Friction Polishes

[rdwallace]

I have started turning pens with my Shopsmith. I have had good luck with a BLO/CA finish (four coats). I recently tried HUT Plastic Polish over the CA. It works great on tight-grained wood like Olive and Cherry, but when applied to open-grained wood (such as Oak, Bloodwood, and even dark woods, like Walnut and Purplewood) the white polish cakes into the grain and won't clear out. As a result, the polish glosses over the white polish caked in the grain.

Is this usual? Is there a recommended polish that can be applied to open-grained wood without worrying about caking up the grain?

[pennview]

Perhaps a buffing wheel will pull out the residue from the plastic polish. But if you try this, do it before you assemble the pens as the buffing wheel can remove the plating from the metal parts of the pen. Beall makes a nice set of buffing wheels and compounds and wax for polishing wooden objects which will do a nice job on pens.

Before finishing the pens, you could try to even out the grain with some wood pore filler but you would have to dye it to match the color of the wood you're using. Another approach would be to mix some saw dust from the wood you're using with glue and use that mixture as a pore filler, although this will alter the look and might not be to your liking. You might want to experiment a bit. After sanding everything smooth you could then apply the CA finish. Or simply forgo the polish and use some of those fine grit Abralon sanding pads or MicroMesh to achieve a high gloss finish.

[hdtran]

I have started turning pens with my Shopsmith. I have had good luck with a BLO/CA finish (four coats). I recently tried HUT Plastic Polish over the CA. It works great on tight-grained wood like Olive and Cherry, but when applied to open-grained wood (such as Oak, Bloodwood, and even dark woods, like Walnut and Purplewood) the white polish cakes into the grain and won't clear out. As a result, the polish glosses over the white polish caked in the grain.

Is this usual? Is there a recommended polish that can be applied to open-grained wood without worrying about caking up the grain?

I don't bother with polish after a cyanoacrylate (CA) finish. I sand with micromesh to 12000, then, put just a bit of carnauba paste wax (you've got paste wax for your Shopsmith tubes, right?) on the pen, and buff off with a piece of t-shirt cloth at high speed.

I also do more than 4 coats. My typical CA is 6-8 coats.

For Oak, I will put on some sanding sealer before finishing. Sanding sealer theoretically closes the pores in an open grain wood.

[michaeltoc]

Is there a recommended polish that can be applied to open-grained wood without worrying about caking up the grain?

I've used HUT Crystal Coat & the PPP sticks with excellent results on walnut.

What you could also do is after a coat or two of CA, lightly sand the piece. This will remove the CA from the surface, but leave it in the pores. Repeat until the pores are filled.

[rdwallace]

This is helpful. Thanks. You can check out my work at http://www.wallacepens.com . Happy turning!

[moose]

Extremely impressive web site and talent Darrell. Thank you so much for the link.

[lnrmiller]

When i've done pens with a porous wood i've put a dab of CA glue on a piece of 220 sandpaper and sanded. It builds up a paste of dust and fills the pores. Then sand out and finish as usual, I usually stop at 4-5coats of CA and then the same paste wax I use on the shopsmith. Works for me.