half full of reactive oxygen. A stop loss bag, or distributing the finish into smaller bottles that you keep sealed until used, should help the finish last longer. If you buy a bottle, and BTW its full name is "Drs. Woodshop Pens Plus 16oz", then I would make sure you have some smaller bottles to distribute it into, or a large enough stop loss bag, to preserve the finish as long as you can.
It is one of the clearest, smoothest finishes I know of, and I stuck with it for two years because my CA finishes never quite delivered the same chatoyance... Until, that is, I gave GluBoost a try (first time just in the last few days), which is amazing stuff. The GluBoost is IMO a better finish. Similar chatoyance to Pens Plus, but it is a harder coating, which should give it higher durability. The Pens Plus will, in my experience, never "scratch", not like any resin or plastic (like a CA finish)...however not being a hard finish, it can allow dings and nicks.
Anyway...Pens Plus, only friction polish you want for pens.
