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Easy finish with a good shine?

B

Bigblackdog

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Dec 28, 2014
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Leeds
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Mark
I have just started to use the melamine lacquer method. outlay is probably £50 for thinners, lacquer, sealer, wax, but it is quick. You may get smaller bottles of lacquer which will reduce the cost.

CA costs less, but takes much more time with micromesh.
 
yorkshireman

yorkshireman

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Melamine lacquer every time. There's a tutorial on the forum somewhere if you do a search for it mate
 
Phil Dart

Phil Dart

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Oh my word Kevin! You've done it now - talk about lighting the blue touch-paper.

Finishes fall broadly into 3 categories. CA, waxed based, and acrylic or melamine based. Everyone here will have their own view on the suitability of each, and my own personal preference is for melamine.

I will justify that preference in a nutshell, before everyone else jumps in with their views, then you can make your own decision.

CA encases the wood in a synthetic "plastic" which removes the wood from being wood. It is extremely shiny and extremely plasticy, it yellows with age and is prone to blooming and chipping.

Wax of any sort will not last more than a few occasions of being handled, despite what anyone else may believe or tell you. It is the least suitable finish for a pen that I can possibly imagine.

Melamine and acrylic, if applied properly will give a shine that still keeps you in touch with the wood, and that will stand the test of time. It's as simple as that in my opinion.

I wrote a paper a while ago on on using melamine, which you can find in the thread here. http://www.penturners.co.uk/turning-pens/18901-achieving-success-melamine-finish.html
 
KevinMc

KevinMc

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Phil Dart said:
Oh my word Kevin! You've done it now - talk about lighting the blue touch-paper.

Finishes fall broadly into 3 categories. CA, waxed based, and acrylic or melamine based. Everyone here will have their own view on the suitability of each, and my own personal preference is for melamine.

I will justify that preference in a nutshell, before everyone else jumps in with their views, then you can make your own decision.

CA encases the wood in a synthetic "plastic" which removes the wood from being wood. It is extremely shiny and extremely plasticy, it yellows with age and is prone to blooming and chipping.

Wax of any sort will not last more than a few occasions of being handled, despite what anyone else may believe or tell you. It is the least suitable finish for a pen that I can possibly imagine.

Melamine and acrylic, if applied properly will give a shine that still keeps you in touch with the wood, and that will stand the test of time. It's as simple as that in my opinion.

I wrote a paper a while ago on on using melamine, which you can find in the thread here. http://www.penturners.co.uk/turning-pens/18901-achieving-success-melamine-finish.html
Click to expand...


Ha ha ....:banghead:

Yep found the link after what Keith the Woodrat posted....

If nothing else if gets the forum going ... but on a positive I can learn something too.

Kevin
 
Penpal

Penpal

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My methods vary to suit the timber but one coat of CA medium is lasting, effective. I am not selling any product but choose as I use.

Peter.
 
silver

silver

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Somewhere in Staffordshire,
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Eamonn.
Bloody can o worms or what eh! There are as many finishes out there as there are turners and carpenters.

Remember that CA is technically not a finish, it's sold as a glue.. :face:

Believe it or not but I'm still practising with the dipping method on as our famous "well :thumbs:done" Les uses in his dipping method

Search dipping method I'm sure you will find something on here or IAP about it.

Remember when polishing, "polish the wood" don't put polish on the wood and expect it to last. But polished wood will last longer.

I haven't tried the melamine trick yet, but may well do when I get back in to turning again.

What I would say is try everything out, get used to one way of finishing and stick to it.
 
A

andyl

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angus
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andrew
Many thanks KevinMc for bringing that up as I was going to post exactly the same question.
Tried the Ca glue finish myself the other day. Impressive as it may look the feel to me just isn't right.
So will need to try the melamine finish.
 
fortress

fortress

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Apr 11, 2016
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Astley
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John
Hi Kevin, I was a CA man at first, when looking for alternates on the forum, I came across Phil's paper on the method He uses to apply Melamine lacquer, I downloaded it, read it, re read it, then spent £50 on all the things I needed. Now, I use that method all the time on wood, it is quick, effective and produces a beautiful, natural, smooth sheen to the wood.
 
Bill Mooney

Bill Mooney

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Hi Kevin, we don't live too far from each other. You can come over & I'll take you through Phil's method for timber & my method for acrylic. Pm me if fancy a day out.
 
A

andyl

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andrew
KevinMc said:
So are you new to this and or turning too?:thinks:

Kevin
Click to expand...

New to both.
Have tried my hand at a number of pens & am starting to get some results that I like.
I love experimenting and have the uncanny knack of doing things the hard way, hence signing up on this forum for the great advice it offers.
Questions abound, but careful searches on the forum generally prise out an answer.

Andy
 
P

Pierre---

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Feb 3, 2016
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France
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Pierre
Phil Dart said:
Finishes fall broadly into 3 categories. CA, waxed based, and acrylic or melamine based.
Click to expand...

I use a fourth one on very hard woods. The idea is that sanding (I wet sand from 320 up to 2000 or more sometimes) and polishing/buffing will get a nice shine. A dip in linseed oil will protect the wood sufficiently against any splash, and avoids that the grain stands up again, thus conserving the shine. With use, this finish will only improve : look at an old wooden handle that has been in constant use! If you add something like varnish of any kind, it will get off little by little, getting worst with time. Just the opposite.

I think on the long run, finishing this way rosewoods, snakwood, ebony or cocobolo (and many others) is worth considering.
 
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