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Liquid Glass finish

Michael Anderson

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Hi all,

I recently saw a post on Instagram by Rabea Gebler. She turned a small chestnut bowl that had a liquid glass finish. Hydrophobic, matte, and minimal change to natural wood color. This intrigued me (I've never heard of liquid glass, outside of bartop epoxy style), so I did a mini deep-dive. Apparently, it is Silicon (Si) suspended in alcohol. When cured, the Silicon reacts with the wood fibers (and likely the moisture in the wood) to create a ceramic-like glaze that is food-safe and water-repellant (hydrophobic). It withstands washing with soap (to a degree), and increases the durability of the piece. Here is a relevant article written by Jarrod Dahl (it's tied to a specific product, so grain of salt...). The finish is quite popular in Japan, and is not super commonly found in the U.S. That said, there are a couple of suppliers I found. Pricewise, it is similar to Rubio Monocoat.

Anyway, it seems like a pretty great product, and worth the cost of entry.

Does anyone here have experience using this?
 
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I've never used it myself, but Jarrod Dahl is a buddy of mine and he has tested quite a lot. He's a pretty no nonsense kind of guy, so I personally would trust what he says in his article. Now having said that, when he showed me some pieces treated back in the day when he first started using it and it was interesting. My worry is exactly what you mention, durability, but also as you say they use it a lot in Japan.

Jarrod and Rabea also both use Urushi extensively, and have both done a lot of research into finishes, so I for one am somewhat interested in the liquid glass.

Not sure how helpful this is other than vouching for Jarrod, but there you go.
 
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Interesting product. What is the coverage? At $185/quart, it's pretty expensive. Also wondering about shelf life. I guess for fine pieces, it might be worth the cost, if a matte finish is what is desired.
 

Michael Anderson

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Thank you all for the input. The price is pretty high, but you can get a small sampler for less (and, @john lucas I hear you!). @Tom Lucas I'm curious about coverage as well. I imagine that a little goes a long way, but that's just an assumption. I would think that shelf life is similar to most alcohol based products--long-ish lasting if not exposed to water/high humidity/air/etc... I suppose I would treat it similar to DNA. That said, I suppose if I was buying/using this for a production approach, I wouldn't get to the point of it going bad. For occasional use, I'm not so sure.

I don't know anything about how it's manufactured, but the high price is probably very much related to supply/demand. As far as I know, outside of Japan, there are only a couple of sources. @Oliver Moss thanks for backing up Jarrod. I read through a few of his articles/reviews, and it looks like he does nice work! Urushi is something that I'm interested in, though it will like be a while when/if I take the plunge--I need to develop a bit more patience first :p Rabea has posted a lot of cool behind the scenes videos about urushi harvesting, processing, etc..., as well alternative uses (in kintsugi, for example). Wildly fascinating!

@Jim McLain I don't really have any experience with Rubio Monocoat, but I know a lot of flat woodworkers that rave about it. Apparently, a little goes a long way, and it's fairly easy to use. Wipe on, buff off soon after. Others likely have more detailed input.

If I end up trying out a sampler of liquid glass, I'll follow-up here with some photos and a reflection of my experience. If nothing else, it's fun to try to something new.
 
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@Michael Anderson Yeah, a lot of folks in the greenwood world are experimenting with Urushi, probably because of Jarrod's work with it. It's super cool, but you do need patience for sure, and a really specific curing cabinet.
 
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Just curious the term green wood has always meant wood that has been fresh cut and not dried and in wood turning for the last 25 to 30 years green wood turning has meant the same. So what is the "greenworld" please?

Greenwood working is a term for traditional handcraft like spoon carving pole lathe turning and other traditional craft using green wood. I got in to wood working as a spoon carver, but then I started pole lathe turning and found out that I am a turner for sure. I still carve spoons and make shrink pots and the like, but I turn and teach pole lathe turning primarily.

But yeah, greenwood working is working wood in a fresh and undried state as they did in many craft traditions.
 
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I still carve spoons and make shrink pots and the like,
Several years ago we had a demonstrator at the club in Fargo Moorhead called Minndak Woodturners do a demo on traditional scandinavian work mostly about shrink boxes. I made one in the traditional oval form but then I switched to round and finish turning on the powered lathe. The material I used was the live fresh cut native birch from the surrounding woods and found that it is a flawless methode. The bottoms never loosen and the sides never crack.
7024-5-6Birch.JPG
The above shrink canisters/box/pot are an example of some that I have done. The blotchy look is from the oxidation from drying that only partially is removed in the finish turning. The line near the bottom on the middle one is not a crack but rather a sap streak.
 
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Several years ago we had a demonstrator at the club in Fargo Moorhead called Minndak Woodturners do a demo on traditional scandinavian work mostly about shrink boxes. I made one in the traditional oval form but then I switched to round and finish turning on the powered lathe. The material I used was the live fresh cut native birch from the surrounding woods and found that it is a flawless methode. The bottoms never loosen and the sides never crack.
View attachment 50207
The above shrink canisters/box/pot are an example of some that I have done. The blotchy look is from the oxidation from drying that only partially is removed in the finish turning. The line near the bottom on the middle one is not a crack but rather a sap streak.
Note i tried ash once and it shrunk so much that a large crack appeared but the birch never have that problem. Notice the one on the left that started as a straight cylinder but no cracking occurred during drying.
 
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Michael - Very interesting article. At $185 a quart it better be good. I just heard about Rubio Monocoat the other day. Do you or others have any experience with it?
I have no specific experience with Rubio, but I understand it perfoms similarly to other hard wax oil products such as Osmo Polyx-Oil which some people here do use. There are some previous threads on the topic.
 
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I bought a small can of the Hassui liquid glass finish from Jarrod a couple of years ago and I like it a lot. It's very easy to apply, and the coverage is quite good. I've mostly been using it for shot glasses and it seems to hold up well. Clean your brushes thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol afterward. It's easier to apply to slightly more porous woods. Really dense woods like manzanita don't soak it in as well as walnut or maple.
 

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john lucas

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Where do you get this product. The pictures I'm seeing do not look glossy. When I hear glass finish I'm thinking super smooth clear gloss.
 
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I bought a small can of the Hassui liquid glass finish from Jarrod a couple of years ago and I like it a lot. It's very easy to apply, and the coverage is quite good. I've mostly been using it for shot glasses and it seems to hold up well. Clean your brushes thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol afterward. It's easier to apply to slightly more porous woods. Really dense woods like manzanita don't soak it in as well as walnut or maple.
These shot glasses are great. Well done! The liquid glass is more matte than I imagined. I want to try it out now
 
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