To finish or not to finish - That's the question!

Bruce Shiverdecker

In Memorium
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936
Location
Central Illinois
Finishing Turnings, both utilitarian and artistic, can cause quite a lot of questions. A fellow woodturner asked me how I did my finishing, so here's some thoughts.

What type of finish are available:

Oil

Oil that hardens

Poly

Shellac

French polish

And a number of others

What I'm going to offer is just my way of looking at the finish process. I don't want to cause an uproar.

Being somewhat of a purest, I like the beauty of wood to speak for itself.

Therefore, I polish the wood till it has a gloss of it's own. Like this one. It is Cherry and has an inherent glow that is warm and lovely.

Wood blank_0089.jpg

Wood blank_0090.jpg

Right now it has NO finish on it. It has been polished to 4000. I feel the only reason to put any finish on it is to protect it, not to put an artificial shine on it. I'll put a light coat of Butcherblock oil on it and spin it in, then several coats of French Polish, Finally, I'll use the beal system to smooth out the Shellac and wax it.

Bruce
 
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You're way, if it works for you, is the right way.
One of the first things I learned when I started this woodworking/turning insanity was that a fellow could go broke quickly experimenting with different finishes. There are just so many out there and the search for the best is more addictive than gambling.
Your bowl: Lookin' fine from this end. :thumb:
 
Followup of the finishing process.

Here are pictures of the rest of the finishing steps, for comparison.

Oil
Wood blank_0091.jpg

Two coats French Polish
Wood blank_0092.jpg

Tripoly Polish
Wood blank_0093.jpg

White Diamond Polish
Wood blank_0094.jpg

Carnuba Wax
Wood blank_0096.jpg

An attempt to show absence of a Finished look (Camera doesn't focus this close)


This gives a finish that people OOOOO and AHHHH over and is as close as I can currently get to a Museum Quality finish.

Hope you found this interesting.

Bruce
 
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