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Pierre-Michel

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Mar 26, 2007
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Location
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
I read a lot about pen finish and I saw nothing on Liberon products such as the combination of wood turning stick and lathe polish !
As anybody used it and what info or comments can you provide
Thanks
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P.S: Love the forum ...
 
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Welcome!

Concerning the Liberon products you mentioned - while general high quality furniture finishes work well on flat work, pen turning requires a different approach, even if you do decide to use them on pens. The finish of varnish, shellac, urethanes and even lacquer require more time than most people want to put in on a pen. A few people do, but look at it like this - If you take your time to drill out a blank, glue the tube in with CA or 5 min epoxy, turn the blank and sand it - less than one hour, and then you wait a couple of days on the finish to cure.

Another thing you have to watch for is the way that pens are used as opposed to furniture. A pen is handled by oily sweaty hands, in pockets of perspiring people, in contact with moisture and heat as well as cold. Can the finish handle this. Most fine finishes can, but it requires a master finisher to know how to "cure" the different finishes so that they can stand up to the constant abuse. CA, Lacquer and oils do the best in reasonably quick times, but the lacquer does require a cure-in time.
 
Salut Pierre-Michel,

Welcome to the forum. You will get all kind of answer with this question[:D]. I tried liberon product and find out that they don't last very well in daily usage. Ca is fast but many don't like it as it looks too plastic. I use lacquer, longer to cure but give a finish that i like and that's the key. If you like it and are satisfied with it and most of all, you custommer like it, go for it. Don'tknow if you are new at the forum only or new at pen turning. If so, i invite you to visit Russ Fairfield site, great infor for a beginner.
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/Pens.html
BTW, i live in the Montreal area too, (Lahenaie).

Alfred
 
Welcome to the group. I recently bought Russ Fairfields video on finishing and it answered most all of the questions I had about the pros and cons of the various finishes. It was money well spent.
 
Salut Pierre-Michel,

It is nice to see another Canuck at the IAP. I too bought Russ's video on finishing, and it is worth every cent. He explained everything then he shows you how to do it, which really helped clear up a lot off questions I had, like how come the paper towel won't stick to the pen blank right away, that one had me wondering for days. LOL. I use the CA finish right now, but do to the variations in temperature and humidity in my garage/work shop, I may even try Enduro to see what it is like. Not a big fan of CA fumes when curing. This site is a wealth of information, and it has helped me to produce good quality pens, very quickly. Well it has been 6 months but only 8 pens so far, I even have my first commission to make a bunch of pens for the Boss, celebrating 10 years of business.

Sheldon
 
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