Wrapping up some projects and New approach to Finishing

Dan Mosley

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Palm Springs, Ca
Finished up a few more today and as usual I had to play with the finishes.

Pictures 1-2-----Small NE Olive Wood bowl sanded to 320, 2 coats of Waterlox wet sanding with 400,500,600 grit, dried for a couple weeks. Then finished with EEE and Shellawax - For smaller projects I love this stuff

Pictures 3-5 -Canadian Yellow Cedar - turned to about 1/16 - very thin - playing around I guess as I usually do not turn my vessels that thin but the
wood was cutting like butter and I was able to easily turn it. Alot of water came flying off this when I turned it also and I was worried about warping and cracking so I decided to experiment a bit. I turned it to final thickness and then sprayed the inside with MS out of a spray bottle over and over with the lathe running at 1200rpm and watched the MS come out the pores and spray all over. Sanded to 800 and 3 coats of Waterlox over several days, then Bagged and dried for couple months. Finished today by buffing with WD and PL compound then hand rubbed Ren wax and buff by hand.

Pictures 6-7 Taller vessel - Olive wood -end grain hollowed, soaked in oil/varnish mixture for 5 days, sanded to 600 wet/dry, dried for several months and pith stabalized with CA - OOOO steel wooled and then WD buff followed by PL compound.......However, I did not like the dull shine that the PL gave it ..kind of a matt finish really so I rubbed on Ren wax this evening by hand and buffed by hand.....much better. I probably should have used a laquer finish.........ahhhhh well
 

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Looking good, Dan. I've thought of trying the mineral spirits trick myself...might have to give it a spin one of these days.

On the PL compound vs. white diamond...the PL is a coarser abrasive than white diamond. Going from white diamond to PL is kind of like going from 800 grit paper back to 600 grit. It's still fine, but not as fine of an abrasive.
 
Vaughn..........wow...........thanks I did not realize that. I bought the PL awhile back and have really not used it at all. I thought it was to be put on after. I Rarely use the Carnuba anymore either for that matter.
I use the Tripoli and WD frequently depending on what im working on but the others PL and Carnuba I have not.............thanks
So, is is like Tripoli - PL - WD in order of abrasiveness ???
 
Nice pieces... understand about the MS as a drier... I often will turn a green bowl down to final size, then leave it spinning on the lathe for 30 or 40 minutes at high speed to sling the water out.... I've wound up with a line of water across the shop doing that on some woods... also use the naptha a lot to clean and let it spin through the pieces... haven't tried the spray bottle method yet... guess I need a spray bottle now....

After I spin a wet bowl for 1/2 an hour or so... I also then microwave it for a few cycles to try and dry it some more.... you'll get a little warp on some of them, nothing drastic though. ... the cherries and poplar I showed in the project showcase thread were microwaved after spinning... they seem to have dried up nicely.

could use that moisture meter you found a Lowe's to double check myself... I usually just feel them with my hand and decide if I've gotten them dry or not... not always a sure method....
 
...So, is is like Tripoli - PL - WD in order of abrasiveness ???

Yeppers, as I understand things, that's correct.

I pretty much gave up on using carnauba wax shortly after I first tried it. I know a lot of folks like it, but I don't. I prefer the protection I can get with Renaissance wax, and it doesn't show water spots and fingerprints the way that carnauba wax does.
 
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