FWW's best wipe-on finish

[jwavem]

I just read the article in August Fine WoodWorking about wipe on finishes hoping to learn something I could apply to my woodturnings. They rated Minwax Wipe-On Poly best overall and best value. Has anyone used this Minwax product? What were your results? I can't help but think money spent on advertising with FWW influenced this article.

 

[DWFII]

I love the stuff. I came to woodturning cold...having little or no experience with woodworking and finishing prior to buying my lathe. I had lots of problems with various finishes--runs and drips with spray laquers, no durability with friction polishes, etc.. But the Minwax is great. You wipe it on, wipe off the excess and let it dry. Fine sand the first coat...usually I use 500 Abralon or even 0000 steel wool...and apply a second coat. You can build up several coats like this and the last coat, with MinWax gloss, will give you a beautiful, natural looking satin finish. But that's not all...you can buff it out to a high gloss if you want and it's beautiful.

You can't go wrong in my opinion.

 

[MichaelMouse]

I just read the article in August Fine WoodWorking about wipe on finishes hoping to learn something I could apply to my woodturnings. They rated Minwax Wipe-On Poly best overall and best value. Has anyone used this Minwax product? What were your results? I can't help but think money spent on advertising with FWW influenced this article.

Did the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of the wood finish industry corrupt the evaluator and publisher? Conspiracy theories are sure abundant. Ask yourself if your favorite flavor had been favored, would you say the same?

Anyway, thinned oil-based polyurethane is between the high-test and the Danish oil in solids content, and conforms pretty much to what you'd expect from it. It is thinned well enough to sink into the pores of the wood, but probably not as far as a Danish oil, and it will build a finish on the surface once it's grounded, but not as fast as a high-test varnish.

Advantage to thinning is rag application ( or paper towel, as I use ) is possible, and good leveling of the finish can take place. Disadvantage is that the finish sometimes levels itself into a gummy button inside the bottom of a bowl if too carelessly applied. Sure does make a nice finish, though, if you favor surface finishes.

I don't use the satin, because satin varnishes are a little softer than their gloss brothers due to the light-scattering additives. If I want to dull the look into the wood, I run a quick random-direction or circular buff with Tripoli to have the surface scatter some light. Use of a high-molecular weight wax will also take the edge off the gloss.

Two coats, with any glossy areas removed by plastic wool buffs are my idea of good salad bowl preparation. Something to limit the penetration of the oils, and a bit of water rejection too, without the full surface finish that would look terrible with scratching.

 

[Donna Banfield]

FWW best wipe-on finishes

Back in early May, I found myself short on time and out of Waterlox and Urethane Oil. I was an hour drive from the nearest Woodcraft Store, but 2 minutes from the local Home Depot. I had used MinWax Wipe On Poly on some furniture long ago, and had only a few pieces to complete for a show.

I wiped it on, then wiped it dry, just as I had applied the Waterlox, and was very pleased with the result. Now, I see in the FWW magazine that for once I guessed right. An added plus to using Minwax, is that the lighter woods, like the sapwood of my black walnut, don't yellow as they did when using Waterlox.

Durability remains to be seen, when compared to the urethane oil.

 

[Russ Fairfield]

Donna,
The MinWax Wipe-On Poly is a simple mixture of oil, metallic dryers, thinner, and Polyurethane varnish resins. The oil is Soybean and the metallic dryers are there to make it polymerize into a finish.

Depending on who made the Urethane Oil you have been using, it might be the same thing.

The Waterlox that you have been using is Tung Oil with phenolic resins. Both are more expensive than the ingredients in the MinWax Wipe-On.

 

[Bob Hadley]

In my view FWW can be trusted.
They have too many subscribers to risk leading anyone astray.
Case in point: a while back the criticized the tool performance of a certain brand. Mind you, this was a brand that had been buying multiple pages in every issue for many years.
It would have been easy for FWW to leave the machine out of the review or gloss over the defects. Nonetheless the criticism stood. Henceforth there has not been one ad in FWW from this company. I'm not saying there's a connection, but I paid attention in 1st grade. I can add.
Sad too. Because instead of improving the quality and coming back to the editors and saying, "you're right, that sucked, but we fixed it," they simply packed up their ads and went home.
Which tells you all you need to know about that company.
Who was it? Hint: the name rhymes with drizzly.
BH

 

[dkulze]

Have noticed the same for Wood magazine. They advertise heavilly for all main brands but then will criticize them mercillessly in reviews. I've always felt good about their info as they seem to work hard to test all products against comparable ones and to test them in detail.

Dietrich

 

[William Young]

I have tried wipe on poly a few times on different things like bandsaw boxes etc and it eventually did give a nice finish but I was too impatient to wait for drying between coats to reach the final appearance I wanted.
I still have 3/4 of a can of the Minwax brand left . Then for other things like my fretwork clocks , etc I found that spraying WB lacquer to be the best for my particular purposes.
But then I got into turning and that opened up a whole new ball game for me when it came to finishing. I had been using friction finishes on small items but when I got into bigger bowls and such I wanted something more durable than friction finishes and also something that cost less. I also did not want to set up my spraying system for just a bowl or two at a time.
So , after reading the way some of the top turners finish their bowls etc with nothing but Danish oil, I reluctantly gave it a try . WOW ! ! . . was that ever an awakening. I thought it would be just a dull finish . . . and that it was after liberally appying a couple coats to penetrate into the wood. Then I discoverd that buffing is the secret.
Here are three articles that I recently made and let sit for about a week for the oil to cure. They had an unattractive dull look to them . So I buffed them with a cheap little buffing system on my drill press that cost something like $30.00 for the whole kit. I could not believe what a difference that made to a rather bland looking Danish oil finish. The finish is as smooth as glass and I took the picture purposely with no flash and just used my shop lighting. I can only wonder now how much better an expensive Beal system would be but I will probably get a Beal buffing system eventually because I have heard nothing but good reports about them.
I am now a believer in Danish oil as a finsh for turnings and the best part is that it is so quick and easy before and after the curing period. . It is also quite inexpensive because a little goes a long way.
W.Y.

 

[jwavem]

William
Your finish looks great. What kind of buffing compound if any did you use?

 

[bbrussell]

I have used this finish on furniture projects and have been pleased with the results. I found that it takes one or two extra coats, but that is offset by the ease of use. I prefer other finishes for turnings, but if for some reason I thought that I should use poly, I would reach for the minwax wipe-on.

Barry

 

[William Young]

jwavem;
Thanks for the compliment.
I didn't use any buffing compound at all on them. Just two heavy soak in applications of Danish oil . Perhaps the fact that I sanded to 4000 grit with Abralon pads before applying the oil had something to do with the results but I think the most important thing is the curing time .
I waxed them with Johnsons paste wax after buffing but I dont think I will do that again. They are so smooth and slippery it is difficult to hold on to them. It didn't change the shine all that much. Just made them very slippery.
Live and learn.

W.Y.

 

[MichaelMouse]

I have used this finish on furniture projects and have been pleased with the results. I found that it takes one or two extra coats, but that is offset by the ease of use. I prefer other finishes for turnings, but if for some reason I thought that I should use poly, I would reach for the minwax wipe-on.

Works well. Picture of the north end of my table taken around lunch time.

I have dogs, so there's no way I can sequester a rag that will shield it from dog hair. So I use the cheap 50 cent a roll paper towels like Jeff Jewitt recommended in FWW.