Up until now, I've left pieces with captive rings either unfinished, or waxed by hand on and off the lathe. For a recent vase, I tried a quick and not-quite-dirty expedient for spray finishing.
I mounted the piece on a rotisserie drive (5 rpm), and formed some insulated wire fingers to urge the rings away from each other and the vase bowl and foot. The fingers are well clear of everything, to avoid their own marks and to allow the rings to drift. The fingers also have a drip curve, so that excess coating falls to the newspaper below. The rings swab the stem as the process proceeds, but left surprising little evidence. The finish is clear semi-gloss polyurethane, about 10 coats in close succession over about 4 hours to avoid sanding, then left the rotisserie running overnight. Satin might have worked better; gloss probably worse, but lacquer would have allowed subsequent polishing. (Minwax is silent about polishing PU.)
There's more than one way to skin a cat, so I'd welcome other ideas.
Joe
I mounted the piece on a rotisserie drive (5 rpm), and formed some insulated wire fingers to urge the rings away from each other and the vase bowl and foot. The fingers are well clear of everything, to avoid their own marks and to allow the rings to drift. The fingers also have a drip curve, so that excess coating falls to the newspaper below. The rings swab the stem as the process proceeds, but left surprising little evidence. The finish is clear semi-gloss polyurethane, about 10 coats in close succession over about 4 hours to avoid sanding, then left the rotisserie running overnight. Satin might have worked better; gloss probably worse, but lacquer would have allowed subsequent polishing. (Minwax is silent about polishing PU.)
There's more than one way to skin a cat, so I'd welcome other ideas.
Joe
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