Finish for box elder burl

[badwhiskey]

So I have a couple of decent vases from box elder burl.  What would be a good finish to really emphasize the grain?  I'm a bit of a klutz with finishing, so foolproof is preferred.

Thanks.

[MichaelMouse]

I use wipe-on poly where I want to keep the wood light but the finish deep.  If you don't mind the color change, give it a diluted BLO wipe then the varnish of your choice.

[SteveS]

Boxelder is going to soak up a lot of finish, unless it's real viscous, like oil based varnish. For me the finish depends on the look I want to achieve, and normally, since I mostly do segmented turnings, my preferred choice is lacquer though sometimes I'll use a waterbourne poly. Soft woods such as spalted western maple require a lot more base coats before the finish coats.

Occasionally I want the amber cast that oil poly imparts and if you like that then it may be a good option for boxelder.

I would recommend you abandon the desire for foolproof finishes. Learning to apply more difficult finishes through trial and error will open up a lot of options for turned and flatworks projects. My most difficult project was spray gel-coating my ocean kayaks; sticky overspray was bad. fortunately everything except the floor was covered in plastic sheeting. But at least I know how to do it.

[Arlin Eastman]

Boxelder is going to soak up a lot of finish, unless it's real viscous, like oil based varnish. For me the finish depends on the look I want to achieve, and normally, since I mostly do segmented turnings, my preferred choice is lacquer though sometimes I'll use a waterbourne poly. Soft woods such as spalted western maple require a lot more base coats before the finish coats.

Occasionally I want the amber cast that oil poly imparts and if you like that then it may be a good option for boxelder.

I would recommend you abandon the desire for foolproof finishes. Learning to apply more difficult finishes through trial and error will open up a lot of options for turned and flatworks projects. My most difficult project was spray gel-coating my ocean kayaks; sticky overspray was bad. fortunately everything except the floor was covered in plastic sheeting. But at least I know how to do it.

+1

I use different finished for different wood and what the turned item is going to be used for.  I really like Tru Oil for a lot of things and then do the beall buffing and then 2 coats of Renaissance Wax with the last coat 12 hours later and buff it with the carnauba wax buff turned down to 1600 rpm  the other goes to 2800 rpm.  Then the last thing if I want the color to stay I use SPF 80 to keep the color along time and apply it every 3 years

[badwhiskey]

Do you mean Tru-Oil the gunstock finish?

[Arlin Eastman]

Yep that is some awesome stuff.  I use it a lot of the time as a base coat unless when I use shellac to seal the wood before doing other stuff.  It dries shiny and hard and very easy to buff before and using the beall buffing system.

[badwhiskey]

Huh, never tried it.  Thanks!

[AHill]

I've used Waterlox on box elder burl.  It imparts a warm amber tone, but it really does bring out the grain.  I wipe-on, wipe-off, sanding between coats with 600 grit, to build up the finish, then finish with the Beall buffing system.  I like a gloss finish on my burls, but sometimes satin does well for something that's being handled a lot.

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[MichaelMouse]

I've used Waterlox on box elder burl.  It imparts a warm amber tone, but it really does bring out the grain.  I wipe-on, wipe-off, sanding between coats with 600 grit, to build up the finish, then finish with the Beall buffing system.  I like a gloss finish on my burls, but sometimes satin does well for something that's being handled a lot.

Those who want to "bring out the grain," often forget what counts is the transparency and depth of finish.  Put water on the surface, and you'll notice that it "pops" the grain.  It does that by minimizing light scatter from an irregular or porous surface.  You want the effect to linger a bit, use something more viscous but still clear - oil, for instance.  It looks great, then dulls as the liquid sinks in.  When you fill in the pores with finish - not a satin, which contains material to scatter light - you are really just fostering lack of diffraction and scatter.  Buffing illustrates this effect pretty well.  Tripoli makes a surface that scatters, looking matte, while finer compounds make finer scratches, returning more light directly to your eye. 

Soft maple takes a heat burnish real well.  I use a Kraft paper bag to heat and harden the surface.  Penetrating finishes won't sink in very well, but there appears to be enough "tooth" on the glowing surface for film finishes.  Once again, I like the Minwax product, which seems to be soy oil, for minimum yellow. Some like tung, but the final polymer seems large enough to leave a matte film, and smells horrible, to me.

[AHill]

Those who want to "bring out the grain," often forget what counts is the transparency and depth of finish.  Put water on the surface, and you'll notice that it "pops" the grain.  It does that by minimizing light scatter from an irregular or porous surface.  You want the effect to linger a bit, use something more viscous but still clear - oil, for instance.  It looks great, then dulls as the liquid sinks in.  When you fill in the pores with finish - not a satin, which contains material to scatter light - you are really just fostering lack of diffraction and scatter.  Buffing illustrates this effect pretty well.  Tripoli makes a surface that scatters, looking matte, while finer compounds make finer scratches, returning more light directly to your eye. 

Soft maple takes a heat burnish real well.  I use a Kraft paper bag to heat and harden the surface.  Penetrating finishes won't sink in very well, but there appears to be enough "tooth" on the glowing surface for film finishes.  Once again, I like the Minwax product, which seems to be soy oil, for minimum yellow. Some like tung, but the final polymer seems large enough to leave a matte film, and smells horrible, to me.

You make a good point that if you're going to buff, you need a top coat over the penetrating coat.  Otherwise, you're buffing the wood and not the finish.  Here's an extract from one of General Finishes' FAQ's:

"When using OIL BASED finishes: The best method for bringing out the natural characteristics of wood grain is to use a penetrating oil like Tung oil, Walnut oil or double boiled Linseed oil. If you use Tung or Walnut oil to highlight the character of the wood you may use shellac as a barrier coat, followed by an application of High Performance Waterbased Topcoat over the top. If you use Linseed Oil you must let the oil dry for 7-10 days before applying any type of water base finish as the final coat. In addition to Tung, Walnut or Linseed oils, General Finishes has several products that would work extremely well. Seal-A-Cell Clear is a penetrating oil that will bring out the natural color. Then follow with several coats of Arm-R-Seal wipe on Urethane."

https://generalfinishes.com/blog/2014/04...YjXV2eHq1B

Professional furniture finishers use polishing media to get a high gloss finish - but it's polishing the top coat and not the wood surface.  This is an extract from Homestead Finishes on scratches and reflection:

"Scratches can produce a flat, satin, semi-gloss, or gloss sheen by how they reflect light. On a perfect gloss surface, light is reflected to your eye at the same angle that it strikes the surface. In technical terms this means that gloss is created when the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflectance. When scratches are put on the surface and they are larger than the wavelength of visible light- they will diffuse light away from the eye. Scratches left by 400 grit result in a very dull surface. From 400-1000 a flat to satin surface is the result. Above 1500 a semi-gloss surface results. When the width of the scratch is smaller than the frequency of visible light (as in fine polishing) the surface starts to appear glossy."

http://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/ru...-finishes/

Visible light wavelength is 0.4-0.7 microns, so any scratches longer than 0.4 microns would diffract light vs. reflect the light.  The green stuff used in strops is about 0.5 microns.  White diamond bars used with the Beall buffing system really have no equivalent grit size, but I can testify from experience that they do get my surfaces glossier than if I just simply leave the surface as-is.  As an experiment on acrylic pens, I found the white diamond charged buff to be about the same as plastic polish like HUT Ultra Gloss, and the plastic polish got my acrylic pens more reflective than 12,000 grit micro mesh.  So, IMO, whether polishing or buffing improves or distracts from the reflectivity of the topcoat really depends on what compound you use.