Since I am quite pleased with the last finishes that I bought I thought I would try a new finish, something with more of a shine. I decided on the Turner’s Polish from Lee Valley:

It is a shellac-based lacquer formula that is made especially for use in woodturning and it produces a very hard, high-luster finish.

It is applied with a lint-free cloth pad while your turning rotates at a low speed on the lathe.

You can use shellac/lacquer thinner for diluting the first coat or to increase gloss in the final coat.

Back to the shop…

I picked up a couple of new finishes today. I have never been one to spend much time on finishes but as I move towards projects that are more suited to natural finishes I thought I’d try a few. The two I bought today are very similar:

Clapham’s Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish
This easy-to-use finish is safe for salad bowls, cutting boards, cheese boards, etc.
It is a blend of two food-safe materials, beeswax and mineral oil. After a thin coat is applied, the item can be used immediately or left overnight and buffed to a low sheen.
Continue reading 'Beeswax Based Finishes'

This week my wife refinished our kitchen table. We bought it 6-7 years ago and since then it had picked up a few scratches and heat marks. It is 7 feet long with 8 chairs and made of red oak with a natural finish.

We bought it from a Menonite furniture shop that is located a couple of hours from here in a rural area. They did a fantastic job at very, very reasonable prices. Unfortunately, the finish was not as durable as we had hoped for. It marked very easily and anything hot, like a coffee cup, that was set on the table left a mark.

She started sanding it with 60 grit to remove the finish and continued up to 220 grit. Then she finished it with 10 coats of Varathane Professional Clear Coat, lightly sanding with 220 between each coat.

Here is the table before the new finish:

Continue reading 'Kitchen Table Refinishing'