Replies

1. 
   RSRose | Oct 25, 2002 08:15am | #1

   Dennis,

   Any varnish/oil finish over the Ben Matte will give you more sheen. I like Minwax "Tung Oil Finish". Apply it just like the oil you've used. Each application will leave a little bit more of the varnish surface film. Apply with a padding motion, wiping/buffing as you apply each "layer."

   Wax will give you a very nice sheen. Apply with steel wool or 600 grit wet/dry. Then buff with a lambs wool pad in a drill.

   R

1. 
   DennisS | Oct 25, 2002 05:09pm | #2

   Thanks, Rich.

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

2. 
   RW | Oct 25, 2002 11:58pm | #3

   You won't have success buffing oil. Rich's idea will work well. Second option if you want to stick with the oils, go get polymerized tung oil - it will have a little higher sheen, or (since I make gunstocks) Tru Oil sold by Birchwood Casey is a blend of oils, polymerized, and designed to give you more sheen than your average oil finishes. But it works a lot like oil, and you can wet sand with it just like you're already doing. Anything in the polymerized line will also give you a little better building qualities than straight tung (as would the varnish).

1. 
   DennisS | Oct 26, 2002 06:19am | #4

   Thanks for the info. I'm gonna have to build a bigger cabinet to hold all my shop chemistry!! But it's nice to have all this information just for the asking. I really appreciate all the advice and, most of all, the patience people have with use newbies.

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

3. 
   LarryPile | Oct 26, 2002 05:34pm | #5

   I think the key is the "matte" finish.  If "sheen" means "shine", it ain't gonna be there.

   In my experience, always get the "shiny" stuff....poly, varnish, whatever and use sandpaper, rottenstone, etc to knock off the shine..you're going to have to do some of that anyway if you get dust nibs, etc.

   You can always get a finish less shiny...you can't make a finish any shinier if it's flat or matte.

   Don't you just hate when you've poured your time, skill and money into a project...you've joined and glued, sanded and planed and scraped....you've dyed and stained and sealed and pore-filled..and you're putting the last coat of brushing lacquer or poly or varnish on...and "that moth"..you know, the big one....long legs, big flappy wings....lands right in the middle of your project...not where he can't be seen..noooooo....but right in the middle of that 10-foot table..but he doesn't die...nooooo....he flops around in your finish...drags his body across the table..leaving "moth parts" behind...first his leg...then his wing...maybe an antenna..moth parts all over the place..and you have to redo the whole damn topcoat?

   Just pisses me off!  Good luck.....sorry for the tantrum!

   lp

1. 
   DennisS | Oct 28, 2002 06:14am | #6

   Most of the pieces I've turned so far I've used a bee's wax/mineral oil mixture or straight carnuba wax depending on the intended use of the vessel. As I probably mentioned at the outset, the tung oil finish was an effort to wet send using the sanding slurry that one gets using the Ben Matte material as a pore filler. The more I look at the finished product, though, the more the matte finish grows on me.

   With respect to the moth syndrome - I re-finished a small family piece some years ago. Long before I had the presence of mind to ask anything about finishing from people who know. Just went at it.

   First step was to take it to a furniture stripping service. Man, those guys take it *all* off. The finish was to be simply varnish. Don't even remember what kind, I just went to the hardware store an bought a gallon of the stuff. Started out with a 1/2 & 1/2 thinned coat and went through about 6 coats working up to the last two being full strength. Each coat was cured two days, then lightly sanded. Towards the end, rubbed the last two coats with pumice, then rubbed the last coat with rottenstone using an old blackboard eraser as a pad. Waxed the finished last coat.

   What's cool about the result is the depth it gave to the wood. Cherry I think.

   I was pretty pleased with it.

   But that doesn't have much to do with tung oil, does it? Guess the tie in to your reply was the moth thing. I've never, never ever, put a finish on anything that I didn't have to rub out or in some way get rid of dust mites. I think they eat themselves out from inside the wood in response to an applied finish! (grin)

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]