Gifted stopper ready to ship

[Jamie Straw]

The wine stopper is done and ready to mail as a thank-you gift. Never did get shine from wiping Deft, so went ahead and sprayed. Need a cheap way to buff (Beall isn't an option this month). It's not perfect, but I like it pretty much. Still on mandrel here. After it was finished last night, I was so happy I practiced using the skew left-handed.

 

[john lucas]

Wipe on Poly requires quite a few coats to get really glossy. You don't really have to buy a Beal. Just buy some buffs and the right compounds. You can get the compounds at Lowes. I bought 3" buffs from Craft Supplies. https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/ You do need some way to hold the buffing wheels. I bought the Don Pencil extension to fit my lathe spindle. I love it.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Lacquer (not poly)...

Wipe on Poly requires quite a few coats to get really glossy. You don't really have to buy a Beal. Just buy some buffs and the right compounds. You can get the compounds at Lowes. I bought 3" buffs from Craft Supplies. https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/ You do need some way to hold the buffing wheels. I bought the Don Pencil extension to fit my lathe spindle. I love it.

Not poly -- I was trying your technique of 2 quick wiped coats of lacquer, followed by drop of lacquer on cloth at high speed for "polish." No joy, so I must not have divined the details. I really would like to finish stoppers on lathe, no spray. Might also try the BLO followed by CA and see how that goes. Glad I don't need a Beall, 'cause it's way down the list. Thanks for the info!

 

[Bill Boehme]

Not poly -- I was trying your technique of 2 quick wiped coats of lacquer, followed by drop of lacquer on cloth at high speed for "polish." No joy, so I must not have divined the details. I really would like to finish stoppers on lathe, no spray. Might also try the BLO followed by CA and see how that goes. Glad I don't need a Beall, 'cause it's way down the list. Thanks for the info!

I've never heard of that, but it doesn't sound like something that I would want to do.

You can do a shellac finish on the lathe such as Hut Crystal Coat.

 

[hockenbery]

Not poly -- I was trying your technique of 2 quick wiped coats of lacquer, followed by drop of lacquer on cloth at high speed for "polish." No joy, so I must not have divined the details. I really would like to finish stoppers on lathe, no spray. Might also try the BLO followed by CA and see how that goes. Glad I don't need a Beall, 'cause it's way down the list. Thanks for the info!

That is a technique I learned from a Dale Nish article.

The a Long time ago the deft in a can used to be good for that.
CSU used to have a padding lacquer that worked well.
Not sure if it is still available.
I used that on all my ornament finials. These were thin so I had to sand and apply as I went. First inch, nests 2 inches.

Haven't used this technique in along time.

Most lacquers dry too fast for this.

Al

 

[stu senator]

Cheap buffing

As an economical (cheap) way to buff small pieces on the lathe I have put the buffing compound directly on the part as it spins in the lathe and then polish with a SMALL piece of soft cloth. Or alternately use a soft paper towel.

Caution: the cloth if over a few square inches in area can catch and wrap around your hand and cause damage to YOU.

Stu

 

[Jamie Straw]

As an economical (cheap) way to buff small pieces on the lathe I have put the buffing compound directly on the part as it spins in the lathe and then polish with a SMALL piece of soft cloth. Or alternately use a soft paper towel.

Caution: the cloth if over a few square inches in area can catch and wrap around your hand and cause damage to YOU.

Stu

Thanks, Stu, I'll give that a try. I'm very careful about not getting caught for a ride on the lathe.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Just want to chime in here and say it looks great to me, with a very nice shine. Someone will be very pleased with your thank you gift, Jamie.

 

[john lucas]

The thinned lacquer does take some technique and sometimes 4 or 5 coats instead of 2. It depends a great deal on the wood and how far you sanded. I sand to 600 grit if I'm using that technique. Usually when I spray my stoppers I stop at 400. Each coat you put on disolves the previous coat. Normally I can get a good finish with 2 or 3 coats and don't need the drop on a cloth method if my skills are there. If I get the finish too thick it leaves streaks and that's when I use the drop on a cloth method to try and smooth the streaks out. You can often polish the finish with a bounty paper towel although I think they've changed how they make the towels because they don't work as good as they used to. If I had my shop up and working I'd go out there and do a few and make sure my technique is done as I remember but I'm still about 4 to 6 weeks away from having a shop. In fact I should be out there cleaning the floor getting it ready for painting but I've been working hard around the house this morning and I'm going to be lazy and take a short nap before I get to that chore. Takes a lot of work to power wash, scrub, power wash, acid wash, power wash, rinse and rinse a 2 1/2 car garage floor so I need to reginerate for about 15 minutes.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Aw, shucks....

Just want to chime in here and say it looks great to me, with a very nice shine. Someone will be very pleased with your thank you gift, Jamie.

Thanks, Mark! I really like the spalted wood (though it doesn't always turn "clean"). The form evolved from a plan that didn't quite work, so the proportions could use some tweaking. I mailed it off today with a thank-you note and a bag of Fritos -- an inside joke, this friend just loves Fritos but tries not to buy them.

Looks better on the Ruth Niles stopper (this is the backside, not as much spalting).

 

[Jamie Straw]

Thinning? Sanding?

The thinned lacquer does take some technique and sometimes 4 or 5 coats instead of 2. It depends a great deal on the wood and how far you sanded. I sand to 600 grit if I'm using that technique. Usually when I spray my stoppers I stop at 400. Each coat you put on disolves the previous coat. Normally I can get a good finish with 2 or 3 coats and don't need the drop on a cloth method if my skills are there. If I get the finish too thick it leaves streaks and that's when I use the drop on a cloth method to try and smooth the streaks out. You can often polish the finish with a bounty paper towel although I think they've changed how they make the towels because they don't work as good as they used to. If I had my shop up and working I'd go out there and do a few and make sure my technique is done as I remember but I'm still about 4 to 6 weeks away from having a shop. In fact I should be out there cleaning the floor getting it ready for painting but I've been working hard around the house this morning and I'm going to be lazy and take a short nap before I get to that chore. Takes a lot of work to power wash, scrub, power wash, acid wash, power wash, rinse and rinse a 2 1/2 car garage floor so I need to reginerate for about 15 minutes.

That's LOTS of work!! I think you're allowed more than 15 mins. After I opened the Deft brushing lacquer, I was kinda surprised that you thin it. It seems very high in solvent! or are you using a different product? As soon as I get a little bottle of CA, I'm going to try this quick finish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-FXOsMR2tY just for giggles, see how it works. But I like the idea of using lacquer better than CA. Sanding: I haven't sanded quite that high (I think Norton 3X 400 was tops). I have wet/dry paper that goes really high, could try that. Have thought about trying MicroMesh, but not sure I want to get on that train, seems like overkill. Do you use Abranet at all? I love it on flat stock (with a 5" ROS), and it comes in 2" and 3" discs up to 1000 grit. Might be interesting to try it.

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

Nice stopper Jamie. I always try to consider usability of stoppers when making them. One needs to be able to get a good grip pulling them out and a flat-ish top makes it easy to pop back on. Your stopper looks excellent for both, and the lovely detail and spalting are icing on the cake.

Abranet is great for turning. I picked up some this spring and love it.

 

[Jamie Straw]

No pointy tops, LOL...

Nice stopper Jamie. I always try to consider usability of stoppers when making them. One needs to be able to get a good grip pulling them out and a flat-ish top makes it easy to pop back on. Your stopper looks excellent for both, and the lovely detail and spalting are icing on the cake.

Abranet is great for turning. I picked up some this spring and love it.

Thanks! Always good to think of the stopper in use when turning it, resist any skinny, pointy tops and such. I try to keep in mind, too, that the 'fridge shelves are only so tall. Have two gifts to do for birthdays this week, I think one will be spalted alder again, the other might be maple or perhaps purple heart. Have lots of spindle exotics stowed away. Here's a shape I want to perfect, assuming the skew is the tool of choice for the upper part, just figuring out how to do the little cove between the top bead and the "hat."