• It's time to cast your votes in the July 2025 Turning Challenge. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Michael Foster for "Costa II" being selected as Turning of the Week for July 28th, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Trying a new finish method.

Rusty Nesmith

Rusty Nesmith

Joined
Feb 16, 2021
Messages
1,305
Likes
2,066
Location
Parkersburg, West Virginia
I normally put a poly finish on my bowls. A friend of mine told me he made two bowls. One he put on walnut oil and then a poly finish after it dried. The other just the poly finish. He said there was a huge difference between them. I turned a walnut bowl today and didn’t have walnut oil so I used Danish oil. I will let that dry real good and then put on a poly finish. He and I both use the same poly finish. This is the bowl I made today with Danish oil.
5ECF53F9-76D3-451F-8B8E-4E336CE158E1.jpeg
 
Hope it lasts. I have had finishes fail after several months or longer if I mixed finishes. I tend to stick to the same brand and not mix finishes anymore.
 
I'll be following. I also have some recent bad luck mixing finishes by putting lacquer over well cured oil. Some did well and lasted. Others after a few weeks developed a tacky feel and the lacquer began to develop some pits. My goal is to add a bit more sheen to some of my hollow forms. For now I'm buffing with wax over the oil.
 
The common Danish oil like Watco can safely be coated with a poly film finish, but I would be skeptical of putting a poly film finish over a oil squeezed from walnuts.
 
Rusty, the Danish Oil has a varnish in it. You might have compatibility issues if it's oil based (most likely) and you try a water based poly on top. BTW, what's wrong with the Danish Oil finish? It's got both oil and varnish all in one and looks pretty good on your piece.
 
Randy Anderson said:
I'll be following. I also have some recent bad luck mixing finishes by putting lacquer over well cured oil. Some did well and lasted. Others after a few weeks developed a tacky feel and the lacquer began to develop some pits. My goal is to add a bit more sheen to some of my hollow forms. For now I'm buffing with wax over the oil.
Click to expand...
The wax probably will dull over time but it can be redone a lot easier then scrapping off a finish such as lacquer.
 
Yep, getting the lacquer off of them was a lot of fun. Odd, I have about 6 pieces in the house that I've sprayed with a thin coat of lacquer over the oil and they're all fine. The pieces that were out in the garage in my storage cabinet and made a trip out and back to a few market events are the ones I had to redo. Moisture, temp, who knows. All I know is I can't risk a finish failure on pieces I sell.
 
Dean Center said:
Rusty, the Danish Oil has a varnish in it. You might have compatibility issues if it's oil based (most likely) and you try a water based poly on top. BTW, what's wrong with the Danish Oil finish? It's got both oil and varnish all in one and looks pretty good on your piece.
Click to expand...
I use an oil based poly. I really like the poly finish and just wanted to try something new.
 
I have been using Danish oil under poly finish for years with trouble. But I will say that you must make sure the DO is dry, sometimes I wait several days especially in colder weather. The DO I mix my own using the standard 30/30/30 ratio
 
William Rogers said:
There is a book by Bob Flexner “Understanding wood Finishes” that cover about anything. I have the book, but not with me at this time.
Click to expand...
I've owned this book for over 40 yrs. now. It is my goto reference source and has never let me down. If you're a beginner it is oh so complete, but can be confusing. My advice is to choose one finish and work back from prepping the wood to final touches. Eventually you'll find a finish you can be happy with. Just like we all do. Me ? I like Minwax Antique Oil for my turned work. Often over a shellac base.
 
Poly needs a mechanical grip to stick. Lacquer has a hotter solvent and bites in. I would not put poly on top of cured oil. You do get a nice color from oil, but all colors of walnut are temporary and it will lighten over the years unless you dye or stain it.
 
hughie said:
I have been using Danish oil under poly finish for years with NO trouble. But I will say that you must make sure the DO is dry, sometimes I wait several days especially in colder weather. The DO I mix my own using the standard 30/30/30 ratio
Click to expand...
Sorry for any confusion, I graduated from the Hunt n Peck typing school along time ago :)
 
I used to put oil-based poly over walnut oil with good success. As always with walnut oil, the secret it to get it properly cured before you put anything over it. But now I don't see a reason to use slow-curing walnut oil if I am going to cover it with poly (or wax or anything else), it just makes for a very time-consuming finishing process. If I start with an initial oil finish, it is because I want to deepen the wood tone and/or bring out the figure, and almost any drying oil will do that, so I use a faster-curing oil such as BLO or (my preference) polymerized tung oil. In fact, polymerized tung oil sealer (basically, PTO with a lot of solvent) does its job of bringing out the figure nicely and then dries quite quickly, so you can move on to covering it with a varnish or wax.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top