What woods don't need a finish?

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ChrisN

ChrisN

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The title says it all: What woods don't need a finish?

I saw a post earlier today where someone (I think it was Ed Street) said that olivewood doesn't need a finish. The oils in the wood keep it looking nice without anything else. That got me thinking. What other kinds of wood will stay nice without finishing?
 
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IMHO...most rosewoods, bocote', pheasant wood, cocobolo, HRB, Olive...ehhhh, I like a finish on it, but that's me. Paduk can go either way and so can pink ivory. There are sure to be many more! There are times for symbolic purposes, I won't put a finish on a pen for a client, but it needs to be the right wood and the symbolism understood.
 
General rule of thumb:

*) The higher the oil content the less you have to add finish to it.
*) The soft, dry or crumbly ones need tons, in fact this bracket of wood is exactly why we have the entire stabilize market place going.
*) By nature stabilized wood does not need a finish, sand and buff for that silky feel.

If you add things like Tung oil or BLO you can just sand and buff. This will yield you one very silky smooth feel. One thing you will notice is when people feel the pen they will start stroking the pen as if they were petting it. All due to the texture.

Items like segments, repairs, cracks and the like of dissimilar materials would be better under something like a CA finish.

When in doubt you can always sand to something around 800-1000 grit then take it off the lathe and feel the blank, close your eyes and put everything you have into really feeling the blank all over. If it feels wrong then you have something wrong, need a different finish or the like. However, if it feels right and very good then you are on the right track.

One thing I have noted is many people will see a pen, pick it up expecting it to feel one way and when they feel the CA finish there is a look of disappointment on their face, all due to the texture. This is very true when it comes to woods.
 
If you don't use a finish on some of those exotics, you may have them returned because they caused a skin rash or worse on the owner. Any stabilized wood blank will also not need a finish.
 
One of the best way to answer you question is to suggest you Google "oily woods" and you will get a large list of woods that are known to contain oil in them.

The dilemma is how to keep the constant handled wood pen to look "clean", particularly in certain environments or from people that have extremely acidic sweat glands in they hands.

That has a easy fix if the person that has the pen is willing to perform a weekly clean/coating maintenance of that pen and that, only a very tinny minority of wood pen users, are willing to do.

I don't think that I can blame them, I wouldn't like to be in that situation myself. Wiping the wood with Methylated Spirits (not acetone as that would/could affect the other parts of the pen such as plating and plastic parts) and then applying a little of one of many timber oils available out there, followed by a friction rub with a soft cloth, would get that wood surface looking clean and protected for another week of work.

Off-course, if the pen is not submitted to everyday use, this maintenance step doesn't require to be done as often...!

Probably, the best and most efficient way to make a wooden pen that has to maintain its natural wood look and at the same time be very resilient to everyday use, would be to use properly stabilized wood, that is in my view the simplest and most efficient way to go about any wooden pens that customers want the natural look and feel.:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
low_48 said:
If you don't use a finish on some of those exotics, you may have them returned because they caused a skin rash or worse on the owner. Any stabilized wood blank will also not need a finish.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but, disagree with that statement, if the wood is stabilized properly and with the right resins, the wood will be 99.9% soaked with a synthetic plastified product, look at how the excess Cactus Juice (the product I use) looks like when it get out of the oven/heat curing, it is hard with a "plasticky" look to it...!

Achieving a extra depth/gloss to its finish, it would require the use of some other "coating" products such as CA however, sanded smooth and polished slightly, the wood will show an acceptable finish and satin/low gloss look to it.

Cheers
George
 
edstreet said:
One thing I have noted is many people will see a pen, pick it up expecting it to feel one way and when they feel the CA finish there is a look of disappointment on their face, all due to the texture. This is very true when it comes to woods.
Click to expand...

Ed; You are correct that the "plasticy" look and feel isn't a good sensation when you are expecting a wood feel. I finish all my wood pens with thin CA, don't get a build-up surface, and as a final step I use 0000 steel wool to give them a satin texture. Much closer to natural wood feel.
 
I agree many oily woods need no finish just a good polishing. Also agree better know if those oily woods can cause dermatitis or other health concerns.

Honestly feel any wood species can go without a finish or just a penetrating (oil) finish if want to stay green. Again, onus is on you to know if that wood can cause dermatitis or other health concerns.

When in doubt check a Wood Allergies & Toxicity Chart
Wood Allergies and Toxicity | The Wood Database
 
Most notably 'dry' wood has far less contact dermatitis than wet wood will. Also I would like to point out that oily woods is a very prime candidate for tung oil and/or BLO.
 
Problem with oily woods is need to wipe down with acetone or lacquer thinner before applying penetrating or film finish.

While have no problem with pure or polymerized Tung oil and even Walnut salad oil do not think BLO belongs in any finishing process.

Many brands use less expensive semi drying oil if put any oil in their products. Not uncommon for them to use a chemical resin, metallic dryers, and solvent and say on their labels & MSDS 100% linseed oil.
 
Thanks for all the responses. So if no finish is applied, even if the wood is oily, the wood will get ugly? That's what I've gathered from the responses. I know cocobolo, for example, will polish up very nicely, but I put a CA finish on it because I thought that unfinished woods react with the oils in your skin and get dirty. If I would use BLO, would that prevent it? Maybe I'll have to make a carry pen for myself and see...
 
ChrisN said:
Thanks for all the responses. So if no finish is applied, even if the wood is oily, the wood will get ugly? That's what I've gathered from the responses. I know cocobolo, for example, will polish up very nicely, but I put a CA finish on it because I thought that unfinished woods react with the oils in your skin and get dirty. If I would use BLO, would that prevent it? Maybe I'll have to make a carry pen for myself and see...
Click to expand...

Hi Chris,

I recently made an observation on your question, on another thread that is discussing this very problem, read my post #7 in http://www.penturners.org/forum/f28/what-woods-dont-need-finish-112545/#post1557298here

Cheers
George
 
ChrisN said:
Thanks for all the responses. So if no finish is applied, even if the wood is oily, the wood will get ugly? That's what I've gathered from the responses. I know cocobolo, for example, will polish up very nicely, but I put a CA finish on it because I thought that unfinished woods react with the oils in your skin and get dirty. If I would use BLO, would that prevent it? Maybe I'll have to make a carry pen for myself and see...
Click to expand...

BLO and tung oil has been used for a very long time with very good results. It takes very little to do that process we call 'cleaning'. consider this, if your hands are so dirty that they will cause major problems with that then you seriously need to reconsider what you are using.
 
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