Recommendation appreciated

[Don Armour]

Hi all. Been off the forum and turning for a bit but took David Ellsworth class in Dec and getting going again.

Just turned this from a catawba burl I got from a buddy’s farm in SC.

Am thinking a high gloss clear spray lacquer finish.

However - would very much appreciate the thoughts and recommendations from any and all. Am still a newbie

 

[Tom Albrecht]

When I took an Ellsworth class many years ago, I think he was using Waterlox Original, followed by buffing. That's what I use most of the time. It's not high gloss, but that's why I like it.
It is all a matter of personal taste, with no single answer to your query. If you have some scraps left, try some different finishes on those to help make the decision.

 

[Tim Connell]

Some like the bark to be unfinished or have a flat/satin finish while others like the look of a high gloss finish on the whole piece and some like it somewhere in between. I've done all of the above, and vary my approach depending on the look desired.

If you want a high gloss finish, lacquer is certainly one of the easiest ways to get there. If you get it finished and don't like the high gloss you could spray it with a semigloss to take the sheen down.

I use polymerized tung oil on a majority of my bowls. If I had a piece like yours, I'd probably give everything one coat of oil, and then apply additional coats to get the sheen I wanted on the body of the piece, with the bark only getting the single coat. That way I'd get a higher sheen on the body with the bark being satin.

Bottom line, if you want all the same sheen (gloss) on your piece, I'd use the lacquer. If you want a flat or satin finish on the bark with a higher sheen on the rest of it, then I'd choose a wipe on finish.

No wrong answer, depends on in your preference.

 

[Don Armour]

Thanks guy - understood - no wrong answer. Just having a couple of perspectives is helpful. In this particular case - the bowl will go on display in the house so I think the boss will like it shiny.

 

[Dave Bunge]

I'm not set up to spray finishes, so use Waterlox for most of my bowls. The glossy version will give a nice shiny surface after 2-3 coats if that's what you decide you want.

I see lots of surface checking and some gaps due to bark inclusions on your bowl, circled some in the picture below:


You might consider filling these in before you apply finish. I saw a similar checking in some willow natural edge bowls I made and they looked a lot better with the gaps filled in.

I filled the gaps with walnut sanding dust and thin CA glue...pack the dust into the crack then dribble the glue on top. Mound a little more dust on top of the wet CA then spray with accelerator. Give it a little time to finish curing then sand it off. You may have to repeat in some spots, but don't actually need to get the gap completely filled to get a much improved appearance. Key point: First step is to apply a light coat of spray shellac to the surface before filling the cracks. That keeps the CA from soaking into the wood around the cracks and showing up as an ugly bloch when you apply the final finish.

 

[hockenbery]

see lots of surface checking and some gaps due to bark inclusions on your bowl, circled some in the picture below:

I usually something different from @Dave Bunge. His solution is sound. Mine is just another option.
I use a knife edge woodburning tip to burn off any visible fibers in the cracks and to enhance them with darkening.
This makes them blend in in a natural way.

I use Waterlox on pieces like these. Wipe on wipe off. One important detail is to use compressed air to blow the Waterlox out of any cracks after wiping and the wipe again. If this is not done the small puddles in the cracks can dry real shinny - a look that I don’t find pleasing.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Something to consider if you want a high gloss finnish is that the surface needs be perfect. Otherwise, every slight flaw will stick out like a sore thumb. After you have applied the high gloss finish, the job isn't finished until you finish the finish. The finish needs to be leveled and then polished to remove gnats, orange peel, overspray, etc using Micromesh or similar product.

 

[Doug Freeman]

As long as a piece is sound I usually dont fill small defects. I like hockenbery’s suggestion of some burning in them - something I plan to gear up for. For pieces with ne rims or unfilled defects, I prefer semi gloss finish. Glossy rough areas like bark edge, or glossy negative grain/defects, give the “dipped in plastic” look.

Most of my pieces are finished with semi gloss mw poly, thinned 1:1 with ms, applied like danish oil. Really adds structural integrity to thin or large defect piecs.

As Bill said, it aint finished till the finish is finished. Finish gets denibbed as required and buffed to desired gloss. I only use lacquer on pieces with no defects, and do a fully filled “piano” hi gloss finish. Quite a bit of time to rub it out.

 

[Gerald Rutledge]

The ugly blotch around the CA puzzles me. I get it, I just don't understand why anyone tolerates or risks it.

Why not just use epoxy that is heavily laden with wood dust during the stir? I realize it doesn't penetrate and would need to be applied late so it doesn;t get turned away, then turned smooth, sanded and so forth, and that can be done manually too with a good deal more effort, but it doesn't have as much of a tendency to stain the wood. Neither epoxy nor CA take a finish all that well, so there doesn't seem to be a clear winner on that front. It might seem like epoxy is more work because it needs to be mixed, but CA is messy and can create a lot more work if it gets on something it shouldn't. And if you have to pre-seal before using the CA, then that's more work than mixing epoxy. Does the sealer make it's own blotch?...

What am I missing? Is it just the cure time on epoxy? Is it really that hard on the tool if it is just a tiny patch? Or does it just not stitch the crack together well enough since it doesn't penetrate like CA (the very same property that causes the blotch in the first place)? Epoxy resists sanding and can make lumps, so there's that, but is that really such a deal-breaker?

 

[Dave Bunge]

The ugly blotch around the CA puzzles me. I get it, I just don't understand why anyone tolerates or risks it.

Gerald,
I agree that CA can make for a nasty looking surface if it soaks in where you don't want it to. But it's possible, at least in my experience, to keep it under control so that there is no impact on the appearance.

Here's what I do:
1. Seal the surface around the crack that's being filled. I use spray can shellac from Zinsser: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zinsser-12-oz-Clear-Shellac-Spray-408/100176744. A quick shot of shellac, wait a couple of minutes, and proceed to step 2.
2. Pack sawdust, coffee grounds, or other filler material into the crack.
3. Apply CA to the surface of the sawdust, and let it soak in. I use microtips on the bottle nozzle to help with applying only a small amount of ca and to help place it only where you want it to go.
4. Spray some accelerator to hasten the cure.
5. Sand the surface to remove any stray CA+Sawdust.

I've used epoxy occasionally with cracks, don't have much experience to compare to CA. But it seems harder to get it into small cracks, takes longer to cure, and leaves a bigger mess to clean up (just my experience, not saying it can't be used successfully by others.)

 

[Doug Freeman]

If finishing with spray lacquer for a fully filled gloss finish with a rig, just drop fill the defects. Bigger defects get filled with epoxy usually colored to either blend in or stand out.

There are a lot of different suggestions here. As with many aspects of turning, you just have to try some different methods to see what works and what doesnt. Then determine why methods fail, and continue.