# Polyurethane



## Darkshier (Apr 19, 2014)

I've noticed the majority of posts on here people are using CA. I personally use polyurethane and was wondering if this is inadvisable for some reason?


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## lorbay (Apr 19, 2014)

Hey whatever floats you boat and it works for you is fine, poly is to slow for me and that's why I personally use CA.
Lin


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## penmaker1967 (Apr 19, 2014)

i use poly myself and really like how it does i apply about 7 coats on over about a week and let it cure for a few days before i put them pen togeather. takes a little longer to get a pen finshed but i like the way it looks a feels myself.


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## CoastalRyan (Apr 19, 2014)

I highly recommend a respirator if you spray regularly. The billiard community recently lost 3 very talented cue makers from exposure to spraying clear and poly.


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## Darkshier (Apr 19, 2014)

I don't spray I use the stuff that comes in the paint can containers. Dip a small piece I cut off an old shirt and apply a couple of coats.


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## Dale Allen (Apr 19, 2014)

Would that be the water based wipe-on poly?


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## Sataro (Apr 19, 2014)

I like using wop myself. It makes a great finish. Just takes forever to get your coats applied & pen finished up. So I use ca finish most of the time.


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## Dick Mahany (Apr 20, 2014)

I've switched to General Finishes "Woodturner's Finish".  It is a water based wipe on Polyurethane that is super durable and dries very quickly.  The formula is a derivative of a flooring finish and nearly odorless.  I use my CA to glue stuff.


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## Darkshier (Apr 20, 2014)

I'm not really sure if it's water based or not. It's Miniwax fast drying.


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## monophoto (Apr 20, 2014)

I've used Minwax WOP - both satin and clear - and have gotten good results.  I have two 'daily carry pens' - one with CA and the other with WOP - and I can't see any difference in wear characteristics after more than two years of use.  Solvent-based WOP tends to have an amber tone that looks nice on wood.

I've also used water-based poly floor finish and have gotten good results with that as well.  It dries faster than solvent-based WOP, but it does raise the grain (have to sand a bit more after the first application), and it is colorless (or perhaps even slightly bluish), so it may not work as well on all woods.

The drawback with WOP is that it goes on thin, so you need to apply many coats.  And the drying time between coats is significant - four hours on average.  So it becomes a time-consuming process.

I saw a pepper grinder demo last month in which the turner got a very thick, very smooth finish with four coats of ordinary (not WOP) solvent-based polyurethane using a process he called 'rotisserie finishing'.  Basically, he applied a fairly thick coat of poly to the piece with a brush while it was spinning on the lathe at a very slow speed (~ 50 r/min), and then let the piece continue to spin for about an hour.  The idea is that the constant movement and slight vibration caused the poly to level as it cured.  After an hour, he turns off his lathe and lets the poly cure for a day before sanding very lightly and applying the next coat.  At the end of the process, he lets the poly cure thoroughly and then buffs. I don't see why that wouldn't work with pens as well, and if you concocted some kind of shop-made 'finishing mandrel' arrangement, you could let pens cure off the lathe while doing other work.


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## designer (Apr 20, 2014)

They sell low RPM motors for fishing rod building.  Some up to 4 to 40 RPM's.  We use them to keep epoxy from sagging and the surface very smooth.  There are a lot of commonalities between rod building and pen turning.

Drying Motor for Power Wrapper (30 RPM) | mudhole.com

Simple to rig up for pens.


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## dogrunner (Apr 20, 2014)

if you want to use waterbased poly just seal the wood with a coat of dewaxed shellac it will give the wood a nice amber color and it wont raise the grain you can buy it in a spray can for $7.00 at most hardwear stores zinzer makes it


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## monophoto (Apr 24, 2014)

Based on the previous posts in this thread, I decided to do an experiment to see how waterbased gloss poly would work as a pen finish.

Rather than using a kit, I opted to make a 'cheap' or '12 cent' pen because what I was really interested in was the finishing process rather than the pen as an end-product.

I chose to use poplar because I had a scrap lying on the bench, and because its not the most exciting wood, if the finish works on it, it should work on other woods.  The particular scrap I had was a bit greenish (in color), so that also made it a good test of the color issue with waterbased poly.

I turned the blank, sanded it to 800 grit, and applied a coat of Zinsser's shellac sanding sealer thinned 1:1 with DNA.  After that cured, I sanded it lightly and applied the first coat of waterbased poly using a brush and with the lathe spinning at its lowest speed (about 250 r/min).   I let the lathe continue to spin until the poly set up - even with the sealer, that coat of poly soaked into the wood and raised some grain, but it dried fairly quickly.

I let the first coat cure for 3-4 hours, and sanded the blank again.  Applied a second coat of the poly with a brush with the lathe spinning at 250 r/min.  That coat did not soak in, and clearly formed a very wet layer on the pen so I had to leave the lathe spinning for about an hour while the poly set up to prevent drips from forming on the bottom side of the pen body.  

I let the second coat cure overnight, and then wet-sanded very lightly with 800 grit abrasive - just enough to remove any roughness in the poly.  Applied the third fairly heavy coat of poly - again with a brush and left the lathe spinning at its lowest speed for about an hour.

I let the third coat cure for about 7 hours before again wet-sanding very lightly, and applying a fourth coat using the same process as before.

I had intended to let the fourth coat cure overnight, and then wet-sand with micromesh, and finally use a plastic polish, but when I examined the pen this morning, I decided that the finish was good enough without that step.

Conclusions:
1.  The elapsed time required to finish pens using waterborn poly is significant because it is necessary to allow each coat to cure for 4-7 hours before recoating.  If I were to use this approach in a 'production mode', I think I would come up with some kind of 'finishing box' that would allow a number of pens to be finished simultaneously while providing protection from airborn dust.
2.  Very light wet-sanding is helpful between coats.  Trying to aggressively sand between coats can ruin the finish and require that you sand everything off and start the process over. 
3.  Applying the poly with a brush definitely results in a thicker finish than the usual wood-turner's approach of applying finish with a rag or paper towel.  And the milky color of waterbased poly makes if emminently obvious that the application is not uniform when it is first applied.
4.  But the 'rotisserie method' is really quite effective in leveling the finish, but you should plan on letting the lathe run for about an hour after each application.  
5.  Using shellac sanding sealer does provide a slight ambering effect that somewhatly counteracts the inherent bluishness of waterbased poly.  But the sanding sealer doesn't totally seal the wood, and the first application of poly still raises grain.  Obviously, the next experiment would be to apply two coats of sanding sealer to see if that changes anything.
6.  Poplar is not an ideal wood for making pens because it's fairly soft, and the absence of a distinct grain pattern makes the final product rather boring.
7.  The final finish using the waterbased gloss poly looks and feels about the same as a finish done with CA.  And from other experiments, I know that the poly finish is just as durable as a CA finish.


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## rd_ab_penman (Apr 24, 2014)

I have been using MINWAX WBOM Polyurethane for a number of years now applying using "My Dipping" method and works great for me.
My tutorial can be found in the Library under Finishing.

Les


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