# Stabilized wood finish?



## pmpartain (Oct 22, 2006)

What finish do you guys recommend for these woods?  I'm making a batch of these.  I thought since the wood was stabilized, i'd just buff it out.  It looks good that way, very good gloss, but would you apply a finish?


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## mrcook4570 (Oct 22, 2006)

I use CA on stabilized materials.  The stabilization process does not result in a blank that is 100% sealed - CA (or lacquer or enduro) does.


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## bonefish (Oct 22, 2006)

It looks good the way you are talking about, but the last one I made, I put CA on it, and it looked much better. A higher shine, I guess you would call it.

Something else I have been doing lately is putting a heavy coat of GG on the wood and letting it dry. I apply the GG about the way you would apply CA, that is, putting a drop or two on a cloth and applying it as the lathe turns. I do this four or five times.

Before applying the GG, I put a base coat of CA on the wood.

Let it dry about a day, then sand it smooth, starting with the finist grit that will smooth out the glue, and go all the way to MM, then buff lightly with white rouge.

I haven't used this method but a few times and it works with some types of wood, but it doesn't work very well with others. I don't know why, and I haven't used it enough to determine which woods do better. It works great with stablized Buckeye and stabilized Maple, and also king wood. The king wood is not stabilized.

The other day, after the GG had dried and I had sanded it smooth, I put on a few coats of shellac on a piece of KingWood, putting a dab on a cloth and applying it as the lathe ran, like you would a friction polish. 

The belt on my lathe broke about that time, and I haven't been able to polish it (the wood), but even now, with no fine sanding or buffing or polishing, to me it looks better than anything I have seen.

I guess I had better qualify that. I like a glossy finish, and this method gets it done.

Try it on a piece of scrap first, if you are interested.

This is a piece of stabilized maple, but without the shellac.








<br />

Bonefish


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## TellicoTurning (Oct 22, 2006)

Bonefish,
Sounds like a complicate process.. I've never used CA.. is this same CA that we use to glue tubes in[?] and I'm a little dense right now .. What is GG?

I guess I have a lot to learn about finishes... I've always just use multiple coats of pen wax.. usually 6 or 7  and lots of friction on the lathe.. works on most woods and horn...


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## bonefish (Oct 22, 2006)

CA is Super Glue, the same CA you use to glue tubes with.

There are several tutorials on here describing how to do a CA finish.

I know it does sound complicated, but it isn't. It usually takes longer to tell how to do it that it takes to do it.

GG is Gorilla Glue. The only difference, complicated wise, or time wixe, is that CA dries almost instantly, and it takes overnight for GG.

The prep., meaning sanding it smooth is no different using these finishes as it is using any other type of finish.

This is just my opinion, but for me, the wax and friction finishes are not very durable.

Bonefish


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## Skye (Oct 23, 2006)

You're gonna go nuts first time you get a good CA finish. You'll toss the wax sticks.


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## bonefish (Oct 23, 2006)

Maybe this looks more like a piece of wood, although I think the box with the Red X is very attractive, too.

Bonefish


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## pmpartain (Oct 23, 2006)

As nice as the X is, and it is very nice, I like the wood better.


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## bonefish (Oct 23, 2006)

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## TellicoTurning (Oct 23, 2006)

I guess I need to try the CA finish.  BTW, about 30 minutes after I posted the query.. I realized that GG was gorilla glue.. 

Thanks guys.


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## alamocdc (Oct 24, 2006)

> _Originally posted by pmpartain_
> <br />What finish do you guys recommend for these woods?  I'm making a batch of these.  I thought since the wood was stabilized, i'd just buff it out.  It looks good that way, very good gloss, but would you apply a finish?



Mark, sometimes I do (almost always with CA), sometimes I don't. It depends on the look I'm after and what the customer wants. Many customers like the shine that CA gives, but don't like the feel. They say the polished stabilized wood (no CA finish) "feels" warmer and more like wood than plastic. Sometimes I even use a FP to give it a little kick, but I explain to them that they will need to use a good wax on it once a month or so if they want it to maintain the shine. I will also occassionaly use BLO with a tad of DNA in it like a FP. It gives the stabilized wood a warm feel, but this too will need to be waxed regularly to maintain the appearance. More often than not, I just polish it w/MM followed by a coat of TSW or Ren Wax.


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## pmpartain (Oct 24, 2006)

I am prepping 50 pens.  I've turned about half and finished out a few using:

Sand to 600
Using the Beall 3 on mandrel buff with tripoli, white diamond, and then the carnuba wax.  The gloss is not bad after the white diamond, and is as good as any I have seen after the carnuba.  I think that the shine will diminish a bit when the wax wears off, but they still look pretty darn good after the white diamond.  I've done other pens that look worse.  I just got the buffing wheels a couple weeks ago and this is my first use of it.  I'm most concerned about people's oils and such penetrating the stabilized wood and discoloring.  Only would apply to the lighter color woods.  Any thoughts?


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## alamocdc (Oct 24, 2006)

A lot depends on individual body chemistry. Back before I found this site (and pen finishing techniques other than FP) I had a request for two figured cherry pens by two different people. These weren't stabilized. Today, one has picked up a very nice patina. The other had almost a gray appearance after about three months, but the owner still loves it (I think it looks horrible). I've tried to get him to let me refinish it, but he refuses. Had they been stabilized the appearance of each would now be even different. The stabilizing medium seems to change the characteristics of how the wood reacts to our body oils and acids, if only slightly, but it also depends largely on the wood itself.

So far the "unfinished" stabilized pens I have in the field still look great and some have been in use for about a year and a half.


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## pmpartain (Oct 25, 2006)

Thanks.  That's good info.  These are the first big batch of pens that I have sold.  I haven't personally been using a stabilized wood pen to see for myself how the finish will hold up.  I've seen some of my first pens (slimlines with fp finish).  They look pretty good for what they are.  They sold for $15 though and these are much more.  Just want to make sure the customer gets their money worth and is happy.


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## tone (Oct 28, 2006)

For burls and other blanks with pits and voids, I wet sand with med or thick CA to make a slurry. When dry, sand down through the MM grades and polish. Sometimes I apply a second coat of ca after about 3200 mm for a thicker gloss coat.

Tony


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