Picana negra finish?

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Woodchipper

Woodchipper

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I scored a piece of Picana negra a while back. Might have been Black Dog in their odd & ends box. Research says it's related to bocote. Sanded down to 600 grit and is very smooth; seems to be dense. Question: what would you use to finish? Have CA and friction polish- both DIY and Shellawax. Need to wipe with acetone but doesn't feel oily? Thanks.
 
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With wooden pens, I pretty much use Doctor's Woodshop Pens Plus exclusively. It is basically a hard wax finish but is extremely durable. My everyday use pen I turned years ago shows little to no wear to the finish, just some dents/dings from being used daily. Pens Plus will give you a very durable finish that last years and still looks like and feels like wood.
 
STB, thanks, may need add that to the arsenal but in a time constraint as I want to put this pen on display Friday.
Edit: Woodcraft shows four types. What do you use? Gloss? Have a demo at Woodcraft this Saturday. Get a bottle then and delay the display later.
 
SabertoothBunny said:
With wooden pens, I pretty much use Doctor's Woodshop Pens Plus exclusively. It is basically a hard wax finish but is extremely durable. My everyday use pen I turned years ago shows little to no wear to the finish, just some dents/dings from being used daily. Pens Plus will give you a very durable finish that last years and still looks like and feels like wood.
Click to expand...

This surprises me - the listing for the product at Woodcraft say's it's a shellac-based friction polish. I've never had those behave particularly "durable".
 
I have no firsthand experience with this finish, so I'm only speculating. If SabertoothBunny says he's had a high gloss finish with this stuff last on a pen for multiple years, then that's very intriguing to me.

Listing says it's a blend of walnut oil, shellac, and cosmolloid 80H microcrystalline wax (one of the ingredients in Renaissance wax). Most friction polishes are some kind of polymerizing oil (walnut, BLO, tung) mixed with a solvent and shellac. Perhaps there's something about having the known hard 80H in there that really levels it up in terms of durability.

Please do report back, and @SabertoothBunny if you have any pictures you can share showing off the results of this finish, I'd love to see them. I do mostly CA finishes, but I would love to have a super durable option that preserves the tactile feeling of the wood without sacrificing much on gloss, and I haven't found it yet.
 
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