wax or oil finish

[Tiny James]

I'm thinking of turning my first bowl tomorrow on a blank that is cut as a square lump of wood so it will be end grain bowl.

Maybe not the ideal wood to start my adventure in bowl turning but I have 6 or 7 lumps of this wood so I have a lot to practice pieces to run through.

I would like to know how to finish the wood it's very dry been in the garage for 8 year or more and it was kilim dried before that.

But before I oil or wax it do I apply sanding sealer first and then the oil/wax

The wax I have is liquid hard wax or Danish oil

thank you for your advice
James

 

[Dalboy]

I would start by turning it cross grain to start with if possible you will find it easier.

As for finish if oil is to be used then that should be applied straight to bare wood as it needs to soak in and may take a few coats depending on how dense the wood is. You can wax over oil once it has dried properly. Or you can apply a sealer and then wax so pick one or the other method.
Which every you choose make sure that you have sanded so no sanding marks or tool marks are left

 

[Pierre]

As Derek says oil will soak in which is why you have to apply several coats and each coat take several hours to dry, equally it acts as its own sanding sealer so each coat should be sanded down, progressively finer and finer, when I make my square jewellery boxes I use at least 5 coats of tung oil and leave each coat for 24 hours to dry. If you are going to use sanding sealer then the piece should be sanded down to about 600 grit, then the sanding sealer applied. This dries very fast and once applied you can sand down to your final finish and then wax the piece, I've tried friction wax but my preferred finish is carnauba applied by a buffing wheel.

 

[Tiny James]

so Danish oil it is and then buffer wax thanks' for the reply and information

James