I have used basic Minwax Wood Finish (natural and stains) on lots of furniture and turnings. But I don't hear much from woodturners about the product. Any reasons why say the tung oil or antique oil would be better than the basic Minwax product? Just curious.
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Minwax Wood Finish
- Thread starter LANKFORD
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- May 16, 2005
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The 209 Natural what you're speaking of? Works like any other "Danish Oil" finish, maybe a bit less in the rigid solids. It's not as clear a view into the wood as a varnish, but nice effect anyway.
Turners are a strange lot. They declare that shiny finishes are for the rubes, yet they do them all the time, want to use finishes that leave a natural look, then burnish and buff and stuff the slurry into the pores. Or my favorite, they want a food safe finish, and equate that with ingestibility rather than indigestability. Safe to say that what you use and how you use it will find opponents and proponents among turners. Question is, will it find buyers.
Turners are a strange lot. They declare that shiny finishes are for the rubes, yet they do them all the time, want to use finishes that leave a natural look, then burnish and buff and stuff the slurry into the pores. Or my favorite, they want a food safe finish, and equate that with ingestibility rather than indigestability. Safe to say that what you use and how you use it will find opponents and proponents among turners. Question is, will it find buyers.
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2006
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MichaelMouse said:
Ain't that the truth. I personally love all the people who say you should go out an buy the biggest badest lathe you can because it is the bomb and you will never want to use anything else again in one post but try and disuade from buying a PSI turncrafter, or an HF34706 in favor of a jet mini in another because you will keep using that jet mini long after you have upgraded to a big bad monster lathe.
To answer the original question I use clear poly a fair amount on things that will get handled a lot and need a tough finish. For most things though If they are display pieces I like the look of my oiled & waxed finishes and for things that get touched and i want to feel wood I tend to either use friction polish oir Howards Orange oil and beeswax finish which not only smells nice but gives plain woods a slightly warm feel.
I used to use stains a lot when I was first turning but pretty much decided that it wasn't an artistic style I liked on turned pieces, it somehow when I would look at a stained turning it seemed like I was trying to fake something to make up for not being a very good turner. I now actually dye a fair amount of work, which brings out a very different feel for me. Unlike stain where I was trying to make the wood look like something it wasn't I use the dye to really enhance the things I was trying to hide with stain. Now that I am a much better turner than I was 4 or 5 years ago I might have a different opinion if I stained my work but have yet to come up with a reason to stain something. Maybe that is something I will do today.
The Minwax Wipe on Polyurethane is one of my main work horse finishes. I had some serious problems with this finish till I found out all of these types of finishes had been reformulated to meet VOC regulations and to get back to the original finish with excellent storage and application I had to start thinning the product.
Wilford
Wilford