Natural Finish

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rjwolfe3

rjwolfe3

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A customer of mine would like a natural finish on his pens that will allow him to feel the wood. He does not want a high gloss finish. I did tell him that the wood would naturally wear with that kind of finish but that is what he wants.

What finish would you recommend?

And also should I sand all the way up to 12000 mm?

TIA
 
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Stabilized woods, in my experience (stroking my long, white beard) are strange critters. Polishing to 12K leaves a matte finish, but when used, they can take on oils at different rates. I have an everyday pen, Sierra click in stabilized buckeye, that is shiny on most of the top 1/3 and not at all shiny on the rest. Other similar pens never get shiny at all.
 
I understand exactly what your customer means. I have had good luck with the Sam Malof finish sold by Rockler. I think it is an oil plus poly. It pops the grain nicely, has good durability, and a nice shine without looking like plastic. You can use Beall Buff if you want more shine.
-Steve
 
I'd make up a 'finishing rod' and try several finishes and let him chose. Natural in bowl making usually means a coat or two of BLO, walnut oil, or a good wax, but I'd be tempted to use one of the friction polishes and take the shine back with steel wool or some low MM grits. Or the non-gloss Waterlox treatment, for that matter. For bowls, Waterlox is the best thing since sliced bread.

Marc
 
A customer asked me a few years ago to use a natural finish, I did and looked real good at the time. A few months later he called and complained about how his pen looked, dark and dirty. I told him in the beginning that a natural finish will darken from dirt and oiles from your hand but he did not remember that. So when people ask me that now I tell them look for someone else because they will not be happy with anyones oil finish.
 
Burnish by using strips of brown paper bag or even a piece of soft leather. Or as mentioned above buff it. Personally in a case like this, I probably would use a finish like that which used on fine or antique furniture that allows for the feel of the wood yet offers a protection of sorts. Real tung oil or french polish methods do well on furniture and should do well in this case. Sam Maloof's finish also does this. But the key, IMO is wiping it on and off three or four times. Wiping it on and off allows some to soak in and yet not build up on the outside.


I would allow three days to a week to "cure" before giving it to the customer. I would also make up a "Caring for your Pen" card with instructions.
 
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I can assure you that if you give this customer what they want, they will be unahppy very shortly. Pens take a ton of abuse.

Even with a stabilized wood (which, by the way, is NOT what the customer stated) needs to have the wood treated. At the very least, put on a couple of coats of sanding sealer. Buff it out to a high gloss such that your finish is as close to perfect as you want, then knock it back with a bit of 0000 steel wool ( or its plastic counterpart). That will give you a matte finish.

FWIW, a stabilized blank will NEVER feel like wood. It's half plastic!
 
Thank you all for the advice. I have explained to the customer in 3 different emails what would happen with a natural finish and the customer was adamant that they wanted a natural finish on the woods they chose. They want to be able to feel the wood and do not a gloss on it at all. I always send a "How to care for your pen" card with every purchase. I wish I could show the customer a sample of a natural finish but the customer lives in Brooklyn, NY and none of my pens on my website have a natural finish. As far as the stabilized wood goes, the choices that the customer picked are only available stabilized so I have no control over that. I think I will use a french polish on the pens and go from there. I don't like natural finishes but for $120 bucks I'll do pretty much anything (no, not that Cav).
 
I have made a few with only Danish oil as a finish. It pops the grain but leaves the natural feel of the wood. I don't know how it would work on stabilized wood.
 
I have a Walnut longwood pen that I turned about 6 months ago . It was sanded to 12000 and I finished it with 12 coats of Teak oil (it was what I had on hand) , I let it soak in on each coat about a half hour then wiped off the excess . When it was done I let it dry for about a week (the Teak oil dries in the wood and don't really leave a surface coat) , then I gave it a good coat of Renwax .
It has a matt finish and feels like wood without finish but it is holding up to daily use at work , we use it to sign CC receipts and invoices . It has taken on a nice patina but don't look or feel grungy .
Teak oil , Tung oil , walnut oil , BLO are all penetrating oils and unless you really slather it on , it don't dry on the surface but under the surface .
 
I have yet to see or handle a professional stabilized wood pen that required anything aside from a good sanding until the surfaces were smooth and acceptable. If your customer wants a "natural" finish then he surely must not understand that a stabilized pen is VERY different from any so called natural wood.

Just be sure he understands the difference and is willing to pay you for what you produce. If the finished pen is to shiney for them, simply buff it a bit with 0000 steel wool to dull the surface a little.
 
I agree fully with what Lou says about pens, but if you must leave a finish off, then you must.

How about this - Which is the plain and which is the fine finished pen?

1_2Cigs_2Fin_1Burl.jpg





Actually, both were finished the same, but for the one in front I hand sanded with 3600 MM to knock the "shine" off. Looks like very fine sanded and hand rubbed natural wood and it feels a little different too - mostly from the perception itself.
 
That may be the ticket Hank, of course all of this is mute till the customer finalizes his order. This is my first custom order out of state and the guy had a lot of question. And to be honest I don't know if it is a guy or girl since I can't pronounce their name, lol.
 
rjwolfe3 said:
Thank you all for the advice. I have explained to the customer in 3 different emails what would happen with a natural finish and the customer was adamant that they wanted a natural finish on the woods they chose. They want to be able to feel the wood and do not a gloss on it at all. I always send a "How to care for your pen" card with every purchase. I wish I could show the customer a sample of a natural finish but the customer lives in Brooklyn, NY and none of my pens on my website have a natural finish. As far as the stabilized wood goes, the choices that the customer picked are only available stabilized so I have no control over that. I think I will use a french polish on the pens and go from there. I don't like natural finishes but for $120 bucks I'll do pretty much anything (no, not that Cav).
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Rob, you are accusing me unjustly!! :biggrin::wink:
 
General Finishes makes a product called Arm-R-Seal, a polyurethane-oil blend. It comes in Satin which is probably what you want. Two coats of that should do the trick.
 
I would use BLO and a wood polish and buff it, just tell him to use a wood cleaner followed by a wood polish regularly. Wood darkens over time from layers of polish over dirt and cleaning it before polishing slows this process.
 
Make sure he understands that some of the woods requested are stabilized and what that means. I have a Russian-Olive Burl pen that's my daily driver with no finish just sanded to about 6000 and EEE. It looks and feels great even after a year.

Do sand to a fine paper as it will effect how fast the wood can absorb oils. Recall that furniture will take more stain when sanded to 220 than it will when sanded to 400. The 22 sanded piece will darken more as more stain gets deeper into the wood.

On really dense woods, I don't apply any finish at all, similar to some of the stabilized pieces. Blackwood, Ebony, Katalox, etc. all fit in here. I don't go after the supergloss look that others do and I don't use CA as a finish on anything other than extremely soft woods that need to be hardened to prevent denting.

Another finish not mentioned above is Lacquer. You can put on a couple coats of lacquer spray and still keep the wood feel. And lacquer is a natural finish as opposed to the plastics. Let it cure for a week or more and it should hold up a good while.
 
People who say they want a natural appearance don't really want bare wood. There aren't many people who are willing to accept that their own dirt and body oils will be the final finish on a pen. Pens that are finished that way look like what they are - dirty wood.

That natural feeling of the wood people say they want is more a visual thing than it is how the wood feels in their hand. Our eye sees glossy and it tell our brain that it feels like a hard finish, and it does, even if it is highly polished bare wood. Our eye sees a matte finish and tells our brain that it will feel as soft as natural wood, and it does, even when it has a finish coating on it.

My advice would be to put on a CA finish. Sand it to 400-grit. Then use 0000-steel wool in both directions.

Make a pen this way and ask if this is what he wants. He will think that the soft gloss is natural wood, and you will know he won't be coming back in a month with a complaint about the wood getting rough and ugly from handling. Both of you will be happy.

Do the same thing with the stabilized wood.
 
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RussFairfield said:
People who say they want a natural appearance don't really want bare wood. There aren't many people who are willing to accept that their own dirt and body oils will be the final finish on a pen. Pens that are finished that way look like what they are - dirty wood.

That natural feeling of the wood people say they want is more a visual thing than it is how the wood feels in their hand. Our eye sees glossy and it tell our brain that it feels like a hard finish, and it does, even if it is highly polished bare wood. Our eye sees a matte finish and tells our brain that it will feel as soft as natural wood, and it does, even when it has a finish coating on it.

My advice would be to put on a CA finish. Sand it to 400-grit. Then use 0000-steel wool in both directions.

Make a pen this way and ask if this is what he wants. He will think that the soft gloss is natural wood, and you will know he won't be coming back in a month with a complaint about the wood getting rough and ugly from handling. Both of you will be happy.

Do the same thing with the stabilized wood.
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+1 All of my pens are CA finished...except the aluminum ones..:tongue:

The "one" pen I recently made by request which was done with only a friction polish came out beautifully (as usual..hehe). I warned the customer before, during, and after the making of the pen that the finish is not meant for everyday handling but he was insistent on a "wax" only finish.

He recently called about how to get the shine back...:bulgy-eyes:

Do it in CA. Matte the finish and be done with it. People can be weird.
 
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