I have only four (4) things to say about finishing, whether it is pens, bowls, or anything else made from turned wood. I know that none of this is what anyone wants to hear because everyone wants finishing to be all about FAST.
Surface Preparation
Read Number 2 again. The wood surface is the most important ingredient of the finish. The wood should be polished to where it doesn't need a finish before we put anything on it. That means sanding to at least 600-grit for most woodturning, and to 12,000 Micro-Mesh, or the equivalent grocery-bag paper that I use, for pens and similar articles.
Bare Wood
In our rush to put something ON the wood, we too often forget that wood itself can provide us with a good finish. I would suggest that everyone try a bare wood finish ONE TIME before discount it as not being a viable finish. A lot will depend on the hardness of the wood, but left to itself, the "no-finish" will polish the wood and keep it oiled from use. It may not look as good as the high gloss of the plastic when it is new, but in the end it will probably look better because used wood looks a lot better than a used plastic.
A "Fast" Finish
If you want fast, there is nothing faster than stopping at the highly polished bare wood and then adding the protection of a good wax. Carnauba is the hardest, but Microcrystalline (Renaissance) is the least damaged by the acids in our body oils. Wax looks good when new, but it is the least durable finish we can put on a piece of wood. Fortunately, wax is easy to repair.
Durability vs. Feel
The finish that will wear the longest is the one that puts the hardest film with the most abrasion resistance on the surface. Plastics such as acrylics, CA glue, epoxies, melamines, etc. are the most durable. They are also the hardest and and the most subject to impact damage or cracking due to wood movement. They can be the most difficult to apply, the most difficult to repair, and they have a wear pattern that results in fine surface scratches that dull the finish with time.
I have always thought the "feel" of the finish argument has little merit. Bare wood feels like wood, wax feels like wax, and everything else feels the same - like there is something on the wood. Many will claim that the harder the finishes have the lesser it feels like wood. However, I have yet to meet one of them who could identify the finish by its "feel".
The level of gloss has more to do with the perception of "warmth" and "feel" that the actual hardness of the finish. When we see a satin finish, our brain says "soft" and when we touch it we will say it feels soft. When we see a high gloss, our brain says "cold" and it feels cold to our touch. It has nothing to do with how hard it is. Put a soft gloss on the hardest Polyurethane finish and the same people will say that it feels warm and fuzzy.
1. Quick and durable ARE NOT mutually inclusive properties of a finish on a piece of wood. Finishing takes time; and the better the finish, the more time it takes.
2. The surface finish can be no better than that of the wood under it.
3. There is no one product that we can put on the wood that will do everything we want from a finish. Everything we do is a compromise to accent the properties we want, and hopefully minimize those we don't.
4. The lesser the finish, the more it will have the look and feel of wood. When taken to the same level of polish, bare wood looks and feels more like wood than a thick lacquer or a CA glue.
Varnish
Varnish resins may be the best compromise available. They will take a high gloss, look like wood, have the warm feel of wood. To use an analogy to the automotive industry, there is nothing that looks better than the wood dash and trim in an old Jaguar or Rolls, and that is varnished wood. Depending on the resin, it can have excellent wear and moisture resistance over time.
Fine Sanding. A Waste of time??
I always get a lot of flak from the furniture folks who tell me that sanding past 220 grit does nothing because finer grits do nothing but burnish the wood. My answers to those critics:
Yes, it may be burnishing the wood, but when I see sanding dust coming off of 2000-grit sandpaper, I am also removing wood and refining the scratch pattern. And, it follows that, the finer the scratch pattern, the brighter the grain will be.
As for burnishing the surface of the wood, what's wrong with doing that? Shouldn't we be doing everything we can to improve the surface under the finish??
I have never had a finish refuse to adhere to the wood because it was too highly polished.
A Challenge
I issue this challenge to the furniture folks.
Have you ever tried sanding to the finer grits??
Don't knock something you have never tried.
It doesn't take that much longer. And, you might get a better finish for having done that.
A Special Note to Pen Turners
Penturners have almost totally ignored the varnish resins as a finish because they ARE NOT FAST. In fact, they may take the longest to apply of anything that we can put on the wood. Twelve (12) coats of Waterlox will give an unbelievable gloss, and it will have the durability of the phenolic resins; but it is going to take at least 12 days to put it on the wood. Add another month to that for the finish to fully cure before we start using the pen, and we are talking about a long time to finish a pen.
Penturners use a lot of lacquer and shellac because they are high gloss clear finishes that are easy to apply. And some of them are dipping with the lacquer because that is even faster. What all of the instructions fail to mention is that it will take at least a week (2 is better) for a lacquer to even get close to its full hardness; and that it can take several months for shellac. Ask a custom car painter how long they wait before buffing and polishing a lacquer finish. I guarantee that they are not driving it on the street that same afternoon; and that is just what we are trying to do with a pen.
As for the durability of shellac, just remember that the classic violin finish is a spirit varnish, and that means a shellac. Durability?? These folks are talking about a 300-year finish on a musical instrument that is to be used. Yes, they use other resins to make the shellac harder, more durable, and more resistant to wear. They do not add waxes and oils to make them fast, and these shellac finishes take months to years to apply.
Yes, turning and finishing turned wood can be fast, but better finishes take longer, and the best finish will take a long time. Until we are ready to invest the require time, we will never be happy with anything we put on a pen. So, we continue to use our FAST finishes, remove the pen barrels and start handling them before they have a chance to cool, and then complain about there not being a durable finish for a pen.
