Options for wood?

[Woodchipper]

What different finishes do you pen makers use other than CA? I'll start as I have used several coats of Shellawax or a couple of coats of DIY friction polish. I'm of the old school; love the look and feel of real wood. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[egnald]

Although I use a lot of GluBoost CA on pens, for other things I use Hut Crystal Coat liquid friction polish; Doctor's Woodshop Walnut Oil, Pens Plus, and Microcrystalline Wax; and O.B.'s Shine Juice. Of all of them, I've had the longest lasting shine with Doctor's Woodshop.

Hut Crystal Coat, like many friction polishes, is a mixture of shellac and Carnauba wax in some kind of solvent.

Doctor's Woodshop, at least by following the Doctor's Orders, is the more involved than single polishes like Crystal Coat and O.B.'s Shine Juice. Essentially it involves wet sanding using Doctor's Woodshop Walnut Finishing Oil as the "wet" ingredient. Sanding is followed by applying 3 coats of the Pens Plus friction polish and then applying a final coat of Microcrystal Wax (I use the liquid version and not the paste wax version). Here is a link to the Doctor's YouTube video showing the steps involved.

O.B.'s Shine Juice is a formula from O.B. (Orelin Burchman) Lacoste, a woodworker from Lafayette, Louisiana. He was a friend to Cap'n Eddie Castelin who often promoted it in his videos. It is essentially equal parts of Boiled Linseed Oil, De-Waxed Shellac (Like Zinsser Bulls-eye Sealcoat), and Denatured Alcohol.

Dave

 

[Woodchipper]

Dave, my DIY friction polish is by Cap'n Eddie, same with equal parts of the three ingredients. Thanks for your reply.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

I use pens plus as well, i think that the good dr sells also a finish called high build..something. maybe that's worth trying.

 

[mark james]

Wipe on Poly. I used this with good results for segmented blanks:

1. A slow speed spinner. 30-40 RPM.
2. Wipe on poly, thin coat.
3. Under a heat lamp for 45-60 minutes
4. Repeat 1-3 above. 4-6 times.
At times, I would let set for 24 hrs, then lightly sand, then repeat.
Sometimes I would repeat the Poly application every 1-2 hrs, for 5-6x. I went by feel vs instructions...

This worked for me - your experience may be different.

 

[Woodchipper]

Mark, thanks for sharing your technique. What grit sandpaper? Have used WOP on a couple of small turnings.

 

[jttheclockman]

Another one of these questions that gets asked alot and the usual answers come up. But there is an entire other world out there for wood finishes if you are interested in just keeping a wood finish. They are used in furniture making as well as box making and butcher blocks and things in that area. We all know finishes like polys, CA, lacquers are film finishes and are top coats. But you mention friction finishes. Well you can go down the wax finishes that are and have been around for ages. products like Old Masters Gel poly is very good protective finish., General Finishes has a whole line of finishes like their gel top coat finish, Odies oil finishes, Tried and True linseed and wax finish is also very good. Any of these will do what OB shine does or Capt Eddies or anyone else. They all are a mixture of the same products just called a different name. Friction polishes will have wax in them. But we all know they are the best for keeping that wood feel. You can get in different sheens depending what you are looking for. They will not hold up to a pen because unlike furniture and or boxes they do not get the same handling. Thus we go to top coat finishes which will hold up better. All finishes are easy to apply once you get the hang of them. Friction finishes take some learning. people think you just wipe on and poish but that is not true. There are techniques. Heat is your friend with friction finishes. There are tons of videos on utube on how to apply. I suggest open your mind and experiment. What one person does here does not mean it is the best. They happen to like the results. The world of finishes is so enormous you do not even touch the surface. Lacquers are not all the same. Polys are not all the same. And we know CA are not all the same. Additives from each company makes them unique to that company. Their secret ingrediants. Yes you can make your own concoction.. Add it to the list.

I am a CA top coat pen user.

PS while we are at it here is a product I bet not many heard of or tried. I read here many times people want to fill the large grain woods when doing a finish. here is a water based product used in the finishing world that can do what layers of CA does . Aqua Coat Water-Based Clear Wood Grain Filler Gel, Fast-Drying, Low Odor.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

Another thing i am experimenting on is a diy danish oil, i.e. turpentine, oil ( either tung ot blo) and varnish ( oil polyurethane) in equal parts. I start with thin shellac a bit of sanding (about 600 grit) and then a few hands of the above mentioned mix. It is intented for wooden pens that dont see a lot of use and dont want to feel plastic in the touch. The only thing to bear in mind is that the type of wood used is really important as different woods have different texture, oil content etc.cheers

 

[Humongous]

I have used UV cure resin to good results on wood blanks.

 

[Danny Linguini]

PS while we are at it here is a product I bet not many heard of or tried. I read here many times people want to fill the large grain woods when doing a finish. here is a water based product used in the finishing world that can do what layers of CA does . Aqua Coat Water-Based Clear Wood Grain Filler Gel, Fast-Drying, Low Odor.

This looks very interesting. How do you apply this stuff to pen blanks on the lathe? And then what steps do you take to finish after applying?

 

[jttheclockman]

This looks very interesting. How do you apply this stuff to pen blanks on the lathe? And then what steps do you take to finish after applying?

As I mentioned I do not use anything other than CA for wood pens. I usually do a few coats of thin to seal the wood and sand and then do a few coats of med. CA. I use Satellite City CA. As for this filler I use it on boxes and shelves and things like that. It basically a clear wood filler. Apply with a credit card or flat scraper. sand and reapply as needed. Then top coat with whatever you want. I like to use satin spray on lacquers.

 

[mark james]

Mark, thanks for sharing your technique. What grit sandpaper? Have used WOP on a couple of small turnings.

After applying several light coats, I would only want to eliminate any high spots. Usually 600 Abranet. After I got experienced with the slow speed spinner, I often did not need to do any final 'treatments' - polishing, buffing, etc. after the final coat. It was time consuming, but I usually liked the process as much as the end result; I was just having fun. This is also why many of my segmented pens were 'one offs'. OK, I figured that design out, onto something new.

This was where I got my spinner from: https://mudhole.com/collections/rod...6UP5nqyy1-rj_ULYAqBZnCvdzwT5HuGGVG2GJSe4pHHZR.

 

[Danny Linguini]

As I mentioned I do not use anything other than CA for wood pens. I usually do a few coats of thin to seal the wood and sand and then do a few coats of med. CA. I use Satellite City CA. As for this filler I use it on boxes and shelves and things like that. It basically a clear wood filler. Apply with a credit card or flat scraper. sand and reapply as needed. Then top coat with whatever you want. I like to use satin spray on lacquers.

I'm trying this AquaCoat now on segmented wood pen blanks. Got the first coat drying, then I'll give it a very light sanding to scuff it up for the next coat with 400 grit paper. I'll see how that looks and decide if I want a third coat or not. I'll let that cure for 24 hours, then hit it with 1200-3000 grit sanding sponges (dry), and then see how EEE and shellawax look over that. Pics to come when it's all done. Thank you for this suggestion!