Finishes
In the past 10 years I have moved almost exclusively to waterborne finishes. Target Coatings were the first ones, the Fuhr, and currently I use General's Enduro Clear Poly for almost all of my finishing. I highly recommend them for both speed and clarity, but there are some caveats.
No matter what they claim, every waterborne (or "based" if you prefer) will raise or pucker the surface fibers if applied to unsealed wood. The result is that you won't get the lively depth and richness associated with NGR finishes such as oil or solvent lacquer. There are two methods I use to avoid the problem. First, I like to apply a coat of a fast drying oil sealer such as Waterlox (red can). The sealer can be wiped on, allowed to soak for 15 min., and wiped dry. 2 hours later I will seal the oil with two light coats of 100% dewaxed shellac in a 1.5 lb. cut. with 1 hour between applications. I let the shellac dry well so that as much alcohol as possible has evaporated, usually over night. I then top coat with up to 3 applications of the waterborne. The combination of the fast oil and shellac both pops the grain and seals it against the top coat's water, and so the system provides great finish depth and clarity. Second, depending on the wood I will sometimes skip the oil application and use a 3rd light coat of shellac. Caveat here that dewaxed shellac has a limited shelf-life and regardless of the source (store-bought or shop-made) any mixed linger than 5 months should not be used under a waterborne finish or it may cold-check.
My preferred method for applying shellac and waterbornes to turnings is with a good small HVLP mini-gun. Both finishes can be hand-applied with success, however I prefer the ability to use a light misting application, especially on small things like turnings. Here are 2 examples:
This Ambrosia Maple bowl has the oil/shellac/waterborne combination.
The blue keepsake urns skipped the oil because I wanted to avoid ambering the deeply dyed blue of the maple burl.
